funding 'Mickey Mouse' techniques, such as the lie detector, that would never stand up to serious legal scrutiny. Worse, he says, it blurs the lines between what is kept secret in the investigation and what is told to those who are injecting the money. The premise of a fair trial must balance on police investigations independent of private funding.
Paul Ferguson is also initially critical. 'Ciara's murder changed the axis of the investigation,' he recalls. 'Prior to this it had been community based. But Denis Glennon – himself a victim – had barbecues at Premier Richard Court's house and the political connection was undeniable. Suddenly, there was another arm of the investigation that we had to deal with, like a hungry octopus. I raised objections but it achieved nothing. Falconer left us to do our job, but the reality was, it was his way or no way when it came to dealing with people in power. And Falconer was incredibly media savvy.'
But Dave Caporn doesn't flinch through the onslaught. The use of private funds, he says, is welcomed. Whatever it takes. Denis Glennon is unsurprisingly defensive of the money being used to help bolster Macro's coffers. He doesn't agree that any of the techniques are controversial. It is, he says, a cooperative approach to tackling the investigation, a means of involving the community in the fight. It is his daughter out there, missing.
Whatever it takes.
22
Nine days after Ciara vanishes, an editorial in The West Australian encapsulates the public fears.
...It is the predatory nature of the disappearance that shakes the foundations of the community. The thought that there is someone out there who is biding his time, waiting for the right moment to strike. Someone who possibly is not what he appears...three women have disappeared but police do not appear soon to be any closer to solving the mystery. Everyone has a theory – but theories are not hard to find in Perth at the moment. The only certainty is that we are uncertain, the only established fact is that we don't know – or to be more precise, most of us don't know. The nightmare can't continue.
The clairvoyants circle again with wild, fanciful ideas. Denis Glennon – tough, grief-stricken – does not suffer fools, but they come at him from all angles, sorrow attracting them like moths to a flame. He dispatches them, curtly and quickly. Unless they have real information, they are of no value to him.
They are not all clairvoyants and soothsayers. Neil Fearis receives a visit from Perth GP Dr Andrew Dunn. He has information to pass on, he says, that has been given to him by a female patient whom he does not name. He has gone to the police with the information, he tells Fearis, but they have not taken him seriously. This patient has told him that Ciara is being held captive in a house where black magic rituals will take place to appease the gods at the autumnal equinox. Come the Easter long weekend, she will be offered up as a human sacrifice, like the sacrificial lamb. Fearis, too, passes the information to the Macro taskforce. 'We were all so desperate to get Ciara back,' he recalls. 'But they didn't take the information at all seriously, so unbeknown to Denis Glennon, whom we knew did not need this extra stress, we hired private detective Mick Buckley to keep watch on the house in the hills for three days.'
After leaving the police force, Buckley became a private investigator in 1983. 'I got a phone call around 6 pm on Easter Thursday,' he recalls, 'asking me to start surveillance on this female patient. The information was that Ciara Glennon's murder would take place at The Spot in Yanchep. I rotated with two private investigators, tailing the woman when she came out of her house.' Keeping around-the-clock surveillance, Buckley reports back. There is no sign of anything odd, he says. Nothing at all.
'Who knows why this information was passed on in the first place?' Fearis shrugs, weariness showing in his voice. 'Maybe the
Paul Ferguson is also initially critical. 'Ciara's murder changed the axis of the investigation,' he recalls. 'Prior to this it had been community based. But Denis Glennon – himself a victim – had barbecues at Premier Richard Court's house and the political connection was undeniable. Suddenly, there was another arm of the investigation that we had to deal with, like a hungry octopus. I raised objections but it achieved nothing. Falconer left us to do our job, but the reality was, it was his way or no way when it came to dealing with people in power. And Falconer was incredibly media savvy.'
But Dave Caporn doesn't flinch through the onslaught. The use of private funds, he says, is welcomed. Whatever it takes. Denis Glennon is unsurprisingly defensive of the money being used to help bolster Macro's coffers. He doesn't agree that any of the techniques are controversial. It is, he says, a cooperative approach to tackling the investigation, a means of involving the community in the fight. It is his daughter out there, missing.
Whatever it takes.
22
Nine days after Ciara vanishes, an editorial in The West Australian encapsulates the public fears.
...It is the predatory nature of the disappearance that shakes the foundations of the community. The thought that there is someone out there who is biding his time, waiting for the right moment to strike. Someone who possibly is not what he appears...three women have disappeared but police do not appear soon to be any closer to solving the mystery. Everyone has a theory – but theories are not hard to find in Perth at the moment. The only certainty is that we are uncertain, the only established fact is that we don't know – or to be more precise, most of us don't know. The nightmare can't continue.
The clairvoyants circle again with wild, fanciful ideas. Denis Glennon – tough, grief-stricken – does not suffer fools, but they come at him from all angles, sorrow attracting them like moths to a flame. He dispatches them, curtly and quickly. Unless they have real information, they are of no value to him.
They are not all clairvoyants and soothsayers. Neil Fearis receives a visit from Perth GP Dr Andrew Dunn. He has information to pass on, he says, that has been given to him by a female patient whom he does not name. He has gone to the police with the information, he tells Fearis, but they have not taken him seriously. This patient has told him that Ciara is being held captive in a house where black magic rituals will take place to appease the gods at the autumnal equinox. Come the Easter long weekend, she will be offered up as a human sacrifice, like the sacrificial lamb. Fearis, too, passes the information to the Macro taskforce. 'We were all so desperate to get Ciara back,' he recalls. 'But they didn't take the information at all seriously, so unbeknown to Denis Glennon, whom we knew did not need this extra stress, we hired private detective Mick Buckley to keep watch on the house in the hills for three days.'
After leaving the police force, Buckley became a private investigator in 1983. 'I got a phone call around 6 pm on Easter Thursday,' he recalls, 'asking me to start surveillance on this female patient. The information was that Ciara Glennon's murder would take place at The Spot in Yanchep. I rotated with two private investigators, tailing the woman when she came out of her house.' Keeping around-the-clock surveillance, Buckley reports back. There is no sign of anything odd, he says. Nothing at all.
'Who knows why this information was passed on in the first place?' Fearis shrugs, weariness showing in his voice. 'Maybe the
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