Monday, December 23, 2024

Case to be locked in as ex-cop accused of double murder

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A police officer accused of murdering two men including his former love interest will have to wait to deliver his pleas as prosecutors seek more time to finalise their case against him.

Beaumont Lamarre-Condon has been charged with the murders of Qantas flight attendant Luke Davies, 29, and TV presenter Jessie Baird, 26.

The 28-year-old then-senior constable allegedly shot the men with his NSW Police service weapon at Baird’s inner-city Paddington home on February 19 while he was off-duty.

Beau Lamarre-Condon will return to court today. (Supplied)

Police allege the attack was premeditated after a months-long campaign of “predatory behaviour” targeting Baird, who he briefly dated.

Lamarre-Condon did not appear at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court today, when his lawyer John Walford agreed to an eight-week adjournment of the case.

While Davies’ family listened in to the hearing by audio-link from Queensland, Crown Prosecutor Brendan Donnelly said the time was needed to finalise the charges against the former officer.

“We plan to have the charges set by then,” he told Magistrate Daniel Covington.

Luke Davies and Jesse Baird.
Luke Davies and Jesse Baird. (Nine)

Outside court, Walford told reporters he would be served a brief of evidence in the case later today, but it was too early for his client to make a plea.

He said Lamarre-Condon was doing alright in custody, given the circumstances.

“He’s coping but it’s tough for everyone. It’s tough for him as well.”

It was also too early to tell whether a mental health defence would be raised or whether the matter would go to trial, he told reporters.

The couple’s bodies were found on February 27 inside surfboard bags at the fence line of a rural property near Goulburn, about 200km southwest of Sydney.

Lamarre-Condon had been charged with two counts of murder before the two bodies were found.

Suspicion that they were dead was sparked after possessions belonging to the men were found in a skip bin in the southern Sydney suburb of Cronulla, leading police to Baird’s blood-smeared share house.

Lamarre-Condon joined the NSW Police Force in 2019 and previously ran a celebrity blog, posing in photos with dozens of A-listers including Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Harry Styles.

He was sacked from the force in mid-March.

The matter will return to court on August 13.

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