Life imprisonment Claremont killer Bradley Edwards convicted of Irishwoman's murder likely to die in jail

Tragic: Irishwoman Ciara Glennon, whose body was found 18 days after she went missing near Perth, Australia

Neil Fetherstonhaugh

December 23 2020 01:30 PM

The man convicted of killing Irish lawyer Ciara Glennon in a case that has gripped Australia has been told he will likely die in prison.

Depraved Bradley Edwards was sentenced at the Australian Supreme Court today to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 40 years.

The sentence was greeted with applause in the public gallery including family members of his victims, as Edwards, who showed no emotion as he was sent down, was led away.

Edwards was convicted in September of abducting and killing Jane Rimmer, 23, and Ms Glennon, 27, in 1996 and 1997. But was found not guilty of the 1996 murder of 18-year-old secretary Sarah Spiers.

All three women disappeared after a night out with friends in affluent Claremont. The bodies of childcare worker Ms Rimmer and solicitor Ms Glennon were discovered in bushland weeks after they were killed but Ms Spiers' body has never been found.

Bradley Edwards

In sentencing, Justice Stephen Hall said the crimes committed by Edwards showed he was a "dangerous predator who sought out vulnerable young women for his own gratification".

"Your actions were premeditated and executed with pitiless determination and remorselessness for the pain caused," he told Edwards.

Edwards was also sentenced to a total of 33 years over his break-in and attack on an 18-year-old woman in Huntingdale and the abduction and rape of a 17-year-old at Karrakatta Cemetery.

All of the sentences will run concurrently.

Edwards, 52, will be 88 years old when he first becomes eligible for parole.