Cult leader Simon Kadwell inquest hears police failed to investigate leads including reports of 'dead flesh' smell
ABC News
BY GIAN DE POLONI
UPDATED ABOUT 7 HOURS AGO (as at 06:53 AEDT 07 December 2017)
In his testimony, Senior Sergeant Gregory Balfour said there were four reported sightings of the family in the Busselton area in 2008, but police did not investigate due to a lack of evidence.
He said three months after Ms McDougall disappeared, prison workers also reported finding a woman's T-shirt along with the smell of "dead flesh" in bushland near Northcliffe.
However, the report was not fully investigated until 2015, by which time bushfires had swept through the area.
It was also revealed items belonging to Ms McDougall were found at the Nannup tip, but never recovered by police.
A few days before vanishing he [Kadwell] was stopped by police while driving in Nannup.
Senior Sergeant Balfour told the inquest the officer involved said Mr Kadwell looked uncomfortable with questions about his identity.
He said the officer believed the incident was a catalyst for the family's disappearance.
The inquest also shed light on the last known movements of Tony Popic, a friend of Mr Kadwell and Ms McDougall, who lived in a caravan parked on their property.
Police believed Mr Popic checked into a backpackers' hostel in Northbridge on July 15, 2007 a day after the last reported sighting of Ms McDougall.
A pizza delivery driver was the last known person to see him alive, when he delivered food to him that night in bushland in Perth's Kings Park.
The man, who now lives in Malaysia, later described the encounter to police as "unusual" and "creepy".
The family's Nannup landlord Lyndon Crouch found a note written by Ms McDougall indicating the family had moved to Brazil.
He told the inquest he did not believe the four were dead and suggested they followed through with their travel plans.
The hearing has been set down for three days.
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