Leeton's Inspector Tim Clark receives honour for work in bringing the late Stephanie Scott's killer to justice

LEETON'S Inspector Tim Clark led one of the hardest investigations of his career when the late Stephanie Scott was murdered, but has now been recognised for his skill and efforts.

Inspector Clark received formal recognition for his efforts in leading Strike Force Gundibri during a recent awards ceremony for the Murrumbidgee Police District.

He, along with other key personnel, received the Commissioner's Unit Citation, which acknowledged his commitment and dedication to this case and others that have found his desk.

In testimony to his humbleness over the matter, he deflected praise onto everyone who played a part in the Stephanie Scott investigation.

"At the most we only had about 40 police working on it at any one time," Inspector Clark said.

"Everybody played their part and they all need to be acknowledged for the work they did in getting (the) outcome.

"This perhaps now closes the chapter on one of the most tragic stories ever told in the history of the Leeton shire."

Inspector Clark recalled the time of the investigation, which first started after Miss Scott, who grew up in Canowindra, was reported missing in Leeton over the Easter long weekend in 2015.

At the time, Inspector Clark was a Detective Sergeant and was at home enjoying the fortune of not having to work over the Easter period.

He recalls sitting on a lounge chair sipping a coffee as he scrolled through Facebook on his phone, noticing a couple of links mentioning a possible missing person - Miss Scott - a school teacher from Leeton High who was due to be married the following weekend.

While the stories piqued a little interest, his police experience told him most missing persons are located within 24 to 48 hours of going missing.

"By the time I got back to work on Tuesday she would probably be safely back at home," he remembers thinking, now realising unfortunately how wrong he was.

What he didn't know was that what was about to play out would have a major impact on his life, as well as the lives of a number of individuals and the Leeton community as a whole.

Tuesday morning after Easter broke clear and fine as Inspector Clark arrived at Griffith Police Station to start work.

However, he was told to immediately get back into a police car and head straight back to Leeton to take charge of a missing person inquiry.

He asked immediately if this was Miss Scott and worry began to nag at him when he learned it was.

He was briefed she had been reported missing by family on Monday afternoon and Leeton uniformed police had started looking into the matter.

Inspector Clark made his way to the Verona Street address where Miss Scott lived and was met by her family and friends.

He noticed the house was full of wedding preparations and there was nothing to suggest Miss Scott was doing anything else but excitedly preparing for the next stage of her life.

At that moment he knew something sinister had occurred and there were very serious concerns for Miss Scott's welfare.

Like most police investigations, there was myriad information coming through from the public, which had to be sifted through.

Two pieces of information came to Inspector Clark's attention.

One was Miss Scott had been at her place of employment at Leeton High School on the Sunday and the school cleaner had been seen there as well.

The other one was Miss Scott had been seen leaving Woolworths Leeton late on Sunday afternoon and was noticed getting into a car.

Following further investigation, it was established Miss Scott had been seen at Woolworths on the Saturday, not the Sunday, which changed things dramatically.

Using a ploy that it was just a standard inquiry, uniformed police were tasked to attend the cleaner's home where he told them he had been at the school on Easter Sunday, but had not seen Miss Scott.

As they left, the cleaner called out to them to stop.

In a moment that would become frozen in time, the cleaner told them with a smirk on his face "good luck finding her".

On Wednesday morning and Inspector Clark was at the Leeton police station before sunrise as investigations ramped up.

Strike Force Gundibri was established to investigate the disappearance of Miss Scott.

On television "cop shows", a strike force is always something to behold with the latest technology, offices and hundreds of sworn and unsworn police working tirelessly on one objective.

In reality, Strike Force Gundibri consisted of some uniformed police from Leeton and detectives from Griffith who were housed within two small offices at the Leeton station.

However, what the strike force lacked in size was made up by the dedication and determination of the police involved, all who would spend countless hours and days to do their best for Miss Scott.

One of the first tasks set by Inspector Clark was for detectives to obtain a witness statement from the cleaner.

This was obtained and Inspector Clark reviewed the statement and discovered some "glaring inconsistencies" within it.

It was clear the cleaner was not being honest in what he told police.

Later that day, Inspector Clark sent detectives back to the cleaner's home to see if he would be willing to come to the station to assist in their inquiries.

The cleaner wasn't home, but his mother was and she invited them into the home and gave written consent for them to make a cursory search of the home.

In the cleaner's bedroom a set of keys were found, which were consistent to the type of keys Miss Scott had on her when she went missing.

Police immediately declared the home a crime scene, which gave them the power to prevent anybody from entering. The cleaner eventually came home and agreed to attend the Leeton Police Station. The cleaner's vehicle was searched and a camera was found on the front seat.

An inquisitive detective scrolled through the latest photos taken on the camera and was horrified to discover the images of a charred and burned deceased human being.

The experienced detectives also found what looked like to be blood in the rear of the cleaner's car.

Inspector Clark was now ready to meet the cleaner for the first time. He agreed to be interviewed and again denied having seen Miss Scott on Easter Sunday at the school.

There were scratches in his face, which he dismissed as being caused by walking through some tree branches.

He explained the images on his camera were from an internet site and the keys were his.

During the interview, Inspector Clark was advised there were further images on the cleaner's camera, which suggested he was in the process of stalking another local female resident. Inspector Clark was now at the precipice of an important decision.

Was there enough evidence to charge the cleaner with murder? There was no body as yet, the car had not been located and there had been no admissions.

As Inspector Clark later explained "there was no way I was going let him out of custody to be able to walk the streets again, so I made the decision to arrest and charge him with Stephanie's murder".

While in custody the cleaner made a monitored telephone call to his brother in Adelaide. Following that, South Australian police were able to establish the cleaner had sent his brother Miss Scott's engagement rings for disposal.

They were pawned for $705 and unfortunately had already been melted down and were not able to be returned to Miss Scott's family. On the Friday afternoon, police located the body of Miss Scott in Cocoparra National Park.

The next day, the cleaner had Corrective Services staff contact Inspector Clark requesting to meet with him. During that meeting, the cleaner made full admissions to the murder of Miss Scott.

He would later be sentenced to life in prison without parole, while his brother would serve 13 months after pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder.

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*The offender in this matter has been referred to as the cleaner. This has been done deliberately to avoid providing him with any notoriety whatsoever.