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Man charged with Daniel Morcombe murder |
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Written by Les Fawkes
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Saturday, 13 August 2011 |
At 7.30p.m. on Saturday August 13th, 2011 Queensland Police announced that a 41 year old man has been charged with the Daniel Morcombe murder.
Deputy Commissioner Ross Barnett made the surprise announcement during a special media conference in Brisbane.
The murder charge is the culmination of an ongoing investigations following the disappearance of Daniel Morcombe, 13, who vanished while waiting for a bus along Nambour Connection Road in Woombye, under the Kiel Mountain Road overpass, on December 7, 2003.
His disappearance sparked the sparking the biggest missing-person investigation in Queensland Police history.
Deputy Commissioner Ross Barnett said, “This is obviously a very significant milestone in what has obviously been a complex and protracted investigation. Solid evidence had been hard to obtain, even though there was a MILLION dollar reward for such information.
He also praised the “dedication, tenacity and professionalism” of officers involved.
The charge comes after a coronial inquest into Daniel’s disappearance. The 41-year-old man, known at the inquest as P7 has been charged today with one count each of murder, deprivation of liberty, child stealing, indecent treatment of a child under 16 and interfering with a corpse.
P7 has spent time in jail in Queensland and the Northern Territory for luring children into toilets or bushland so he could molest them, the court has heard. The inquest had been told that P7’s previous sexual offences had been “unplanned and on impulse”.
The Morcombe family had been notified of the impending charge prior to the information being publically released. Denise Morcombe said, "It has been a long time coming. We just want to find Danny now."
It is expected that there will be a further search of bushland on the Sunshine Coast as part of the continuing investigation but no further details were provided by police.
He will appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 15 September 2011 )
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Range News 2005 - ON 
