Radio Brisvaani
When former detective Dennis Martyn voiced his strong belief in 2003 that Brett Peter Cowan murdered Daniel Morcombe, then homicide squad boss Mike Condon replied: “f*** off you wouldn’t know anything”, an inquest has heard.
The inquest into the Sunshine Coast teenager’s disappearance and murder in 2003 has resumed more than five years after it was adjourned to look at the adequacy of the initial investigation.
The two-day hearing is underway in Brisbane, even though Cowan is already behind bars.
“I would say he was a high probable person of interest after my first conversation with him,” Mr Martyn told the inquest.
“There should’ve been covert activities placed on him, certainly surveillance.”
At the time of Daniel’s death, Mr Martyn said his partner Kenneth King were working for the child exploitation branch Taskforce Argos.
Mr Martyn told the inquest he relayed his suspicions about Cowan to Mr Condon at the time, telling him: “I think you’ll find he’s your man.”
He said Mr Condon’s response was: “F*** off you wouldn’t know anything.”
Mr King told the inquest he too made his concerns about Cowan clear to homicide detectives.
“I was quite adamant, there was no ambiguity,” he said.
“I thought he would be elevated to be a key suspect.”
But Mr King, who had been tasked with running the alibis of potential suspects, said inadequate resources were directed towards Cowan.
He interviewed Cowan and his then wife in the same month Daniel went missing and formed the opinion Cowan was “very suspicious” and should be investigated further.
Mr King said Cowan had put himself travelling the road in the vicinity of Daniel and resembled a police suspect sketch that had been produced.
The inquest heard Mr King passed on the information to other investigators and was told the homicide squad would take over.
To his surprise, to his knowledge no further surveillance or search warrants were carried out on Cowan.
He believed doing that would have yielded more evidence earlier.
“I got the impression of guilt from him,” Mr King told the inquest.
“He seemed like someone who was a little bit too cooperative.”
With all the resources available in the investigation, he would have put immediate surveillance on Cowan.
“Search warrants at every premises that was connected with Cowan, a thorough forensic investigation both of premises and the vehicle,” Mr King added outside court.
Daniel was abducted from a Sunshine Coast bus stop 13 years ago on his way to Maroochydore to buy Christmas presents for his family.
It sparked one of Australia’s largest police investigations and led to the conviction of Cowan, who is serving a life sentence.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-14/daniel-morcombe-coronial-inquest-police-cowan/8118654
