© Facebook: KLAC Sarah Spiers, Ciara Glennon, and Jane Rimmer all disappeared from Claremont between 1996 and 1997. The man accused of the Claremont serial killings has been committed to stand trial in WA's Supreme Court after formally pleading not guilty to the murders of Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon, and the sexual assault of two other women.

Bradley Robert Edwards, 49, appeared in the Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court today via video link from Hakea Prison, where he has been held since his arrest at his Kewdale home more than 19 months ago.

Wearing prison greens and glasses, Mr Edwards showed no emotion as all nine charges he is facing were put to him by Magistrate Jan Whitbread.

He replied: "Not guilty."

He is accused of abducting and murdering 18-year-old Ms Spiers in January 1996, 23-year-old Ms Rimmer five months later and 27-year-old Ms Glennon in March 1997.

© Facebook:KLAC Bradley Robert Edwards has been accused of the murders of the three Claremont victims.

Three young Perth women disappeared in the mid-1990s. Two decades later, a man faces court. All three women disappeared from the popular Claremont entertainment strip in Perth's western suburbs.

The bodies of Ms Rimmer and Ms Glennon were found in the weeks after their disappearances — Ms Rimmer's in bush at Wellard, south of Perth, and Ms Glennon's in bush at Eglington, north of the city.

Ms Spiers's body has never been found.

© Hugh Sando Ciara Glennon's father, Denis Glennon, at court for the appearance of Bradley Edwards. Both Ms Spiers's father, Don, and Ms Glennon's father, Denis, were in court for Mr Edwards's appearance, accompanied by detectives who have worked on the case.

Mr Edwards is also accused of the sexual assault of a woman in her Huntingdale home in 1988, and the abduction and rape of a 17-year-old girl in Karrakatta Cemetery near Claremont in February 1995 — one year before Ms Spiers disappeared.

A woman understood to be the victim of the alleged cemetary attack was also present in court today.

Mr Edwards was remanded in custody, but a trial date is yet to be set.

© Hugh Sando Bradley Edwards's lawyer, Genevieve Cleary, at court for his committal mention State prosecutor Bradley Hollingsworth requested provisional trial dates be set aside for Mr Edwards's trial, starting from May 1, 2019, to the end of the year.



But Ms Whitbread said she was unable to set the dates down because they needed approval from a Supreme Court judge.

Mr Edwards' lawyer, Genevieve Cleary, declined to speak to the media as she left the court.

"Now that we're going to trial there'll be no comment," she said.

Mr Edwards has the option of applying for his trial to be determined by a judge sitting without a jury because of the enormous amount of publicity the case has attracted over the past 22 years.



It is likely to be one of the largest trials ever to come before the WA courts, with the amount of material collected by investigators running into the millions of pages.

T © Facebook: KLAC Bradley Robert Edwards was a well known figure in the community, heavily involved in children's athletics before his arrest hat material was collected during more than 20 years of investigations into the disappearance of the three women, mostly done by a special taskforce code-named Macro.

The taskforce was established after the disappearance of Ms Rimmer in June 1996 and investigated thousands of people, including taxi drivers and people identified as being in Claremont at the key times.

Despite repeated public appeals and reviews of the case, it was not until December 2016 that, seemingly out of the blue, Mr Edwards was arrested.

He is likely to remain in custody until his trial is completed.



