A MAN’S admission to killing missing Bathurst woman Janine Vaughan had “seemed unreliable”, according to the lead detective working on the case.
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On Tuesday, three witnesses told the inquest into Ms Vaughan’s disappearance that former hospital wardsman Denis Briggs had told them he had killed her.
But Strike Force Mount-batten’s leading detective, Acting Inspector Guy Flaherty, yesterday said there were inconsistencies in Briggs’ claims.
Insp. Flaherty said Briggs had told the three witnesses he had picked up Ms Vaughan outside Livewire in Keppel Street, a claim he said “doesn’t accord with eyewitness accounts”.
“Livewire is well beyond the Keppel and George streets intersection [where eyewitnesses saw Ms Vaug-han get in the car] about 450 metres away,” he said.
And while Briggs had a red Hyundai Excel at the time Ms Vaughan disappeared in December 2001, Insp. Flaherty said in-depth research by Emeritus Profes-sor John Fry using photogrammetry [utilising photographic images as a means of taking measurements] ruled Briggs’ car out as being a vehicle of interest.
Professor Fry used CCTV footage taken from the front of The Tavern in George Street on the morning Ms Vaughan disappeared as part of his research.
From the footage he was able to ascertain the vehicle which Janine got into most probably had a wheel base in the vicinity of 2.475m.
However, Insp. Flaherty said using the same research conducted by Professor Fry, the red Renault owned by Andrew Donald Jones, another person of interest in the case, fell within the parameters of being a vehicle of interest.
On the stand, Insp. Flaherty said that since the first inquest was held in Bathurst in June, investigators had followed up a number of new lines of inquiry.
“In the last three months we’ve had 10 intelligence reports in relation to Janine Vaughan,” he said.
Insp. Flaherty said all lines of inquiry - which included anonymous letters and phone calls - were followed up thoroughly but had not provided investigators with any new information.
The inquest continues today before Coroner Mary Jerram, with Andrew Jones, Denis Briggs and former Bathurst policeman Brad Hosemans all called to give evidence.
