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Cleo Smith

WA NewsCommentsPremiumState Tribunal declares Cleo Smith abduction site ‘unsafe’

The Carnarvon Blowhole shacks where Cleo Smith was abducted have won at the State Administrative Tribunal after their owners were issued unfair building orders to demolish their structures.

Anna Cox

Appeal bombshellPremiumWhy lawyer claims Cleo abductor’s sentence was ‘excessive’

The jail time handed to Terrence Kelly for stealing Cleo Smith from her parents should be reduced, claims one of Australia’s most fearsome lawyers.

Tim Clarke

Happy snapsCommentsPremiumCleo Smith’s mother ties the knot in wholesome ceremony

Almost two years since Cleo Smith’s terrifying abduction, her mother has married her partner in a beautiful ceremony. 

Lauren Price

‘He wanted a daughter’CommentsPremium‘We’re still terrified’: Cleo’s mum on life after abduction

The mother of Cleo Smith says her child’s abductor wanted a ‘daughter’, as she opened up about the struggles the little girl still faces more than a year and a half after she was snatched.

Kate Purnell

‘Just heartbreaking’PremiumCleo Smith’s parents reveal she’s plagued by nightmares

The parents of Cleo Smith, who endured a terrifying 18-day ordeal after being snatched from her family’s tent, have revealed disturbing details of how the little girl is recovering. 

Anthony Anderson

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
New twistPremium
The West Australian exclusive
BOMBSHELL: Cleo Smith’s kidnapper lodges appeal

The man who admitted kidnapping little Cleo Smith in 2021 is appealing his jail term for the horrific crime.

Phil Hickey

Speaking outPremiumCleo’s mum: ‘The anger always will be there’

Ellie Smith has broken her silence, expressing her enduring anger at kidnapper Terence Kelly and relief that he will spend more than a decade behind bars for abducting her daughter and holding her captive.

Emily Moulton

In-depthPremiumTroubled mind and warped history of little Cleo’s kidnapper

A little fighter, stolen by a fantasist. A man who created his own children in his mind — and then stole someone else’s while out of his mind on drugs. That child was Cleo Smith. That man was Terence Kelly. 

Tim Clarke

‘Evil crime’PremiumTop cop’s powerful statement after Cleo kidnapper jailed

Col Blanch says he wants Cleo Smith ‘to grow up as a happy girl who meets her dreams in her life’, admitting as a father he could never forgive her abductor.

Shannon Hampton

Prison termPremiumCleo kidnapper sentenced as chilling details laid bare

Cleo Smith’s abductor Terence Kelly has been jailed after it was revealed in court he ‘roughed her up’ after snatching the little girl from her family’s tent at a Carnarvon campsite while high on meth.

Emily Moulton

Miracle rescuePremiumHow the Cleo Smith case unfolded

The shock of Cleo Smith’s kidnapping spread far from Western Australia, here are how events unfolded in a case that gripped the world.

Tim Clarke

‘Evil, evil crime’VideoPremiumTime for Cleo’s family to get closure: Top cop

Police Commissioner Col Blanch says for him the rescue of Cleo Smith was the ‘greatest moment of WA Police history’ and that today’s sentencing is an important day for her family to get closure.

Shannon Hampton and Daryna Zadvirna

full details revealedPremiumSentencing date finally set for Cleo Smith’s kidnapper

The man who admitted kidnapping Cleo Smith — a crime which stopped the State before her miraculous rescue 18 days later — will finally be sentenced next month.

Tim Clarke

Guilty plea PremiumCleo Smith’s kidnapper admits to obstruction charge

The man who admitted to the abduction of little Cleo Smith from her family’s tent has also admitted to obstructing police in the hours after his dramatic arrest.

Tim Clarke

‘humbling’ honourVideoCommentsPremiumCleo Smith hero cop awarded prestigious police medal

The policeman who led the painstaking search for Cleo Smith in the desperate hours and days after she vanished is one of four WA cops to receive Australian Police Medals.

Shannon Hampton

‘LASTING IMPACT’ PremiumHow rescuing Cleo changed the way WA Police investigate

The success of little Cleo Smith’s rescue operation almost a year ago has had a lasting effect on the way police investigate, WA’s top cop says.

Kate Purnell

12 Months OnPremiumReflecting on the unthinkable: A year since Cleo's abduction

It’s been almost a year since Cleo Smith was snatched from her family’s tent. Despite a desire to move on, it’s clear the ordeal still plays on the minds of locals and strangers.

Lachlan Allen

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
House of horrorsVideoPremium
The West Australian exclusive
REVEALED: What State has planned for Cleo captor’s home

Just days from the anniversary of Cleo Smith’s kidnapping, a crime that turned the international spotlight onto WA, it can be revealed what is being done to the property where the little girl was held captive.

Shannon Hampton and Lachlan Allen

Date setPremiumCleo Smith’s kidnapper to stand trial for alleged cop attack

The man who kidnapped Cleo Smith during her family’s camping trip near Carnarvon will face trial for allegedly attacking a police officer in the abduction’s aftermath in February.

Michael Traill & Kate Massey

notorious case PremiumSentencing date set down for Cleo Smith’s kidnapper

Terence Kelly — the man who kidnapped four-year-old Cleo Smith from her tent as she slept with her parents at the Blowholes campsite near Carnarvon in October last year — will learn his fate in three months.

Sarah Steger

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
‘maliciously profiting’Comments
The West Australian exclusive
Money-spinning telcos hit WA Police with huge $1m phone bill

Money-spinning telcos charged WA Police $1 million over the past year to provide information for critical investigations such as the search for Cleo Smith and taking dangerous paedophiles off our streets.

Shannon Hampton

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
‘disbelief’Premium
The West Australian exclusive
‘Best memory I’ve ever had’: Blanch on little Cleo’s rescue

Being the one to announce to the world that little Cleo Smith had been rescued will always be ‘the best memory I’ve ever had in law enforcement’, police chief Col Blanch says.

Shannon Hampton

New revelations PremiumPerth park abduction accused had ‘disability support carer’

The man accused of luring a nine-year-old girl from a Doubleview park was being provided a disability support carer unrelated to the criminal justice system, it has been revealed.

Shannon Hampton and Josh Zimmerman

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
‘I’ll never forget’CommentsPremium
The West Australian exclusive
Chris Dawson reveals heartwarming details of Cleo rescue

It was a moment that united the country — and Chris Dawson described himself as the ‘proudest Police Commissioner in the world’ when four-year-old Cleo Smith was saved from her kidnapper’s lair in Carnarvon.

Brianna Dugan