Jury retraces Janet Campbell's last steps

By Michelle Webster and Kim Arlington
Updated November 6 2012 - 12:10am, first published April 20 2010 - 11:23am
A shoe print was found on the edge of the cliff which partially matched the tread on Janet Campbell's sneakers.
A shoe print was found on the edge of the cliff which partially matched the tread on Janet Campbell's sneakers.
Jury retraces Janet Campbell's last steps
Jury retraces Janet Campbell's last steps
The 12 jurors and judge toured the sites connected to the trial.
The 12 jurors and judge toured the sites connected to the trial.

Seven dark grey four-wheel drives wound their way through the roads skirting Helensburgh, Otford and the Royal National Park yesterday, but it was far from a sightseeing expedition. The glorious scenery was in stark contrast to the job at hand for the vehicle's passengers, 12 jurors and the NSW Supreme Court justice at the helm of the murder trial of Des Campbell, the man accused of pushing his new wife off a cliff near Otford on March 24, 2005.Fifty-two-year-old Campbell, a paramedic and former soldier, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Janet Campbell, 49, also known as Janet Fisicaro, during a camping trip at the Royal National Park.The convoy assembled at Helensburgh Police Station before setting off an a tour of sites connected to the trial.Driven by correctional officers, the judge and jurors were first ferried to the Station Rd residence Campbell shared briefly with his wife, who had moved in just days before her death.Crammed into the narrow leafy street, the cars paused outside Campbell's former address for about 10 minutes, the jurors remaining inside their respective vehicles for the duration of the visit.On their way north towards Garie, the column of 4WDs paused briefly at Otford Lookout on Lady Wakehurst Dr to meet a police rescue unit assigned to ensure their safety while visiting some of the cliff-top locations.A yellow flag marked the site where Des Campbell camped with his wife, Janet.Just beyond the trees where their tent was pitched, the headland drops 50m to rocks below. Janet plunged to her death from the cliff. Her husband of six months had taken her on an overnight camping trip to the Royal National Park.Mr Campbell told police he found Janet's body at the base of the cliff after she left the tent to go to the toilet, the trial has heard. Prosecutors allege that, motivated by a desire for his wife's money, he pushed her over the edge.Mr Campbell denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty to murder.The jury was accompanied on the trek by the trial judge, Megan Latham, court sheriffs, detectives and lawyers. They trekked along a bush track to reach a headland just south of Burning Palms.The Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, previously told the jury it was "the most unlikely, uncomfortable and unsafe camping spot imaginable" and alleged Mr Campbell chose it deliberately as he planned his wife's murder.Just metres away, on the edge of the cliff, another yellow flag marked the spot where a shoe print was found by police investigating Mrs Campbell's death. The trial has heard the print partially matched the tread on her sneakers. The jurors were secured with safety harnesses before examining the spot.The jury remained at the site after sunset to observe lighting conditions equivalent to the time Mrs Campbell died.The Crown contends that with daylight saving and a full moon rising before sunset, there would have been plenty of light and she would not have accidentally stumbled off the cliff.The trial continues.

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