An ex-girlfriend of a tradie charged with the alleged murder of his Tinder date has tearfully recalled the harrowing moment her sister rang her to tell her he was wanted by police.
Mother-of-two Rachel, 31, started dating Ashley Gaddie, 33, last year after accepting a random friend request from him on Facebook – the beginnings of a brief romance.
Rachel got a call from her sister this week after an arrest warrant was issued for Gaddie over the alleged murder of teacher and soccer administrator Dannielle Finlay-Jones, 31. ‘You might want to sit down,’ she said.
Ms Finlay-Jones was found dead at a friend’s Cranebrook home, in Sydney’s west, on Sunday afternoon. Police will allege the tradesman met Ms Finlay-Jones at a pub in Marsden Park on Saturday night to meet her friends before the pair went back to her mates’ place.
Ashley Gaddie’s ex-girlfriend Rachel tearfully recalled the moment she learnt he was wanted by police
Ashley Gaddie (right) has been charged with the alleged murder of his Tinder date Dannielle Finlay-Jones
Dannielle Finlay-Jones, 31, (pictured) was found unconscious at her friend’s Cranebrook home on Sunday
Police allege Gaddie murdered Ms Finlay-Jones sometime in the following eight hours and then fled the residence through a bedroom window.
Ex-lover Rachel said upon meeting Gaddie she believed that he was a ‘really nice guy’.
‘I get a phone call off my sister while I’m working and she said ”you might want to sit down, I’ve got to tell you something”,’ she told A Current Affair.
Emotionally, she added: ‘She (Danielle) had her whole life ahead of her.’
Rachel and Gaddie appear happy together in a series of snaps she had saved on her phone. But their relationship didn’t last.
Rachel and Gaddie appear happy together in a series of snaps she had saved on her phone
Rachel and Gaddie met over Facebook last year
Photos have since emerged of Gaddie doting over his young son he shares with another ex-partner.
In one image the accused killer is seen posing with Santa while his baby boy was dressed up as Father Christmas.
Other snaps show Gaddie cuddling his son as they play on a swing together, while another shows him celebrating his child’s first birthday.
He and his ex are seen holding a chocolate cake in front of the boy who was wrapped under Gaddie’s arm.
The mother of Gaddie’s child has told reporters that her main concern was looking after her son.
‘I’m trying to protect my son,’ she said.
Photos have since emerged of Gaddie doting over his young son he shares with another ex-partner
Gaddie is seen celebrating the first birthday of his son
Footage has also surfaced of Gaddie at home with another recent ex-partner, Karla Tauro, 28.
Gaddie is seen cooking dinner while Journey’s hit Don’t Stop Believin’ plays loudly in the background.
Gaddie had been living in a small two-bedroom apartment at Five Dock with his mother over the past two months after leaving a Ryde share house in October.
Ashley Gaddie was allegedly on the run for 48 hours before police cornered him on a clifftop in the Blue Mountains on Tuesday afternoon in a stand-off that lasted 12 hours
Gaddie faced court on Wednesday for the first time since he was arrested on a clifftop at Fletcher’s Lookout, in the Blue Mountains, about midnight.
Police rescue officers, detectives, the riot squad and a team of specialist negotiators spent 12 hours in the national park on Tuesday in a bid to bring Gaddie back to safety.
He was seen clinging to a rockface on the other side of the safety barrier.
On Tuesday night, response squads swarmed an area in the Blue Mountains with specially trained police negotiators engaging with the alleged fugitive who was perched at the top of a precarious clifftop at Fletcher’s Lookout
Once in custody, he was taken to Katoomba police station where he was later charged.
In Penrith Local Court on Wednesday, Gaddie launched a legal fight to stop DNA evidence being used against him in the case.
His lawyer Joseph Ormaechea opposed consent for the DNA swab to be taken by forensic experts at the police station.
The prosecutor warned of the need for the swab to be taken because of the ‘transient’ nature of the DNA.
Gaddie did not appear in person or by video link and made no application for bail.
He was remanded in custody until March 3 with a decision on the admissibility of the DNA swab adjourned also until that date.
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