Day 80 of the Claremont Serial Killings trial sat late to accomodate an expert witness from overseas. But before Dr Ray Palmer gave evidence, the defence asked the prosecution to call up a witness.

This witness gave a terrifying account of her encounter with a man in a white van who she accepted a ride from while she was walking on Stirling Highway in the mid 90s.

A man who tried to grab her leg while he was driving her before she yelled to stop, ran as fast as she could from the car and hid behind a letterbox until he was gone.

This encounter is eerily similar to the Telstra Living Witnesses, except, her description of the man was very different to their descriptions, and the description of Bradley Edwards at that time.

A tactic in reasonable doubt? Criminal Defence Lawyer Damien Cripps joins the podcast team to discuss that question, and the evidence from the prosecution’s ket fibre witness - Dr Ray Palmer, who literally wrote the book on fibres.

During Dr Palmer’s evidence, he told the court he thought the forensic practices were very sloppy, and probably resulted in the loss of fibres.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard about forensic practices being sloppy - DNA experts have also previously told the court they thought the same.

But Dr Palmer qualified his remarks by saying the practices were sloppy all-round in the 90s - even in the UK.

He also told the court that fibres in general can fall off people very easily, and the chances of finding a target fibre that matches one of the fibres found on a body - which is the case in the fibres found on Jane, Ciara and the Karrakatta rape victim - is usually very rare.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke as they bring you a wrap up of the night’s evidence.

Court will be sitting late for the rest of the week as Dr Ray Palmer continues his evidence.

The West Australian has also released a two-part video series, as Tim Clarke takes you through the areas which are key to the trial, from Claremont, where the women went missing, to Hollywood hospital and to the sites were Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon’s bodies were found.

To watch those videos, head to:

Part 1:

https://thewest.com.au/news/claremont-serial-killings/claremont-serial-killings-trial-tim-clarke-takes-you-on-a-visual-tour-of-claremont-ng-b881516606z

Part 2:

https://thewest.com.au/news/claremont-serial-killings/claremont-serial-killings-trial-tim-clarke-takes-you-to-wellard-and-eglington-ng-b881517153z

If you have any questions for the Claremont in Conversation podcast team, send them in to [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.