THERE was something not right in what Vincent Stanford was telling police about his movements the day Stephanie Scott went missing.
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It was one of the earliest clues that the 24-year-old cleaner was keeping a murderous secret and it was picked up by the officer in charge of investigating the disappearance of 26-year-old Ms Scott, Detective Sergeant Tim Clark.
On April 8 last year, three days after Ms Scott vanished from Leeton High School where she worked as an English and drama teacher, police received certain information about Stanford, Detective Clark told a sentencing hearing in Leeton this week for Stanford’s twin brother, Marcus.
Ms Scott had gone to the school to prepare class lessons for a relief teacher who was to fill in for her while she was her honeymoon after her planned wedding on April 11.
On the morning of April 8, Detective Clark asked a plain clothes constable to speak with Vincent Stanford about his movements on April 5 – Easter Sunday.
Stanford, who had worked at the school since March 2 as a casual cleaner, denied ever meeting Ms Scott and told the constable that on the afternoon of April 5 he had gone to the Golden Apple Superstore on Yanco Road.
On the afternoon of the interview, Detective Clark read Stanford’s statement.
It caused him some concern, he told the sentencing hearing.
Detective Clark made inquiries about the Golden Apple’s trading hours and found they were at odds with what Stanford was saying.
After Stanford stuck by his story a second time, Detective Clark sent two officers to Stanford’s Maiden Avenue home about 6pm to ask him to accompany them to the Leeton police station.
Stanford was not home, but his mother gave police permission to search his bedroom.
One of the officers found a set of keys for Leeton High School and Detective Clark learnt those keys had been given to Ms Scott by someone else at the school so she could go into work on Easter Sunday.
Stanford came home and told police he had been out taking photos.
When police at the house looked at the pictures on Stanford’s camera they saw the last two images were of a burnt body.
The worst fears of Ms Scott’s loved ones and police – that she had been murdered – seemed confirmed.
But Stanford was not through with lying.
In an interview with Detective Clark back at the police station, Stanford again denied having any contact with or knowing Ms Scott.
But damning evidence began to mount quickly.
A timber board with blood believed to be Ms Scott’s was found.
Stanford was then arrested at 9pm.
Police continued to search Stanford’s house and discovered a red bra later identified as belonging to Ms Scott.
They also found at Stanford’s house a boot liner which came from Ms Scott’s red Mazda 3.
Detective Clark was asked by Crown prosecutor Paul Kerr during the sentencing hearing if the photos of the burnt body had given him any insight into where Ms Scott’s body might be found.
The detective replied that the body appeared to be in bushland, and that mud on Ms Scott’s car (which Stanford had used to carry her body away from the school and was discovered dumped about eight kilometres from Leeton) was orange coloured, consistent with the colour of soil north of Leeton.
Detective Clark said he organised for trail bike police and aerial police to search certain areas and Ms Scott’s body was found in Cocoparra National Park, about 70 kilometres north of Leeton.
After being taken to the Junee Correctional Centre following his arrest, Stanford asked to speak with police and in an interview confessed to sexually assaulting and stabbing Ms Scott to death at the school.
Police believe Vincent Stanford mailed Ms Scott’s engagement ring and another ring given to her by her parents as a graduation present before his arrest on April 8.
At 6.46am that day, Vincent Stanford texted his brother asking for his address in Adelaide.
“I’m going to send you an envelope keep it safe for me,” Vincent Stanford said in the text.
It is not clear when Marcus Stanford received the envelope containing the rings and Ms Scott’s drivers licence, but on April 14 he conducted an internet search for places to sell jewellery in Adelaide.
On April 19, a South Australian detective was sent to Marcus Stanford’s Forreston home to ascertain his movements on April 5.
Because he is an identical twin of Vincent, police wanted to rule him out as the murderer.
Stanford was able to produce an alibi, but he did not mention receiving the envelope.
On April 21, Vincent Stanford told police he had mailed the rings and licence to his brother.
The same South Australian detective interviewed Marcus Stanford a second time that day, but was not aware of Vincent Stanford’s revelation about the rings and licence.
Marcus Stanford sold the rings at the Adelaide Exchange Jewellery store on May 9 for $705 and he burnt the licence after taking photos of it on May 22.
The rings were later scrapped.
Interviewed again on May 30 and asked specifically about the envelope, Stanford denied having received anything from his brother since Christmas.
He later admitted that was a lie.
Stanford was arrested on June 10 and extradited to NSW where he pleaded guilty in March this year to being an accessory after the fact of murder.
In the Leeton courthouse this week, Stanford was sentenced to 15 months’ jail, backdated to June 10 last year.
He will be freed on September 9.
Vincent Stanford will be sentenced at Griffith in October.