A former mayor who was wrongly accused of being the notorious Claremont serial killer has spoken openly about how damaging and hurtful accusations ruined his life.
Peter Weygers was mayor of the Perth suburb of Claremont for 12 years. He spent another 30 years as president of the Council for Civil Liberties and committed to a position as a senior school psychologist.
But his good name was tarnished in 1996 when local newspapers accused him of kidnapping and murder. secretary Sarah Spiers, 18, childcare worker Jane Rimmer, 23, and lawyer Ciara Glennon, 27.
The three women disappeared after a night out with friends. The bodies of Rimmer and Glennon were discovered in a forest weeks after their murder, but Spiers’ body has never been found.
Weygers and his family spent more than 20 years being relentlessly harassed and abused by members of their own community, until the real killer, Bradley Robert Edwards, was arrested in 2016 and convicted in 2020.
At one point, a severed cat head arrived in Mr. Weygers’ mailbox.
Peter Weygers was wrongly accused of being the Claremont serial killer between 1996 and 2016
Sarah Spiers (pictured) was 18 when she was murdered in 1997. Her body has never been found.
Tuesday night he will detail the emotional toll the false accusations took on his life in an episode of Information about SBS.
Mr Weygers told the program that he was a respectable member of his community before the murders began in 1996 and a newspaper headline read: “Mayor refuses to help Rimmer police.”
He said: “It portrayed me as uncooperative and implied I had something to hide.”
“This couldn’t have been more false.”
A week after Ms Rimmer disappeared, he instigated an audit of city center security, alongside the police, and organized a police security committee in the city council chambers.
He also took six months off work to demolish 4,500 homes and deliver police safety information to residents.
On election day, when he was hoping to be re-elected, a newspaper ran another headline: “Weygers ‘postpones’ Glennon consultations.”
He told the programme: ‘My role on the Civil Liberties Council often put me at odds with police, politicians, journalists and local publications.
“I have no idea why the media insinuated that I might be the Claremont serial killer, but I think it was the reason I was never re-elected.”
Jane Rimmer (pictured), 23, was the second victim of the Claremont killer.
Ciara Glennon (pictured) was 27 when she was kidnapped and violently murdered in Perth.
In 2004, police raided two of his properties in the name of investigating the murders.
Reporters and television cameras lining his street gathered in Mr. Weygers’ front yard before a detective told them he was a suspect.
“On the day of the first raid, a journalist told me that the police had notified them, no doubt to make sure they got maximum media coverage,” he told the programme.
“My reputation was everything and I held myself to the highest standards in everything I did… The years of media attention destroyed my reputation.”
Having spent most of his life in Claremont, he suddenly found himself unable to spend time there due to the trauma and humiliation he endured at the hands of his own community.
People yelled at him in the street and called him a murderer, threatened to hurt his family, and stared at him when he walked down the street or went to the supermarket.
“I am now 80 years old and living with serious heart disease, but the damage pales in comparison to the anguish my family and I have suffered in the name of this research,” he said.
“I have a lot of sympathy for the three victims of this tragedy and their families.”
Bradley Robert Edwards (pictured) was sentenced to life in prison for the 1996 and 1997 serial murders.
However, he said there is no excuse for the media trial that destroyed his life.
He never received an apology from the police or the newspapers responsible for the treatment to which he was subjected.
The Claremont serial killer case is WA’s largest, longest and most expensive criminal investigation.
Edwards, the killer, had previously admitted attacking two other women and raping a 17-year-old girl in 1995, but denied murdering Spiers, Rimmer and Glennon between January 1996 and March 1997.
Prosecutors relied on DNA evidence collected from under Ms. Glennon’s fingertips as she scratched and struggled for her life.
Also key to their case was a match between fibers from Edwards’ car and those found on the bodies of Ms. Rimmer and Ms. Glennon.
Police had long had their sights on the convicted killer, who called himself the “bogeyman” online, but he repeatedly lied to them about his crimes.
The bodies of Ms Glennon and Ms Rimmer were located in bushland north and south of Perth respectively weeks after they went missing and they had suffered neck injuries.
He was found guilty of their murders in the Washington Supreme Court in 2020, but was acquitted of Ms Spiers’ murder. Without a body, the judge ruled that there was not enough evidence to convince him beyond a reasonable doubt.
He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.