The question of who handled evidence samples from the two murdered women’s bodies, will become key in both the prosecution and defence’s arguments.

On day 25, we got our first glimpse of just how in depth the witnesses will be expected to remember of their dealings with samples.

Forensic police officer Gary Hyde told the court he was present during the day Ciara Glennon’s body was found, he took photos of her post-mortem the next day, and handled several exhibits.

He was responsible for sending off a critical hair sample to the FBI in 1999.

He also told the court he handled evidence which had been tested by key forensic scientist Laurie Webb in 2012, who went on to be sacked in 2016 for cutting corners.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and Emily Moulton as they take you through how the evidence was labelled, where it went, as well as discussing Yakka workwear, and why it has become so important to this case.

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Following Jane Rimmer’s post-mortem, the pathologist who carried it out gave one of the detectives a lock of Jane’s hair.

The detective, Vicky Young then washed, brushed and placed an elastic around it and gave it to the Rimmer family.

During her evidence today, she said it was an act of compassion. But she also said the hair was covered in fluids and matter when it was given to her.

On the podcast for day 24 of the Claremont Serial Killings trial, Alison Fan, Tim Clarke and Natalie Bonjolo discuss this act of kindness, and whether this could have an impact in the case against Bradley Edwards.

In a massive day of WA’s trial of the century, several police officers were questioned, including the first Macro Taskforce detective, who organised a massive search - which included TRG officers - of the Wellard area following the discovery of Jane Rimmer’s body, for Sarah Spiers.

But they didn’t find anything. Sarah still has never been found.

Also today, for Sergeant Barry Mott revealed he drove to Jane Rimmer’s crime scene in a station wagon, the type of car the prosecution says Bradley Edwards used when the murders happened, and fibres from it which were found in both Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon’s bodies.

Join the podcast team as they discuss why this new information may be an obstacle for the prosecution.

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****WARNING: Some listeners may find the content discussed in this episode distressing****

The doctor who examined the 17-year-old who was brutally raped by Bradley Edwards in 1995 has recalled the horrific injuries the teenager suffered that night.

In Day 23 of the Claremont serial killings trial, Dr Amanda Barnard gave evidence saying while she had examined thousands of women during her career as a doctor for the sexual assault resource centre, the injuries inflicted on the 17-year-old by Bradley Robert Edwards almost 25 years ago had stayed with her.

Bradley Edwards pleaded guilty to the rape, in which he abducted the teenager while she was walking to a friends’ house in Claremont on February 11, 1995.

He grabbed the 17-year-old from behind, bound her hands, put a hood over her head and carried her to his van, where he tied her legs, drove her to Karrakatta Cemetery where he then brutally raped the teenager twice.

Dr Barnard, who was working at the sexual assault resource centre at the time told the court how the teenager’s examination was ‘painful and difficult’, saying, “I think the things that made this particular case stick in my mind were the violent nature of assault by a stranger, the fact that she had been hooded and restrained, the extent and painfulness of her injuries and given the fact of her youth and that she was a virgin,”

But while on the stand, the doctor was quizzed about how she collected samples from the teenager, how they were stored and who she sent them to.

The defence say these samples – which were found to have Bradley Edwards’ DNA on them were cross-contaminated with the fingernail clippings from Ciara Glennon.

But the prosecution say they were never even stored on the same shelf, let alone could be contaminated, and previously called the suggestion of cross contamination an “exercise in errant fantasy”.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and criminal defence lawyer Damien Cripps as they take you through day 23 of the Claremont serial killings trial.

If you, or anyone you know has been affected by the content in this podcast, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14

Or the sexual assault resource centre on 1800 199 888

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When police arrived at the scenes where Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon’s bodies had been dumped, they didn’t have to wear gloves to prevent cross contamination.

On day 22 of the Claremont Serial Killings trial, former forensic police officer Robert Hemelaar took the stand for a third day where it was revealed there wasn’t a big focus on preserving a crime scene in the mid 1990s.

He said there was no protocol for wearing gloves and covers for their boots, only that gloves should be worn while handling ‘deceased matter’, for their own safety.

During his cross examination by defence lawyer Paul Yovich, Mr Hemelaar admitted he had handled some evidence - a tree branch - with his bare hands.

The court had been told tree branches had been pulled off nearby trees and placed over both Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon’s bodies to partially conceal them.

He also said a key piece of evidence, a hair sample from Ciara Glennon which the prosecution says contained fibres matching unique Telstra shorts, the kind issued to Bradley Edwards while he was working at Telstra, had not been videoed while being collected from Ciara’s body. It was revealed that the sample had also not had tamper-proof tape stuck on the container until years after it was collected.

Cross-contamination is the main case the defence has said will provide reasonable doubt about whether Bradley Edwards is the Claremont aerial killer.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and Alison Fan as they take you through Day 22’s evidence, and answer some of your questions.

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Former forensic police officer Robert Hemelaar gave his evidence for the whole of day 21 of the Claremont serial killings trial.

He narrated an hour-long video from Ciara Glennon’s burial site, revealing graphic details and forensic clues as to how police collected and stored DNA samples found on the 27-year-old’s body.

Joined in the studio by forensic expert Brendan Chapman, Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and Emily Moulton take you through exactly how forensic officers collect samples, and most importantly, how they avoid contamination.

A key piece of evidence was also hinted at during the trial - the fact that some of Ciara Glennon’s fingernails were broken, coupled with the defensive wounds on her arms, the prosecution said that Ciara fought for her life the night she died.

But under those broken fingernails, the prosecution says was Bradley Edwards’ DNA.

Join the Claremont in Conversation team as they take you through day 21 of WA’s trial of the century.

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On day 20 of the Claremont serial killings trial, the court was given a glimpse into the life of Jane Rimmer through photographs taken from inside her house days after she went missing, a woman’s life frozen in time.

Images from the 23-year-old child care worker’s house and belongings were shown to the court by former forensic police officer Robert Hemelaar, who searched Jane’s Wembley flat.

Bills, papers, even a KFC voucher had been left on her dining table revealing the life frozen in time of a young woman who was never to return.

When Jane's body was found 55 days later, police swarmed the scene. Today one of those officers, former forensic police officer Robert Hemelaar told in graphic detail how her body was found, and how forensics went about moving her body.

The video officer for police also gave evidence on day 20. Justice Stephen Hall ruled that the vision he took was too distressing to be shown to the public gallery, but as Tim Clarke and The West Australian's court reporter Shannon Hampton explain, they didn't need to see the vision to get a picture of what was happening.

Join Tim Clarke, Natalie Bonjolo and Shannon Hampton as they take you through day 20 of the Claremont Serial Killings trial.

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Senior police officers who attended the burial sites of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennons' bodies have described the 'mayhem' and 'organised chaos' which became the crime scenes when the women's bodies were found.

In particular, when the body of the third woman to go missing, Ciara Glennon's body was found in shrub land in Eglinton, both police and the media started using the term 'serial killer'.

This intense interest by the media was brought up in court on day 19 of WA's trial of the century. As detectives tried to preserve the scene, camera screws also tried to capture every moment. One senior officer even mentioned one reporter by name, that was 7News journalist Adrian Barich, who he said was arrested on the scene of Ciara Glennon's burial site, but as Adrian explains, as a rookie sports journalist, it was something he'd never expected to witness, and gives us his account of what happened.

The case also focussed around contamination. It was revealed a key piece of evidence which the prosecution says links the Karrakatta rape the murders of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon had been unaccounted for in the WA Police database for almost a year.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, special guest Adrian Barich along with Tim Clarke and Alison Fan as they discuss day 19 of the Claremont serial killings trial.

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After a two-week break, the trial of the century resumed at Perth’s Supreme Court, only to be adjourned again after just half an hour.

The reason? Prosecutors needed to go to a stationary store to buy projector screens to block out gruesome images of the burial sites of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon’s bodies that were set to be shown as evidence.

The families of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon had voiced their concerns about the evidence being shown to the public, and the judge agreed the vision and images would simply be too distressing.

The court was packed out for the resumption of the trial, so closing the court while the gruesome evidence was shown wasn’t going to be an easy option.

So instead, when video of the day Jane Rimmer’s body was found was shown, only the judge, the lawyers, the witnesses and Bradley Edwards could see it.

Tim Clarke, Natalie Bonjolo and criminal defence lawyer Damien Cripps discuss why this was an unusual move, and what it means for the rest of the trial.

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