Despite restaurants and pubs closing, and events being cancelled, WA’s trial of the century will still be going ahead.

In a last-minute, urgent hearing called at 3pm today, Justice Stephen Hall announced the news not many people, including the Claremont in Conversation team were expecting to hear.

Court will resume on Monday, March 23.

As Alison Fan explains in this special update episode, Justice Stephen Hall virtually told the court that nothing will stop this trial from going ahead, even if it’s the only criminal trial running in the building.

What followed that extraordinary news was extraordinary, unprecedented measures implemented by the court to allow it to run.

As the podcast team discusses, it’s so fortunate that this mammoth trial is judge alone, because if there was a jury, it would be likely that it would have been stopped, to start all over again in the future.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and Alison as they give you an update on the Claremont Serial Killings Trial.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re in an unprecedented time, a confusing time.

As we’re being asked to self-isolate and work from home to try and stop the spread of Coronavirus, there are many professions where that simply isn’t possible.

Shops, cafes and restaurants may close, but hospitals, police stations, any emergency services can’t stop.

And the justice system - for the moment can’t either.

This week, Western Australia, like many other states and countries, announced that no new jury trials will be listed for three months, to try and protect any potential jurors.

Our legal expert Damien Cripps tells us what impact that will have on trials, the backlog that’s expected to happen - and for us, what that will mean for the Claremont Serial Killings trial.

Fortunately, the Claremont trial is judge-alone, but what will happen if some of the lawyers, a witness, the judge, or even the accused Bradley Edwards gets sick?

Can the public still watch the trial?

Will the media be allowed in to bring you the details?

Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and Damien Cripps explore those questions in this bonus episode of Claremont in Conversation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

March 14, 1997 was a day like any other. 27-year-old Ciara Glennon, having only just arrived back in Australia from travelling the world, was drinking with colleagues.

The lawyer had been back at work for a week, her colleagues wanted to celebrate that, and being a Friday, they decided to have a few drinks, then hit the town.

But Ciara didn’t want to, she wanted to go home to be with her family before her sister’s hens the next day.

She was eventually convinced to go out to Claremont - a fateful decision which would see her become the third victim of a serial killer.

She disappeared that night. Several people would later say they saw someone matching her description walking along Stirling Highway just after midnight, some seeing her leaning into the passenger side window of a white station wagon.

That was the last time anyone saw her alive.

Her body was found 19 days later in bushland, 40 km north of Perth.

Today on this bonus episode of Claremont in Conversation, we remember Ciara Glennon, the loving, family-oriented, hard working lawyer.

We look into not only how much she is missed by her family, but the vital clues she left behind as she fought for her life, which could be the key to determine whether Bradley Robert Edwards is the Claremont Serial Killer.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The DNA portion of the trial has officially come to an end, and as tonight’s guest on the Claremont in Conversation, Alison Fan puts it, “It was fitting that the man who started it all, ended it all.”

Dr Jonathan Whitaker dismissed the defence’s two DNA contamination theories, by saying it was ‘highly improbable’ that Bradley Edwards’ DNA was found with Ciara Glennon’s samples because of any type of contamination.

In this episode, Alison Fan says that comment is the closest a scientist - who never say never -  will come to say an event is ‘impossible’.

In his own opinion, Dr Whitaker told the court it was ‘highly likely’ Bradley Edwards’ DNA was found with Ciara’s samples ‘because she scratched him’.

The prosecution say Ciara scratched Edwards while fighting for her life.

The last DNA expert took the stand, she told how the male DNA profile was 80 million times more likely to belong Bradley Edwards than any other Australian Caucasian man he’s not related to. She also told the court Edwards was 20 billion times more likely to be the perpetrator of the Karrakatta rape.

The defence put into question a lot of DNA testing practices in WA, but did they do enough to place reasonable doubt into the mind of Justice Hall?

We’ll find out as the trial continues after a 12-day adjournment, when fibre evidence begins.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He was flown in especially from the UK to give evidence at the Claremont Serial Killings trial. He’s considered the prosecution’s star witness for DNA.

Why?

Because he helped develop the Low Copy Number technique that found the male DNA profile - which the prosecution says is Bradley Edwards’ DNA - on Ciara Glennon’s fingernail samples when no one else could.

Dr Jonathan Whitaker has given evidence at some of the biggest trials around the world, including the now-famous Australian trial which convicted Bradley John Murdoch for the murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio.

But part of his evidence in what could be considered one of WA’s most famous trials, did catch our DNA expert by surprise, in fact, Forensic DNA Expert Brendan Chapman said it could be controversial if left unchallenged.

Our forensic expert breaks down the complicated DNA evidence into an easy-to-understand language on day 58 of WA’s trial of the century.

As we get to the end of the DNA portion of the trial, What Tim Clarke thinks of today’s evidence, why today’s witness is so important, and what’s to come next.

Don’t forget to send in your questions to [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to part two of this recap series of Claremont in Conversation.

In the last episode, we took you through the fear that swept through Perth as police realised a serial killer was at loose in their city after the disappearances of three women.

In the trial, we heard from the people who knew the women, the people who last saw them alive and watched in stunned silence as CCTV and final phone calls were played.

In this episode, we hear from the people who were woken by distressing screams that have stayed with them for more than 20 years.

We also hear from the people who found two bodies - the bodies of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon.

Then, the trial moves into a new phase - the investigation.

The court heard of the massive police response to the discovery of Jane and Ciara’s bodies, then the unprecedented event in court, which saw WA’s top lawyers being sent to Officeworks. Find out why in this episode.

The DNA portion of the trial is complicated and lengthy, so in this special episode, we run you through the DNA samples which are crucial to the prosecution case.

If you’re interested in DNA and DNA testing, our resident forensic expert Brendan Chapman takes us through the process on episode 35, called A Lesson in DNA.

If you’ve enjoyed this catch up series and want to know more, you can start from Season 2, Episode 1. Or follow the trial at thewest.com.au.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to this special catch up episode of Claremont in Conversation.

We’re at the half-way mark in WA’s trial of the century.

If you’ve never listened before, this is your perfect chance to get up to speed on everything that’s happened in WA’s trial of the century, without having to listen to 57 episodes.

If you’ve been following the trial since day one, this is your perfect chance to recap the last three months before the trial moves into fibre evidence.

It’s been the trial WA has waited more than two decades for. Between 1996 and 1997 in the affluent, beautiful and safe suburb of Claremont, the disappearance of three women struck fear into the lives of the people of Perth, Western Australia.

Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon are names most people in WA know. They’re known because they’re the three victims of the Claremont Serial Killer.

Sarah was the first to go missing, in the early hours of January 27, 1996. She called a taxi from a Telstra phone box in Claremont just after 2am. Three minutes later the taxi arrived but she wasn’t there. She’s never been seen since.

Five months later, Jane went missing in almost identical circumstances to Sarah. She had been out in Claremont with friends, except when they decided to go home, she stayed. The last time she was seen was on CCTV vision. It took 32 seconds for Jane to never be seen alive again.

Then in March 1997, Ciara, who had been travelling around the world, had just returned home. Friends convinced her to go out, she reluctantly agreed. The 27-year-old spent just 15 minutes in the Continental Hotel in Claremont and decided to walk home. The last time she was ever seen alive, she was leaning into a white Commodore Station Wagon.

These killings went unsolved for 23 years. Now, the man police and the state say is the man who murdered Sarah, Jane and Ciara is on trial. His name is Bradley Robert Edwards.

Join the Claremont in Conversation team, Natalie Bonjolo and The West Australian Newspaper’s legal affairs editor Tim Clarke as they take you through the first part of the Claremont Serial Killings trial, known as the “civilian witnesses”.

Hear from the people who knew the victims, some of the last people to see them alive and hear from the people involved in the accused man’s life - his wives, friends and colleagues as the prosecution try to paint a picture of what would drive a man to kill three lone, vulnerable women.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode and want to know more, start from season 2.

Part 2 - The Forensics can be found on your favourite podcast app on Saturday.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Impossible” is not a word scientists like to use. But during his fifth, and last day on the stand, forensic scientist Scott Egan got as close as possible to that definite term.

He described a potential contamination of Bradley Edwards’ DNA into samples of Ciara Glennon’s fingernails as being highly unlikely, going as far as saying the two were tested 13-months apart.

Defence lawyer Damien Cripps says in this podcast, it’s looking like this is a full stop on this contamination theory, and the defence would have to start looking elsewhere for other ways they can weaken the prosecution’s case.

During re-examination, the prosecution asked just one question: In that 13-month period between the two samples being tested at PathWest, how many times would the lab have been cleaned?

He replied, with a slight smirk as Tim Clarke observed, “hundreds, if not thousands of times.”

Join Nat, Tim and Damien as they take you through day 57, and the last day for week 13, as the court takes a day off to prepare for new witnesses.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Only one sample of Bradley Edwards’ DNA was created from the Karrakatta rape victim’s intimate swab, and it was revealed that sample sat in an evidence box from 1999 to 2008.

The prosecution argues this means there was no way Bradley Edwards’ DNA and and Ciara Glennon’s fingernail samples could have come into contact with each other.

Previously the court had been told Bradley Edwards DNA was initially extracted in 1995, and tested in 1996 and 1997, then placed into storage. The Forensic scientist Anna-Marie Ashley, who tested Ciara Glennon's fingernails previously told the court the closest time frame the fingernails and the Karrakatta rape samples ever came to each other was two weeks.

Forensic scientist, Scott Egan, who was on his fourth day on the stand said:

“The DNA would have had to get out of the tube with the lid on it, out of the box, which has the lid on it, though the box with the lid on it, and then into the tube (of the other sample) with the lid on it.”

While the defence proved more contamination events which happened on Claremont exhibits at PathWest, they have said they don’t have an exact contamination event that they can point to, but instead are showing ‘sloppy practices’ at PathWest to show, if those contaminations could happen, why can’t it happen on the exhibits now seen as crucial to the case?

As Damien Cripps explains in tis episode of Claremont in Conversation, the prosecution and defence will both be hammering down on their arguments as we get to the end of the DNA portion of the trial. Can the prosecution protect the evidence they have? Or does the defence have enough attack to provide reasonable doubt?

Find out what our legal expert thinks on day 56 of WA’s trial of the century.

Don’t forget to send in your questions to [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ciara Glennon’s body was found 19 days after she went missing, in bushland 40 kms north of Perth on April 3, 1997.

She was found fully clothed, her shirt covered in blood. 

After her post-mortem, her shirt was sent off for DNA testing, but what scientists found was unusual. They found nothing, not even Ciara’s own DNA.

This was explained by senior forensic scientist Scott Egan, who told the court it was likely exposure to the elements destroyed all DNA, even Ciara’s.

But when asked how DNA was found under her fingernails, that’s because, according to the forensic scientist, they were somewhat protected. 

It was the testing of the DNA of Ciara’s fingernails which came under questioning again today, this time by the prosecution, and as Tim Clarke and Alison Fan explain in this episode, they managed to get some ground back after an embarrassing end to the week for PathWest, with seven contamination events found on Claremont exhibits.

Mr Egan told the court, however, in total, PathWest counted 28 ‘quality issues’ in their more than 17,000 tests of Claremont exhibits over 25 years, an average error rate of around 0.16%, which he said was lower than the global average.

He also defended his lab practices, saying he couldn’t see any opportunities of how Bradley Edwards’ DNA could have come into contact with the Karrakatta rape victim’s samples to contaminate it - as the defence has suggested.

The prosecution today even called that theory ‘fanciful’.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and Alison Fan as they take you through the details of day 55.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.