Thursday, April 7, 2022

Friday, April 8

Years ago I saw a documentary on ABC TV about a missing person in a town called Larrimah in the Northern Territory.  His name was Paddy Moriarty and, apparently, police thought he had been murdered; one of the suspects was a woman who ran a Devonshire Tea shop in the town and complained that Paddy was advising tourists not to go into the shop because the pies were awful and 'even me dog wouldn't eat them'.

I thought at the time it had all the elements of a great story and I wished I knew what the ending was.

The news yesterday had details of the inquest into Paddy's death which is being held at Katherine.  Fran Hodgetts, the tea house owner, is still 'in the frame' as well as another local called Wayne Ludwidge.  It seems Paddy might have been murdered by a mate of Mr Ludwidge who has some sort of link with the famous case of Robert Falconio.  It's been suggested that the murderer might have been paid $10000  by Ms Hodgetts to get rid of the bloke she said was ruining her business.

Police were given a tip-off that Paddy and his dog were both murdered and buried under a big tree with the dog on top.  "You'll find the dog first," was the advice.  The late news is that the inquest found that Paddy had been murdered and the police are making inquiries.

I can't wait for the next instalment.  In the meantime, there's a podcast 'Lost in Larrimah' and an episode of Conversations to follow up.

No comments:

Post a Comment