Inquest into cold case murder begins

Lorraine Wilson and Wendy Evans who were murdered in 1974. Source: The Sunday Telegraph

THREE men who have been identified by police as "persons of interest" in the brutal cold case murder of Sydney nurses Wendy Evans, 18, and Lorraine Wilson, 20, will give evidence when an inquest opens today.

A police investigation into the case has spanned almost four decades since the women's disappearance in 1974 and the gruesome discovery of their bodies dumped in bushland at Murphys Creek, near Toowoomba, two years later.

Check back here for rolling updates of the inquest

A pre-inquest conference in Brisbane in December identified persons of interest Desmond Roy Hilton, Allan Neil Laurie and Terrance James O'Neill would be called to give evidence when it opened before State Coroner Michael Barnes in Toowoomba today.

Counsel assisting the Coroner Craig Chowdhury also identified now deceased Allan John Laurie, Wayne Hilton, Donald Laurie, and Larry Charles as persons of interest in the case.

An inquest in 1985 ruled the women met with "foul play" after their bodies were found in bushland on June 26, 1976 with skull fractures and marks consistent with being bound with the cord of a venetian blind.

Mr Chowdhury said a significant amount of material had since become available to police investigating the murders, including a number of witness statements taken between 1988 and 2005; the most recent in October.

He said at least 28 witnesses would be called to give evidence, including one who recalled seeing two women crying out for help as they were "manhandled" into a green-coloured EJ Holden.

Mr Chowdhury said much of the new evidence had never been previously reported to police.

Another witness would share a conversation she had with a stranger who gave a detailed account of the women's deaths at a Toowoomba pub in 1989, he told the court.

Another witness would recall seeing a man cleaning blood from a car on a suburban Toowoomba street when he was just 10-years-old.

A retired police officer involved in the original investigation would also give evidence, Mr Chowdhury said.

He said the court had a duty to investigate the deaths on behalf of "the two murdered girls, their families and the public of Queensland".

"It's a tragedy a lot of material that has come out wasn't available to the original investigation at the time," he said.

A $250,000 reward remains in place for information on the killings. Call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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