Inside the Mind of a Killer

Bradley Edwards will 'never' reveal the location of Sarah Spiers. That’s according to leading forensic anthropologist and criminologist Dr Xanthe Mallett.

In this episode of Claremont in Conversation: The Verdict, we take you inside the mind of a killer.

Joined by forensic DNA expert Brendan Chapman and forensic anthropologist, criminologist Dr Xanthe Mallett, our guests analyse Bradley Robert Edwards fits the profile of a psychopath and what makes someone kill.

During his police interview, Bradley Edwards was seen to barely show any emotion as he was told about the horrific final moments of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon, but when he was asked about his family, he seemed animated.

Dr Xanthe Mallett tells the podcast team psychopaths, a group which she included Edwards in, commonly display lack of emotion, but do when they’re triggered. Usually the only people who see those triggers are their victims.

The prosecution laid out in the first few months of the trial, their idea of what those triggers could have been - emotional upsets - the ‘third wheel’ that moved into Edwards’ and his first wife’s home, her affair with the third wheel, the pregnancy and the sale of their marital home.

As Tim Clarke explains, the prosecution abandoned this theory towards the end of the trial, but he believed it wasn’t because they didn’t think it was accurate anymore, rather, their DNA case was strong enough without it.

Before a body was even found, and WA realised there was a killer roaming the streets of Claremont, police had already made links between the disappearance of the Karrakatta rape victim, Sarah Spiers and Jane Rimmer, and that was through the forensic process of victimology.

But even with a police investigation linking the disappearance of Sarah Spiers and the murders of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon, without a body, Justice Hall didn’t find there was enough evidence to convict Edwards of her murder too.

Brendan Chapman explains why, even if a miracle happens, and Sarah Spiers’ remains are found, while it would be extremely hard to find any evidence from it, it wouldn’t be impossible - although most of it would still be circumstantial.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke, Brendan Chapman and Xanthe Mallett as they try and delve inside the mind of a killer.

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