WA News

'It's not over yet': Police sound warning on unsolved cases after Claremont arrest

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Acting police commissioner Stephen Brown said he expected the judicial process of accused Claremont serial killer Bradley Edwards to be "long, drawn-out and complex", as police continue to pump extra resources into cracking WA's biggest unsolved cases.

Bradley Robert Edwards has been behind bars since being taken into custody by police on December 22.

The 48-year-old Kewdale man is charged with the murders of Jane Rimmer, 23, and Ciara Glennon, 27, in 1996 and 1997 respectively. He is yet to enter a plea.

Commissioner Brown told Radio 6PR on Thursday the breakthrough arrest of Mr Edwards in December came after 20 years of "meticulous and relentless work" by investigators involved in the longest running and most expensive murder investigation in Australia's history.

"It wasn't perfect, it won't be seen as being perfect in the cold, hard light of day, and it will be judged by the judicial system, and a jury, or whatever that process ends up being overtime," he said.

"We have a number of unsolved serious crimes, homicides and other offences that have occurred over the last 20 to 30 years that we are dedicated to doing our best on here in 2017 and beyond, to either to resolve them or at least convince ourselves that there's nothing more that can be done.

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"With the advances of technology and technique over the last 20 years, particularly in the form of DNA and other sciences... we've applied modern day technology and technique to old cases and we're getting some results, and it's not over yet."

Commissioner Brown made a fresh appeal for anyone with information about the murder of school boy Gerard Ross in Rockingham in 1997 to come forward after an earlier appeal this month led to 70 calls being made to Crime Stoppers.

"You can't understate the value of information from the public, so if you're sitting back looking at any of these cases play out on the evening news, or hearing about them on the radio, I implore you to ring Crime Stoppers, ring us, ring the police and give us your information, because it can be - and has been in the past - that piece of the jigsaw puzzle that cracks the case open," he said.

"There are a number of [unsolved] cases that the special crime squad and the state crime portfolio are working on, we have put in significant resources into that area of the last two years.

"The community can expect over the coming years, we will see more of these sorts of results [people being charged], that is my prediction and I hope that is the case because there are a lot of family members and friends who are left behind without their loved ones who also want a result more than anybody and we stand side-by-side with them."

Mr Edwards has not been charged in relation to the suspected murder of Sarah Spiers after she disappeared from a nightclub in Claremont in 1996.

Her body has never been found and the investigation into her disappearance is ongoing.