Loading The girl, whose name is suppressed, reported hiding from a white van while trying to seek help in the moments after the assault. A security guard at Hollywood Hospital, where the teen sought help, said he saw a Telecom van drive past the hospital entrance, which the state alleges was being driven by Mr Edwards. The fax Telstra sent to WA Police suggested detectives had made a connection between the 1995 rape and the disappearance of the first two women a number of years prior to common fibre evidence being found which allegedly linked the crimes. Detectives in 1996 requested Telstra provide a list of particular vehicles and their associated drivers.

Mr Edwards' name was not on that list as his vehicle allocation records showed he drove a van for the majority of the time between 1990 to 1993 and was then issued a Toyota Camry in 1994. “Attached is the result of Telstra vehicle checks you requested last week,” the fax read. “Sorry for the delay I seem to recall that you mentioned the vehicle you were looking for had a Telstra logo on the side, distinct from the Telecom logo and the witness was fairly definite about this. "If this is the case then you should be aware that we only started putting Telstra logos on our vehicles from about July 1995. "Also please note that the driver’s name we have recorded may not be correct as sometimes vehicles change hands or are borrowed etc."

Loading Macro Taskforce sent a second request to Telstra in 1998 – after Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon had been killed – following up an apparent line of inquiry involving "Telstra Camry sedans". By this stage, detectives had also received at least two tip-offs in relation to the Claremont murders about women reporting a man in a Telstra vehicle offering them a lift home when they mistook his white station wagon for a taxi. The police request asked for a list of all active Telstra vehicles from January 25 to 28, 1996, however Telstra in its response did not include the Toyota Camry Mr Edwards was assigned in early 1996 as it had by 1998 been leased to an external subsidiary of Telstra. It's alleged Mr Edwards was assigned a Toyota Camry on January 27, 1996 - when he is accused of murdering Sarah Spiers.