S2E77: The Pristine Hair Sample

For the first time, the court was shown a picture of a pristine hair sample, which was never touched before

RH17 was the hair sample taken from Ciara Glennon when her body was found in bushland off Pipidinny road in Eglington on April 3, 1997.

This hair sample is so important because it was taken before anyone had a chance to inspect Ciara’s remains, and is seen as one of the most accurate pieces of evidence showing exactly what was on Ciara Glennon before any investigators, pathologists, detectives and scientists were in contact with her samples from her remains.

During the post-mortem portion of the trial, avid listeners will remember the person who collected this fibre was never really known, because the police video at the scene didn’t capture it - the mostly likely reason was because during the collection of this fibre, the camera operator was changing the camera battery.

During today’s evidence, it was revealed two fibres were found. Those fibres were found to match the fibres from the Telstra pants worn by employees in the 90s.

During day 77’s evidence, fibre expert Rees Powell spent another long day on the stand.

He gave evidence of the rest of the fibres found on Ciara Glennon, as well as some fibres from the car driven by Bradley Edwards in the late 1990s.

Some of those fibres didn’t exactly match fibres found on Jane, Ciara or the Karrakatta rape victim, but some of the fibres from the Telstra pants matched the car, and the fibres from the Telstra pants matched the fibres found on the victims.

A slightly complicated bit of evidence, which Justice Hall jumped on and asked Rees Powell several questions on.

As criminal defence lawyer Damien Cripps described the how this evidence could be interpreted - even though the fibres don’t match, they actually do.

We’re through 94 out of the 98 fibres have been run through to now.

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

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