Police are facing a race against time to charge the man suspected of snatching little Cleo Smith and holding her prisoner at his home in Carnarvon for 18 days.
Terry Kelly, 36 was arrested in connection with the abduction of the four year old after she was grabbed from a tent while on holiday with her family 75km from home.
However, almost 36 hours later, Kelly has still not been charged over the incident.
The process has been delayed after Kelly was allegedly attacked by another prisoner inside a police holding cell within hours of his arrest.
Kelly was taken to hospital with head injuries and released after medical treatment.
Terry Kelly, 36, had only been at Carnarvon police station, in Western Australia, for a few hours on Wednesday when he was allegedly set upon by a prisoner
But police revealed on Thursday he had been returned to hospital for a second time after he is understood to have suffered new injuries while alone in his police cell.
Kelly is now again back in police custody, but police chief Col Blanch warned the suspect must be in good health before he can be interviewed.
Any future trial could be jeopardised if detectives try to rush the process, the WA Deputy Police Commissioner told Seven’s Sunrise.
‘The important thing for police, if we’re going to interview someone about offences as serious as this … we will need them in a condition where they have had a rest, they’re in a good mental state, they’ve been fed,’ he said.
‘So, we’ve got to make sure we give them the best opportunity to answer questions and that’s to ensure that the court process is validated if we get to that point.’
Remarkable bodycam footage captured the moment Cleo was rescued by detectives, with the brave little girl clinging to her savior as she is gently spoken to and told she would soon see her ‘mummy’
Police are legally required to charge suspects within a ‘reasonable time’ of their arrest, allowing for medical treatment and the seriousness of the crime.
A senior officer can sign off the first 18 hours in custody but after that a magistrate must approve further extensions every eight hours.
Theoretically, it can be unlimited, but in practice a magistrate will end the process within a few days if charges are not laid – and the clock is now ticking for Kelly.
However it is understood the suspect could be charged with some minor offences later on Thursday to hold him in custody while the investigation continues.
Cleo, four, was found by startled detectives in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a locked house in her hometown of Carnarvon, 18 days after she disappeared from a remote campsite while on holiday with her parents
Kelly, 36, had only been at Carnarvon police station, in Western Australia, for a few hours on Wednesday when he was allegedly set upon by a prisoner and taken to hospital the first time.
That prisoner’s mother told Daily Mail Australia her son was ‘furious’ when he discovered why Kelly had been arrested.
‘As soon as he heard this bloke was arrested over that little Cleo, he blew up, beat him black and blue,’ the woman said.
‘I tell you what, he (Kelly) got a real hiding… my son had to be taken out in shackles, and he (Kelly) was taken for treatment… he was in a bad way. He is a big bloke but he really copped it’.
A spokesman for the Western Australia Police Force said detectives would not be commenting on the woman’s claims.
Kelly was loaded into an ambulance outside the police station yesterday morning and taken to hospital for treatment. A large white bandage was wrapped around his head.
Cleo, four, was found by startled detectives in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a locked house in her hometown of Carnarvon, 18 days after she disappeared from a remote campsite while on holiday with her parents.
Detectives used crowbars and battering rams to kick in the door and free Cleo about 12.46am Wednesday from a home just seven minutes away from where she lives with her mum Ellie, stepdad Jake Gliddon and baby sister Isla.
West Australian Police shared an adorable first photo of Cleo since she was rescued, smiling with an ice block in hospital. ‘The miracle we all hoped for,’ they captioned the picture
Remarkable bodycam footage captured the moment Cleo was rescued by detectives, with the brave little girl clinging to her savior as she is gently spoken to and told she would soon see her ‘mummy’.
‘Four fathers walked into that room… they might have been wearing guns and detective suits but they were four fathers,’ Mr Blanch said.
Shocked neighbours tell Daily Mail Australia they were first alerted to the commotion when police flood lights lit up their cul-de-sac, which is normally bustling with children playing in their front yards and at the park across the road during daylight hours.
‘My nephews went up to see what was going on and then they saw cops leading out the little white girl,’ a neighbour who has known Kelly for more than a decade said.
He described the accused as a ‘loner’ who never really made an effort to speak with people in the cul-de-sac, and never brought friends back to his house.
Others woke to the news that Cleo had been rescued, filing into the streets before the sun even rose to watch the scene unfold.
Cleo is now back in the arms of her mum Ellie and stepfather Jake (pictured together)
West Australian Police shared an adorable first photo of Cleo since she was rescued, smiling with an ice block in hospital in her Frozen pyjamas. ‘The miracle we all hoped for,’ they wrote.
The neighbour said he was a loner who ‘kept to himself’ and was not the type of person anyone else in the street would ‘have a yarn with’ despite being a long term resident.
He last saw Kelly just three days after little Cleo disappeared. Former friends say Kelly had not long been freed from jail.
Detectives allege Kelly was behaving suspiciously in the 18 days since Cleo vanished, doing laps of his street at all hours of the day and buying toddler nappies from his grocery store despite not being known to have children.
Dogs that he usually kept on the backyard of his home were also suddenly moved to the front of the home.
‘His grandmother raised him… but after she died a year or so ago, nobody went over to yarn to him,’ he said.
‘He got a new car after… he used to park it in the driveway and then close the gate, every day, always went and put the car in the same spot and closed the gate.’
Cleo was found alone in this suburban home in Carnarvon, in the north-west of Western Australia, shortly before 1am on Wednesday morning
Commissioner Dawson reportedly broke down in tears upon learning the heartwarming news. He said the youngster (pictured) was good as can be expected
Forensic officers in full protective gear including gas masks as they searched through rubbish left near the Blowholes campsite in remote WA – where Cleo went missing
That very car was reportedly crucial to cracking the case, with police revealing they received ‘important information about a car’ which they confirmed with phone data and ‘a lot of forensic leads’. Within hours, they’d raided Kelly’s home.
‘We’ve collected phone data, witness statements, DNA, fingerprints, rubbish along the highways, CCTV – we’ve collected everything,’ Mr Blanch said.
It’s not yet clear if Cleo was held at the home for the entire three weeks she was missing or if she’d been moved around several times.
The vital tip-off was the last piece of the puzzle in a case that until then frustrated and eluded detectives and had Australians fearing Cleo would never be found, let alone alive.
Neighbours would often see Kelly walking to and from the local grocery store, ‘keeping his head down and talking to nobody’.
Neighbours would often see Kelly walking to and from the local grocery store, ‘keeping his head down and talking to nobody’
Neighbours of the home where little Cleo Smith (pictured) was kept prisoner before she was rescued by police on Wednesday have revealed the tell-tale signs they missed.
A man arrested over the alleged kidnapping of Cleo Smith was allegedly attacked by another prisoner inside a police holding cell at Carnarvon police station (pictured)
But when one man saw Kelly buying toddler diapers, he was confused because he didn’t know the 36-year-old to have any children.
Even though he knew it was strange, he didn’t report his suspicions, police have confirmed.
‘But we didn’t click on what he was buying them for.’
He’d also been seen doing laps of the street at different times during the day, driving in and out repeatedly and at random hours.
‘He doesn’t have his dogs at the front [normally], he has his dogs out the back, but through this week he had his dogs out the front,’ neighbour Henry Dodd told Nine News.
Mr Dodd revealed he watched Cleo come out on the shoulder of a detective in the middle of the night.
‘I went closer to the detectives car and I saw her in the back of the car with the detective, he was holding her. They put her in the back and I came over, rushed over here and seen her there. She looked at me, a bit scared.’
Mr Dodd said he was shocked he had been just metres away from her while the nationwide hunt was going on for her.
‘I just can’t believe it and get over the fact that she is just the house down from us and locked up here for a couple of weeks,’ he added.
‘Going on three weeks, she is straight across from us. I’ve got little sisters there.’
Cleo Smith, four, has been found alive and well, 18 days after she vanished from her family’s tent at the remote Blowholes campsite in Western Australia
Kelly’s name was widely circulated among the local community within hours of his arrest, and he’s now the subject of intense public outrage.
The 36-year-old has not been charged with an offence, and Daily Mail Australia does not suggest charges will be laid, only that he is assisting police.
Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said the man has no connection to Cleo or her family.
After she was rescued, detectives took Cleo to the car and called her parents, saying ‘we’ve got someone here that wants to speak to you’.
‘It was a wonderful feeling to make that call. They were ecstatic.’
Cleo cried out ‘mummy’ as she finally returned to her mother’s arms having not seen her family in an agonising 18 days.
Mr Blaine described the little girl as an ‘energiser bunny’ and confirmed she was physically unharmed when she was found.
When asked if it was the best moment of his career, the sergeant replied: ‘without a doubt’.
‘We wanted to take turns holding her.’
Cleo was found in her hometown of Carnarvon in Western Australia, 75km from where she went missing on October 16
Cleo was found 18 days after she disappeared from a tent she was sharing with her family at the Blowholes campsite, less than 75km from Carnarvon. Police said she was smiling when she was rescued, and is now in hospital being assessed with her parents at her side
Premier Mark McGowan said it was ‘a lot of information’ that had led to an arrest and thanked the police for their efforts over the past three weeks
CLEO DISAPPEARANCE TIMELINE
By Olivia Day for Daily Mail Australia
Friday, October 15
Cleo along with her mother Ellie Smith, her partner Jake Gliddon and her little sister Isla Mae arrive at the Blowholes campsite around 6:30pm.
They had a ‘quiet’ night and arrived at sunset.
Saturday, October 16
1:30am: Parents’ last sighting of Cleo in the tent she shared with her parents and baby sister when the four-year-old asks for some water.
6.23am: Ellie calls 000 to report her eldest daughter missing as she continues to search the camp ground.
6.30am: The first two officers are dispatched from Carnarvon police station. They travel to Blowholes as a matter of priority, with sirens and lights.
6.41am: A second police car with another two officers is sent to Blowholes, also with lights and sirens.
7.10am: The first police car arrives. The second is only minutes behind.
7.26am: Police on the scene establish a protected forensic area which is taped off to the public, surrounding the family tent where Cleo was last seen.
7.33am: A drone operator is called upon to search from the skies.
7.44am: A third police car is dispatched to the Blowholes.
8am: Family and friends of Cleo’s parents begin to arrive to help with the ground search.
Another group of detectives briefly searches Cleo’s home to make sure she’s not there.
They then head to Blowholes and begin stopping cars coming into and leaving the area.
8.09am: A helicopter from a local company arrived at the scene and started searching as police request an SES team attend the Blowholes search.
8.24am: Police air-wing and volunteer marine searchers are called in to assist with the search.
8.34am: Roadblocks are set up at the entrance of Blowholes as detectives gather the names, registration details and addresses of people coming and going. Police search cars.
9.25am: Nine SES personel arrive at the Blowholes to assist with the search.
Investigators, bounty hunters and officers from the Australian Federal Police have spent two-and-a-half weeks searching for missing four-year-old Cleo (pictured)
9.30am: Detectives sit down with a distressed Ellie and remain by her side for the rest of the day while other search crews hunt for Cleo.
11am: Homicide detectives from the Major Crime Division are called and begin travelling from Perth to assist with the search.
1pm: More homicide detectives and search experts are flown in from Perth.
3pm: Officers and search experts arrive in Carnarvon to offer their expertise.
Sunday, October 17
Ms Smith takes to social media to plead for help finding her missing daughter.
A Facebook post uploaded at 1:45am on Sunday which said: ‘It’s been over 24 hours since I last seen the sparkle in my little girl’s eyes.
‘Please help me find her!
‘If you hear or see anything at all please call the police!’
Police suggest Cleo may have been abducted.
Monday, October 18
Police release an image of the red and grey sleeping bag missing from Cleo’s tent.
Cleo’s biological father is interviewed by police in Mandurah and is asked to provide a statement, which he does so willingly.
WA Police with the help of SES members, volunteers and aircraft continue the land hunt for Cleo, with officers searching nearby shacks and vehicles in the area.
Tuesday, October 19
Cleo’s mother Ellie Smith and her partner Jake Gliddon front the media for the first time and describe the terrifying moment they realised the little girl was missing.
Ms Smith says her four-year-old would never have left the tent by herself.
Police release new images of Cleo and the pink and blue one-piece she was wearing the night she went missing to aid the investigation.
Investigators urge anyone who was at the campsite or in the vicinity on October 15 to get in contact with police.
Wednesday, October 20
Police reveal the zip of the family tent, which was found hanging wide open by her mother at 6am on Saturday morning, was too high for Cleo to reach.
Officers say they ‘haven’t ruled out’ reports from campers who heard the sound of screeching tyres in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Deputy Police Commissioner Daryl Gaunt confirms officers are investigating the whereabouts of 20 registered sex offenders in the Carnarvon area.
Thursday, October 21
The WA Government offers a $1million reward for information that leads to Cleo’s location announced by WA Premier Mark McGowan.
‘All Western Australians’ thoughts are with Cleo’s family during what is an unimaginably difficult time,’ Mr McGowan said.
‘We’re all praying for a positive outcome.’
The speed of the reward being issued – within days of her disappearance – was unprecedented.
Pictured: Police are seen examining rubbish left near the Blowholes campsite in remote WA
Monday, October 25
WA Police confirm Cleo was definitely at the camp site – on CCTV footage on a camera installed inside a beach shack just 20 metres from the family tent she disappeared from.
Tuesday, October 26
Forensic officers and detectives spent much of the day at her home in Carnarvon, 900km north of Perth, on Tuesday and left with two bags of evidence.
Although investigators had been to the home before, this was the first time they thoroughly searched inside with a forensics team.
Acting WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the search of the family home was ‘standard practice’ and did not indicate they were suspects in Cleo’s disappearance.
Wednesday, October 27
WA Police forensics officers return to the Blowholes campground and are seen collecting soil samples from a number of campfires near shacks in the area.
The federal government announce Australian Federal Police officers had been drafted in to support forensic and intelligence efforts.
Friday, October 29
Police return to the Blowholes camp to analyse the area with drones.
Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde returns to the Blowholes campsite to join the search for Cleo as the search hit the two-week mark.
He confirms national and international agencies are engaged in the search for Cleo.
Sunday, October 31
Detectives go door-knocking at a number of homes along the North West Coastal Highway in the North Plantations, 5km from Cleo’s hometown on Sunday.
Monday, November 1
Detectives sort through mounds of rubbish from roadside bins located hundreds of kilometres away from the campsite she vanished from.
The material was transported to Perth, where forensic officers and recruits sorted through hundreds of bags in search of items that may have helped them find Cleo.
Officers issue a plea for dash cam and CCTV footage from within a 1000km radius of where the four-year-old disappeared.
Police renew an appeal for more businesses in Carnarvon to provide footage and go door to door in an industrial area on the outskirts of the town.
Her elated mother, Ellie, (pictured, with Cleo, her partner and younger daughter) broke her silence the morning Cleo was found, sharing a series of love heart emojis on Instagram
Wednesday, November 3
After two-and-a-half weeks of searching Cleo Smith is found alive and well in the early hours of November 3.
WA Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch confirmed just before 7am AEST that little Cleo is alive and well and had been reunited with her relieved parents.
‘One of the officers picked her up into his arms and asked her ‘what’s your name?’ he said. ‘She said: ‘My name is Cleo’.’
Ellie Smith posted to social media: ‘Our family is whole again’.
A Carnarvon man is currently in custody and being questioned by detectives.
On October 19, Ellie Smith (pictured) and her partner Jake Gliddon fronted the media for the first time and begged the public to report any information ‘big or small’
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