Denis Glennon told his daughter at her grave, 'I will do all in my power to find the person responsible'
Denis Glennon, father of Claremont killer victim Ciara Glennon, has told how his daughter's fight for life left the crucial clues to her killer's identity and revealed how some media reporting over the past two decades had inflicted "needless suffering" on his family.
Mr Glennon told how his family were not permitted to view Ciara's body, her injuries were too gruesome, and how during the trial the public were not allowed to see photographs of her body.
"I read the complete autopsy report, it contained the photographs of the fatal injuries to Ciara's neck," he said.
"For 23 years I have lived with those images."
Mr Glennon said shortly after his daughter's funeral he visited her grave, and made a personal commitment to her.
"I told her I would do all in my power to find the persons responsible or I would die trying," he said.
Since then that task "has driven me unwaveringly".
He said the Glennon family had no criticism of the police or scientists, saying they did the very best they could with the information, methods and equipment they had available to them at the time.
Mr Glennon began his press conference quoting Ms Glennon's mother Una, who wrote a book about her grief.
"There's always somebody missing, an empty chair," he said.
Mr Glennon said those words, written in 2012, still resonated today.
Ciara Glennon.
"When Ciara was deemed a missing person I appealed for help to find her in a press conference ... in this very same room," Mr Glennon said as he spoke at police headquarters on Friday.
"Little did we know then how prophetic these words would be."
Mr Glennon said life's shadows were lengthening for his wife and himself, and from now they would together move forward with renewed purpose and meaning, "shepherded by fond memories from the past".
Those memories meld with a future to be spent with their daughter Denise and her family, with their friends, and with the thoughts of enduring gratitude to many people.
"Crimes such as these inflict unforeseeable collateral damage, they take their toll physically, emotionally, and spiritually on those left behind," he said.
Dennis and Una Glennon leave court after Bradley Edwards was convicted of murdering their daughter Ciara Glennon.Credit:Nine
"As a family we will not allow ourselves to be prisoners of the past. We have chosen not to prepare or provide victim impact statements partly for that reason. The past is unquestionably for us engulfed by sadness, and that is a powerful force, but as a family the past is transcended.
"It is transcended by the fond memories of Ciara. Yes memories watered by tears, but also caressed by her spirit, her ready friendship and above all her courage. These memories will continue to apply healing balm to past suffering."
The Claremont Killer
Ms Glennon was the third woman to vanish off the streets of Claremont in Western Australia in the mid-1990s.
Days later Mr Glennon struggled through a press conference appealing for help.
“The way she’s been brought up, she will fight,” he said.
Yesterday Bradley Edwards was found guilty of murdering Ms Glennon and Jane Rimmer, and a crucial piece of evidence against him was the DNA underneath Ms Glennon's fingernail.
During a struggle before her murder, Ms Glennon scratched Edwards, causing his DNA to become embedded underneath her fingernail.
That last desperate act by the young lawyer would deliver the crucial piece of evidence which would eventually see justice served more than 23 years after her death.
On Thursday the family of his other murder victim Jane Rimmer released a statement.
"The Rimmer family is pleased that we finally have a verdict which gives us some answers about the abduction and horrendous murder of our beloved Jane," it said.
"For our family and friends there have been 24 years of pain and anguish at the loss of our young, vibrant daughter, sister, niece and close friend.
"Jane had her whole life ahead of her, and it is almost beyond comprehension this could have ended in such horrific, heinous circumstances.
"Our family can now take some comfort today and the healing process can begin."
Daile Cross manages the WAtoday newsroom.