He had moved to Bathurst around January 2000 and had worked at Bathurst Base Hospital as the Chief Pharmacist for a period in 2000.

Subsequently, he worked in a variety of chemists as a locum pharmacist including Terry White in Orange, Soul Pattinson in Cowra, Amcal Chemist in Bathurst and Health Sense Pharmacy in Lithgow.

One pharmacy he worked in was Blooms Pharmacy in Stockland Mall, the same mall as the Ed Harry’s Menswear Store that Ms Vaughan managed. There is no material to demonstrate that Mr Jones ever filled a prescription for Ms Vaughan, although this could have happened.

In a previous interview with Toko investigators on 11 January 2002, Mr Jones admitted that he knew Ms Vaughan but he was not friendly with her. He stated that he had bought a shirt from her in November 2001.

A review of his financial records show that he purchased something from Ed Harry’s Store on Saturday 7 July 2001 at 12.22 for $35. It is not known if Ms Vaughan was working that Saturday, although she was regularly rostered on Saturdays. On Wednesday 18 July 2001 at 4.19pm he purchased something for $28.95. It is not known whether Ms Vaughan conducted the sale but it is likely she was there as her normal shift was for each week day.

On 11 September 2001, at 1.40pm, Mr Jones made a $41.95 purchase. Again, it is not known if she was present but it is likely she was present and made the sale.

It is submitted that as Mr Jones knew Ms Vaughan and it is likely that she knew that he was a pharmacist and hence a professionally trained person in the health care industry, it is likely that she would have trusted him even though she did not know him well. As a consequence, she could have entered his car that night even though she was not particularly familiar with him.

There are several factors that make Mr Jones a person of interest. He owned a red Renault 19 that fits the Fryer dimensions and also fits the most cogent description of the vehicle of interest, that given contemporaneously by Ian Bryant.

In the early hours of the morning of 7 December very shortly before the disappearance of Janine Vaughan, Lynette Boreland describes being followed by a small red car. She describes the driver of that car as follows:

Q. Well, what did he look like, how tall was he?

A. He was a big man, about six foot tall. He didn’t look like he fitted in that car, he looked, you know, too big for the car. Yeah, and other than that, just, you know, how I described him before, dark hair, with a dark complexion. He had a fair complexion ... [not transcribable] ... had what I’d call a boofhead [as said] or a square head, and when I was at the refuge, the pedestrian refuge, and I could see down in the car and he actually looked up at me, so for seconds we were actually looking at each other, and I remember he – I couldn’t tell you what colour eyes he had, but I remember he had a bumpy nose, like pimples or, you know, like bumpy nose, and that stood out to me.

It is submitted that this description of the driver together with that referred to earlier is consistent with Mr Jones and his physical appearance in court.

Ms Boreland was also able to further identify the car by a partial number plate “ICU 730”. The number plate on Mr Jones’ motor vehicle in December 2001 was TCV 836.

Whilst there is a disparity between the description given by Ms Boreland and the actual registration plate of Mr Jones’ vehicle, it can be seen that the letters, in particular, she describes are capable of explanation by a misreading of the actual plate, perhaps as a consequence of the stressful circumstances in which she was making the observations. Mr Jones told the police that he went home at 9.30pm on 6 December 2001 and did not leave home again that night.

Some may maintain suspicions about Mr Jones. However, Mr Spohr [Mr Jones’ legal representative] is correct in pointing out that there is no direct or forensic evidence against him and that this inquest found none.