Vic: Witness had dire thoughts for little girl lost

AAP General News (Australia)
12-09-2009
Vic: Witness had dire thoughts for little girl lost

EDS: Note language in eighth par



By Jeff Turnbull

MELBOURNE, Dec 9 AAP - "Go home little girl, you are in grave danger" - that was the
thought that flashed through Edith Jamieson's mind when she saw Linda Stilwell playing
by herself on the St Kilda foreshore 41 years ago.

The danger she sensed was Derek Ernest Percy.

Ms Jamieson saw a man with a "skeletal face" watching Linda play and later identified
him as Percy when she saw his photograph in a newspaper in connection with another murder
- that of 12-year-old Yvonne Tuohy 12 months later.

He has since been linked to many of Australia's most notorious child killings and has
been in prison for 40 years over Yvonne's murder.

"It hit me like a thunderbolt - I recognised the face in the Herald," Ms Jamieson told
a coronial inquest into the disappearance and death of Linda.

Ms Jamieson was the last person to see seven-year-old Linda alive and to this day has
not forgotten the busy Saturday scene on the seafront in August, 1968.

Percy admitted to former school friend and policeman Ronald Anderson he was in the
area on the day and Deputy State Coroner Iain West on Wednesday found that on the balance
of probability, he was in the St Kilda vicinity.

Mr Anderson on Wednesday told the inquest that when he went to the City Watchhouse
to speak with him in 1969, Percy said to him: "I've really f***ed up this time, Ron".

When Mr Anderson asked Percy if he had murdered Linda Stilwell, he replied: "I don't remember".

He told Mr Anderson he'd been in Adelaide when the three Beaumont children disappeared
in January 1966 and had driven past the spot where three-year-old Simon Brook was murdered
in Sydney in 1968.

When Mr Anderson asked Percy if he killed the Beaumonts, Percy replied: "I could have
killed them, I don't remember a thing".

"At the time, Derek seemed remorseful for himself but didn't seem to indicate any remorse
for the victims," Mr Anderson told the Coroner's Court.

Two months out of training, Mr Anderson was called in by homicide detectives "to try
to find out what made Percy tick" after Percy had been arrested for the murder of Yvonne
Tuohy, whose throat and stomach had been slashed.

Ms Jamieson gave her harrowing account while holding back tears and said that when
she saw Linda she believed the infant was in great danger.

"Go home little girl, you are in grave danger," Ms Jamieson said to herself as she
watched Linda play.

She saw Linda rolling down the grassy slope near the beach and saw a man "with a skeletal
face" close by sitting on a bench looking out to sea.

"I took that whole scene in and it has stayed with me forever," she told the inquest.

Ms Jamieson had three children of her own on the beach that day and wanted to get back
to them, because she felt they were also in danger.

The Stilwell family's lawyer, Elizabeth McKinnon, urged the coroner to take into account
that Percy has been placed at other child murders around Australia.

But Mr West said there were no witnesses to the Beaumonts' disappearance or the murder
of Simon Brook, while Ms Jamieson had identified a man who looked like Percy at the scene.

The inquest is continuing, with Percy expected to be called to give evidence on Thursday.

AAP jxt/pmu/it/cdh

KEYWORD: STILWELL WRAP

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