Mulherons' Kitchen Rules in MKR final

WON BY TWO: Dan and Steph's party erupted in Brisbane last night after they were named winners. Picture: Steve Pohlner Source: The Courier-Mail

HERVEY Bay cooking couple Dan and Steph Mulheron are one step closer to their dreams of starting a family after winning Seven's My Kitchen Rules

The toughly fought kitchen battle saw Dan and Steph narrowly defeat Sunshine Coast siblings Jake and Elle Harrison by just two points in the culmination of the months-long reality show.

Dan and Steph have revealed they will use the money to fund further IVF treatments and open a gourmet sausage shop.

They were required to serve a five-course meal for family, friends and former contestants, 100 plates in total, and were judged on the quality of the food and presentation.

In the end Manu Fieldel and Pete Evans judged Dan and Steph's offering more highly, giving them a score of 54/60.

Jake and Elle were awarded 52/60 and the two point difference saw them sent home as runners up.

Dan and Steph have previously spoken of their desire to start a family after trying for five years. They have undergone IVF treatment once already and have been saving for their next attempt.

STILL HAPPY: Losers still are grinners - Jake and Elle Harrison celebrated their My Kitchen Rules runner-up award with friends and family. Picture: Marc Robertson

The $250,000 cash prize will give them the freedom to keep trying.

"The dream is to have three kids, me with my sausage shop, Steph at home as a mum and live comfortably," Dan said in the lead-up to last night's grand final.

"I want to work hard, have the weekends off with family and be able to provide for my family, that is the ideal."

Heading into the competition the pair were living week-to-week just making ends meet as they saved to make their dreams come true. For siblings Jake and Elle, the dream was to open a late-night supper club in Brisbane and while not taking out the cash prize will certainly prove a hurdle for them, they are determined to turn that dream into reality under their own steam.

They said they weren't completely disappointed.

"The only difference is $250,000," Elle said. "That is amazing but coming second is still amazing. We are the youngest competitors ever in this competition, getting this far is incredible."

KNIVES OUT: My Kitchen Rules grand finalists Jake and Elle Harrison and Steph and Dan Mulheron.

Both duos held separate grand final parties with family and friends at Brisbane venues.

Regardless, Jake and Elle said they would be "partying well into Monday".

They were all kept in the dark about who would win the competition until it was announced on air last night with dual endings shot to keep the final result a secret.

The Voice vs My Kitchen Rules MKR

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MKR grand final an all-Maroon cook-off

QUEENSLANDER!: My Kitchen Rules Queensland contestants Dan and Steph Mulheron from Hervey Bay. Source: Supplied

IT'S mate versus mate with an all-Queensland cook-off for Sunday night's My Kitchen Rules grand final.

Sunshine Coast siblings Jake and Elle Harrison made it through to the grand final Wednesday night, beating Tasmanian father and son combo Mick and Matt Newell by seven points.

They will now face off against their "mates", Hervey Bay couple Dan and Steph Mulheron.

Elle told The Courier-Mail yesterday her relief at making it into the final was shortlived.

"It was a big relief but then my mind was immediately towards how we are going to cook five courses," she said.

Jake and Elle are firm favourites to take out the competition and become the youngest team ever to win the top-rated Channel 7 cooking competition.

MAROONS: Elle and Jake Harrison from the Sunshine Coast.

Despite their popularity, Jake said he was amazed the pair have done so well.

"I was gobsmacked that we went through," he said.

"I really didn't imagine us in the grand final. From where we started to where we are now is a bit surreal."

Elle secretly thinks Jake was cocky about their chances all along.

"I never wanted us to go into any challenge being cocky," she said.

"But (Jake), in his mind, I think he always thought we were going to win."

Despite the pressure Jake and Elle face going into the big cook-off, they are certain they will be ready for the challenge.

Grand Final "frenemies" Dan and Steph described their impending confrontation with the siblings as "scary".

The winner will be decided on Sunday night with a massive challenge that sees the teams plate up a five-course meal for the judges, former contestants and their family and friends.

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Police hope for final piece of jigsaw

Have you seen this man? Police need your help. Contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Picture: Victoria Police Source: Supplied

Mahalingham Sinnathamby has been missing since 2005, but police believe they have a breakthrough in the case. Picture: Victoria Police. Source: Supplied

POLICE have made a breakthrough in the mystery of a pensioner who disappeared in suspicious circumstances more than seven years ago.

Noble Park man Mahalingham Sinnathamby, 68, was last seen leaving a doctor’s appointment in Carrum Downs on the morning of August 25, 2005.

Police believe he filled a prescription before returning home but hasn’t been seen since.

After years of investigating the case, Dandenong detectives say they have finally identified a person of interest after an anonymous caller phoned Crime Stoppers.

Greater Dandenong Crime Investigation Unit Detective Senior Constable Kane Taylor said Mr Sinnathamby’s family had been left not knowing what happened to their loved one.

“Someone out there knows something and it is time for that person to come forward and help provide the closure they so desperately need.

“Even the smallest piece of information could be the final piece of the jigsaw that we need to close this case,” Sen-Det Taylor said.

Anyone who can identify the man in a FACE image provided by police, or who has any information about Mr Sinnathamby’s disappearance is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or www.crimestoppers.com.au

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Jill's final moments on fateful path

Previously unseen footage shows tragic Jill Meagher’s walk home and a hooded man, believed to be her accused killer Adrian Bayley running toward her on the night she died.

IT was Friday night and time to socialise. Melbourne's bars were full of people marking the end of another work week and catching up with friends.

At the Brunswick Green Hotel, Jill Meagher was with workmates from the ABC, where she worked for local radio.

At the Lounge Bar in Swanston St, pipe layer Adrian Bayley and his girlfriend were drinking with his mates from Rangedale Drainage Services.

The bars were at opposite sides of town. There was nothing to connect the young Irish woman with the fitness fanatic with the close-cut hair.

Such was the randomness of Jill’s brutal death.

Jill and Tom Meagher on their wedding day.

As her parents George and Edith McKeon stood bravely together in Melbourne Magistrates Court this week, Jill’s obviously distressed husband Tom Meagher walked out as he heard Bayley pleaded not guilty to killing Jill on September 22 last year.

Bayley, 41, has pleaded guilty to one count of raping her but not guilty to two further rape charges and murder.

The full story of Jill’s terrifying final moments may never emerge.

During the committal hearing, Magistrate Felicity Broughton said there was evidence containing ‘‘extremely distressing, sensitive material'' that would greatly embarrass Jill’s family and friends.

Court releases a series of CCTV recordings that show Jill Meagher, and her accused killer Adrian Bayley, at various locations on the night she was killed.

The allegations that came out in court this week will be tested when Bayley stand trials in the Victorian Supreme Court.

That night at the lounge bar, Bayley’s girlfriend walked out after an argument about ‘‘jealousy and possessiveness’’.

She returned to the granny flat in Coburg which the couple rented.

She ignored Bayley as he peppered her with calls and texts.

CCTV footage of Adrian Bayley.

About 12.25am, he caught a taxi home, the court was told. Jill had left the Brunswick Hotel to go with a friend to the trendy Etiquette Bar.

Her friend left soon after, twice offering Jill a ride home in a taxi. She declined.

The flat she shared with her husband in Lux Way, Brunswick, was just a routine five-minute, 700m stroll away.

When the bar closed at 1.30am, Jill walked home along Sydney Rd, dressed in a waist-length black jacket, skirt and high heels.

Jill Meagher's parents, George and Edith McKeon, and her brother Michael McKeon and husband, Tom, far right, at court. Picture: Jon Hargest

Bayley, meanwhile, had changed into a blue hoodie and headed for Brunswick.

It is alleged he saw Jill walking alone and about 1.38am he raped and strangled her in a laneway in Hope St.

Bayley later allegedly told police: ‘‘I was trying to be nice and she kept going from being nasty to nice. And it just ended up in the alley. There’s no excuse.’’

Police began their hunt for Jill after her husband reported her missing on Saturday morning.

Video evidence shown to the court allegedly shows Adrian Bayley's movements over three days from a laneway, to an out-of-town petrol station and a suburban carwash.

As they seized all available CCTV footage along the route, they tracked Jill’s phone and found it had remained in Brunswick until 4.24am.

It then moved along CityLink in the vicinity of Moreland Rd at 4.40am and north along the Calder Freeway to Sunbury.

CityLink records provided details of all the vehicles that had passed under the Moreland Rd gantry, leading police to Bayley and his white Holden Astra.

Bayley’s mobile had left an identical pre-dawn trail.

Jill Meagher's handbag was found in a Brunswick laneway.

Detectives allegedly discovered that Bayley had cleaned the inside and outside of his Astra that Sunday. He took the car to be fitted with four new tyres and a new boot mat.

At work, Bayley said a bruised gash on his nose was caused by a brawl.

When police arrested him on Thursday, September 27, his girlfriend had found a broken SIM card in the bottom of the washing machine after cleaning his clothes.

The card was registered to Jill Meagher. The court was told Bayley had left Jill’s body in the laneway to return home and get his car and a shovel.

He then put her body in the boot and drove to Blackhill Rd, Gisborne South where he buried her in a shallow roadside grave.

‘‘I hope they bring back the death penalty before I get sentenced,’’ he told detectives in an interview tendered at the committal hearing.

‘‘I’ve done, I’ve already done it . . . They should have the death penalty for people like me anyway.’’

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