Abattoir worker charged with murder of 17-year-old schoolgirl Michelle Bright after $1million appeal

Abattoir worker charged with murder of 17-year-old schoolgirl Michelle Bright after $1million appeal – 20 years after her body was found near train tracks less than 1km from her home

  • Abbatoir worker has been charged with the murder of schoolgirl Michelle Bright
  • Michelle’s body was discovered less than 1km from her home in regional NSW 

Michelle Bright was last seen alive when she was dropped off outside the Commercial Hotel in Gulgong in February 1999

An abbatoir worker has been charged with the murder of 17-year-old schoolgirl Michelle Bright more than three decades after her body was found near train tracks.

Michelle’s body was discovered less than 1km from her home in the small town of Gulgong, near Mudgee, in the New South Wales Central Tabelands three days after she went missing on February 27, 1999.

She had been last seen alive when she was dropped off outside the Commercial Hotel in Gulgong that day.  

On Monday, the reward for information to solve the case had been doubled to $1million as Michelle’s heartbroken mother Loraine begged for someone to come forward. 

Detectives in the early hours of Wednesday charged Craig Henry Rumsby, 53, of Mudgee, with her murder after arresting him in Mudgee on Tuesday night.

He replied simply ‘no’ to reporters when asked if he had murdered the teenager and said he had known her mother ‘for years’, Nine News reported.

Abbatoir worker Craig Henry Rumsby, 53, pictured being led away in handcuffs on Wednesday morning. He has been charged with the murder of 17-year-old schoolgirl Michelle Bright

Abbatoir worker Craig Henry Rumsby, 53, pictured being led away in handcuffs on Wednesday morning. He has been charged with the murder of 17-year-old schoolgirl Michelle Bright

NSW Police said the man was taken to Mudgee Police Station and charged with murder, two counts of inflicting actual bodily harm with intent to have sexual intercourse and attempting to choke or strangle with intent to commit indictable offence.

He was refused bail to appear at Mudgee Local Court on Wednesday.  

Despite extensive investigations at the time and over the past two decades, no one until this week had been charged in connection to Michelle’s murder.

“After 21 years of indescribable pain, we are hoping that someone will come forward and help police put those responsible for taking Michelle’s life away behind bars,” Michelle’s mother had said in Monday’s plea for information. 

More to come 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk