Australia’s youngest killer is back behind bars within days of his release after cops allegedly make horror find

By HARRISON CHRISTIAN and JONICA BRAY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 06:22 BST, 10 April 2025 | Updated: 06:36 BST, 10 April 2025

Australia’s youngest ever killer, who murdered a little girl at age 13, is back behind bars less than a month after his release.

SLD, who was granted lifetime anonymity following his violent crime in 2001, was charged on Thursday with five offences including breaching an extended supervision order and possessing child abuse material. 

SLD faced Campbelltown Local Court on Thursday where he made no application for bail.

He was remanded in custody, until his next court date on April 24. 

The violent killer was just 13 when, in 2001, he crept into his neighbour’s house in Point Clare on the NSW Central Coast and found toddler Courtney Morley-Clarke sleeping in her bed.

He pulled the three-year-old girl from her bed before stabbing her in the heart with a knife and dumping her body.

SLD served 20 years for the murder and was released in 2023, but just one month later he was thrown back in jail for breaching conditions, approaching women with young children at Bulli Beach, asking them for a date.

Most recently he was released on a supervision order on March 14, despite the NSW government opposing his release in the NSW Supreme Court.

SLD (pictured), who was granted lifetime anonymity following his violent crime in 2001, was charged on Thursday with five offences

The violent killer was just 13 when, in 2001, he murdered three-year-old Courtney Morley-Clarke (pictured)

Prior to his release authorities believed he was at high risk of re-offending because of his obsession with finding a girlfriend and starting a sexual relationship after being locked up behind bars for more than 20 years. 

During a two-day hearing, psychiatrists said the killer was fixated on getting revenge for perceived wrongs and could react violently if he felt he was unfairly treated. 

But they also said that keeping him in jail would be detrimental to his mental health and his ability to assimilate into the community at a later date.  

Justice Mark Ierace agreed to his release but said the situation was unusual.

‘It goes without saying this is a very challenging case,’ he said. ‘He has only been out in the community for four months since he was only 13 years old.’

Justice Ierace had options to impose a continuing detention order to keep him behind bars for another 12 months, or granting the extended supervision order.

While there are conditions around his release, SLD has previously admitted that he would be prepared to kill again if something ‘big’ took place.

In a chilling warning, he added: ‘If I kill someone, it won’t be a child.’

His frightening confession and string of violent offences, which includes choking a nurse while jailed, were all considered by Justice Ierace. 

He was also found to be accessing pornography online and psychologists warned he had become obsessed with losing his virginity after growing up in jail.

SLD had been adopted at the age of four by a family in Point Clare on the Central Coast, but his murder trial heard he remained ‘disturbed’ despite his new home.

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Australia’s youngest killer is back behind bars within days of his release after cops allegedly make horror find

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