Claremont serial killings: Bradley Edwards’ marriage woes ‘link’ to attacks

Shannon HamptonThe West Australian
VideoBradley Robert Edwards' is under 24-hour watch at the maximum-security Casuarina prison after he is believed to have self-harmed in a prison shower block on Monday.

Accused Claremont serial killer Bradley Robert Edwards lived with his cheating first wife and the man she was having an affair with about the time he allegedly raped a woman at Karrakatta Cemetery, the WA Supreme Court was told yesterday.

More details about Mr Edwards’ marriage in the 1990s — and the connection prosecutors say it had to his sick alleged crimes — emerged during the second and final day of a pre-trial hearing.

Prosecutor Carmel Barbagallo wants to assert that Mr Edwards’ alleged offending coincides specifically with periods of extreme emotional turmoil.

Ms Barbagallo claimed the crimes Mr Edwards is accused of became more violent as his relationship with his first wife grew more tumultuous.

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She said when Mr Edwards was a single 19-year-old in 1988, when his brother and friends were all involved with women, he fed his fetish for women’s underwear by prowling the area around his Huntingdale home.

When Mr Edwards met his first wife, the prowler activity seemed to stop.

But Ms Barbagallo pointed to his attack on a social worker at Hollywood Hospital in May 1990, saying that at the time, the relationship was experiencing some “bumps”.

Ms Barbagallo said that when the woman became embroiled in an affair with another man in 1994, her lover moved into the matrimonial home with her and her husband in January or February 1995.

It was in the early hours of February 12, 1995 that prosecutors allege Mr Edwards abducted a 17-year-old girl from a Claremont park before tying her up and raping her at Karrakatta Cemetery.

Defence barrister Paul Yovich said there was no proof Mr Edwards knew his wife was having an affair with his flatmate when he moved in.

“He had him moved in some time in 1995 — estimates vary — at the invitation of both the accused’s wife and the accused,” Mr Yovich said.

“There is no evidence capable of establishing that the situation involving (the other man) and the accused’s first wife had at that stage registered with him.”

Mr Yovich said “it cannot be assumed that you’re happier when you’re in a relationship than when you’re out of one”.

Ms Barbagallo said that as Mr Edwards’ first marriage continued to break down, he became more disinterested in his wife and the relationship eventually ended.

She moved out at the start of 1996.

It was in the early hours of January 27, 1996, the first of the Claremont serial killings victims — 18-year-old secretary Sarah Spiers — disappeared from outside the Continental Hotel after a night out with friends.

Ms Barbagallo said Mr Edwards was still alone in June 1996 when 23-year-old childcare worker Jane Rimmer was abducted and killed.

And she said it was in March 1997 that Mr Edwards met his second wife — the same month the third and final of the serial killer’s victims, Ciara Glennon, disappeared from the streets of Claremont.

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