Cleo Smith: Search for 'Aussie Madeleine McCann' as public told to check bins for missing girl, 4

Cleo Smith: How Australian police found the missing four-year-old

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6 minutes ago

Early on 3 November, police smashed their way into a house in the Australian town of Carnarvon, where they found a four-year-old girl who had been missing for 18 days.

Cleo Smith disappeared from her family's tent at a campsite near Carnarvon on 16 October, triggering a massive search operation.

The day after she was found, Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, appeared in court charged with forcibly or fraudulently taking or enticing a child under 16.

Here's what we know about the case and what led police to Cleo.
'Needle in a haystack'

Cleo's family were on the first night of their holiday at the Quobba Blowholes camping ground when she went missing between 01:30 and 06:00 on 16 October.

The remote site in Macleod [that name again] is about 900km (560 miles) north of Perth, and is a local attraction on the state's Coral Coast - known for its windswept ocean scenery, sea caves and lagoons.

Cleo had been sleeping on an air mattress next to her younger sister's cot. When her mother, who had been sleeping in the second room of the tent, got up in the morning, Cleo was gone and the tent door was open.

Police said this raised fears of an abduction. Ms Smith was adamant Cleo would not have left the tent on her own.

A major search operation involving a task force of more than 100 officers was launched.

Western Australia Deputy Police Commissioner Col Blanch has described it as being like looking for "a needle in a haystack".
Thousands of pieces of evidence

The search for Cleo covered land, sea and air, with reconnaissance planes used to comb sparsely populated areas.

ABC reporter Evelyn Manfield described the extensive search operation, saying police were "up in the air, on horseback, using drones to forensically map every area inch-by-inch looking for clues".

Police even scoured through hundreds of bags of roadside rubbish along a 600km (373 mile) stretch of Western Australia.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde said they had to go through "hundreds of thousands" of pieces of evidence and testimony.

"We had to sift through a lot of information. The statements of the 100 people who were at the campsite, CCTV footage, data from phones..." he said.

Authorities also offered a A$1m ($750,000; £540,000) reward for information on Cleo's whereabouts.

Deputy Commissioner Blanch said phone data also played a key role.

"It's a big jigsaw, you know, everything contributed," he said.

"Combined with some early information, this was dogged, methodical police work," said Commissioner Chris Dawson, adding that the team had "worked their way through every lead possible".
The final pieces of the puzzle

Police have not revealed the exact details of what led them to the locked house in Carnarvon, where they found Cleo alive and well.

Commissioner Dawson told reporters "really important" information about a car helped direct police to the house on Wednesday though he has not elaborated on what that information was.

Detective Wilde said that police were able to "build a picture of who was supposed to be there and who was not supposed to be there" by piecing together all the information they received and by "placing people in certain locations at certain times".

He added that things had become "clearer" on Tuesday afternoon, which led them to arresting their suspect.

Local media reports have stated that a man - now known to be Mr Kelly - was removed from his vehicle and arrested hours before police rescued Cleo.

Police say they believe the alleged kidnapper was acting alone.

"There were lots of things, that when we put the puzzle together it all led to one place, and that's where we found Cleo," said Commissioner Dawson.

But the investigation into the events of that night are still not over.

Police are still trying to piece together exactly what happened. They have appealed to businesses and individuals in the area to provide them with CCTV footage from between 15 October and 2 November.

There is also much we don't know about Cleo's experience of the abduction. Police said they have experts who will interview her, but warned that it could take days before they got any useful information out of her.

"It will take as long as it takes," Detective Wilde said, adding that they had to be careful not to upset her.

Her family is also being counselled on the next steps with regards to both Cleo's wellbeing and the progression of the case.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-59144556

Cleo Smith: Man charged with kidnap of four-year-old Australian girl had a ‘doll room’ inside his home

Cleo Smith disappeared from her family's tent in remote Western Australia last month, sparking a frantic air, land and sea search

By Verity Bowman 4 November 2021 • 12:08pm


Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, poses with his dolls



Terence Darrell Kelly, the man charged with the kidnapping of a four-year-old Australian girl, had a doll room inside his house, according to reports.

The 36-year-old, who was arrested following a night raid on a home in the coastal town of Carnarvon, posted numerous photos of himself surrounded by the toys on social media.

“I love taking my dolls for drive arounds and doing their hair and taking selfies in public,” he posted to Facebook in April 2020, news outlet WA Today reported.

Cleo Smith disappeared from her family's tent in remote Western Australia last month, sparking a frantic air, land and sea search.

She was missing for almost three weeks until being found in a bedroom in Kelly’s home during a nighttime raid - just a short drive from her home in Carnarvon.


The man accused of abducting four-year-old Cleo Smith had a doll room inside his house, according to reports Credit: Facebook



“The lights were on and she was playing with toys, I think that’s about all I want to say,” WA Police Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine said.

"This is still a matter that needs to go before the courts. There’s certain aspects about what we saw that is going to be evidence."

A member of staff at a toy shop in the town told reporters that she had sold several dolls to Kelly over the last few years.

Police refused to answer questions on whether the toys were found inside the property. Superintendent Rod Wilde, head of the taskforce, said he “didn’t want to go into that”.


A member of staff at a toy shop in the town told reporters that she had sold several dolls to Kelly over the last few years



Kelly screamed "I'm coming for you" during his appearance at Carnarvon Magistrate's Court on Thursday, before saying to the judge "what the f--- are the media doing here?" gesturing to journalists in the gallery, according to Australian media.

"It's an open court," the magistrate said. Kelly appeared shoe-less and was guarded by two police officers.

He was not required to enter a plea and did not apply for bail. According to local media he has been remanded in custody until Dec 6.

Many had feared the search for Cleo Smith would end in tragedy, but the discovery of her "alive and well" sparked elation in Australia, with police admitting "seasoned detectives" were "openly crying with relief".

The force on Thursday released audio recording of the rescue, in which officers can be heard urgently trying to affirm her identity.

"We've got her", "you're alright" excited police are heard to say, before another asks "what's your name? What's your name? What's your name, sweetheart."

"M-my name is Cleo" the girl eventually responds. "Your name is Cleo," the revealed detective repeats. "Hello Cleo."

The girl was reunited with her mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon soon after her rescue. "Our family is whole again," the mother said on social media.

Police last month had offered 1 million AUD (£546,000) for information leading to Cleo's recovery after she was abducted from her family's tent at Blowholes Campground, about 620 miles north of Perth, on Oct 16.

Her disappearance triggered a massive search throughout the region and police officers interviewed more than 110 people who were at the campsite on the night Cleo arrived with her family.



The case has drawn national attention, with many Australians taking to social media to express their anguish for her family.

The search had prompted comparisons to that of Madeleine McCann, the British toddler who went missing while on holiday with her family in Portugal in 2007.

Cleo’s mother described waking at 6am on Oct 16 to find the tent unzipped and her oldest daughter missing.

A massive land and sea search was initially mounted in the sparsely populated region on the assumption that she had wandered from the tent.

But more evidence began to support an abduction.

The position of the zipper on the tent flap – too high for Cleo to reach – suggested she had not opened it herself.



This caused “great concern” for Cleo’s safety, with Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde saying police believed the abduction was “an opportunistic-type event”.

Then on Tuesday came important new forensic information.

Western Australia Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch said police had acted quickly after finding a "needle in a haystack" but did not specify what led them to the house where Cleo was found.

"We had been following a lot of the forensic leads and it led us to a particular house," he said.

Chris Dawson, Western Australia's police commissioner was briefed by officers late on Tuesday before they executed the search warrant on the Carnarvon home.

"They briefed me and said, 'Look, I think we're onto something here'," he told ABC radio. "We hoped we'd find her alive. It's remarkable she's alive, you know, (after) 18 days."





Detectives who specialise in crimes involving children and child abuse have now been dispatched from Perth to help local police interview Cleo, according to the West Australian.

It is hoped the 4-year old will be able to provide vital information on the investigation, though it is not yet clear when she will be interviewed.

Their small hometown of Carnarvon, which had spent weeks on edge after the girl's disappearance, was soon decked out in balloons and "welcome home" signs as residents celebrated the news.

One of her rescuers, detective Cameron Blaine, said he visited the family after Cleo was released from a brief hospital stay Wednesday and she appeared to be coping well.

"It was really heartwarming to see her interact and playing in the backyard and just being herself and around her parents," he said. "I'm amazed she seems to be so well-adjusted and happy."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/11/04/name-cleo-police-release-audio-touching-moment-found-missing/

According to a Facebook poster, the Suspect has stolen multiple pictures of other people, and used them to create an entire range of new identities.

Some of these Accounts go back over 10 years.
One Account even follows Cleo’s mother Ellie.
Some Accounts have fictitious Families he has built using stolen images.

Terrence Tezkelz and Bratz Deluca are the Facebook accounts.
He is also alleged to be on Instagram.

What's Happening in the Cleo Smith Missing Child Case

Nov 1, 2021


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Talk about stating the bloomin' obvious!

Sorry but my opinion of the credibility of criminal 'psychologists' profilers hovers around zero. They always have so much to say but so little to give, if so brilliant why not join a police force rather than lurk behind the scenes with 'loud' opinion.

Could Maddie McCann have been saved like Cleo Smith?

The painstaking search by Australian police for the missing four-year-old was in stark contrast to that infamous earlier investigation...

By Lucie Morris-Marr Melbourne 7 November 2021 • 5:00am


Cleo Smith had been dubbed Australia’s Madeleine McCann

In the end it was four simple words which ended 18 days of desperate searching and fading hope – and sparked troubling questions about another missing daughter on another continent.

“My name is Cleo,” uttered four-year-old Cleo Smith as she was found by shocked officers in a bedroom in a locked bungalow in her remote home town of Carnarvon, Western Australia on Wednesday, after her abduction from her family’s tent some 40 miles northwards in a coastal campsite.

Her rescue was declared a “remarkable” result by the emotional Premier of WA, Mark McGowan, and one which appeared to stun those involved in the search as much as the entire nation – as news alerts pinged on phones in unison over breakfast.

The bubbly child had been dubbed Australia’s Madeleine McCann, who went missing at almost exactly the same age. While Cleo was reunited with her overjoyed young parents in hospital, it’s a conclusion which is likely to serve as bittersweet news for Gerry and Kate McCann, whose daughter became a global household name for the worst possible reasons after being snatched from their holiday apartment in Portugal in May 2007.

For 14 long years there has, tragically, been no sign of the toddler – a fact Australians were well aware of as the frantic police search passed the two-week mark, with the public urged to check bins and roadsides for the red sleeping bag that Cleo was sleeping in the night she disappeared.

Her safe rescue triggers new and difficult questions over whether the Portuguese police could and should have done far more in their investigation, especially in those initial hours and days which are so critical in child abduction cases.

There is certainly huge pride in what has been achieved in finding Cleo. McGowan declared in a news conference that the officers, detectives and analysts of the Western Australian Police Force had barely slept, having worked around the clock in their bid to find Cleo alive. He added that he expected their “amazing piece of detective work” would be analysed by police forces across the country and indeed around the world. He could well be right.



The Blowholes campground where Cleo was taken from her tent in the dead of night is one of the most remote holiday locations on earth, over 550 miles north of Perth, surrounded by scrub and endless coastline. It wasn’t the relatively busy Algarve holiday resort of Praia da Luz with hundreds of tourists, locals and resort staff among potential witnesses and suspects.

Cleo, said by police to be thankfully “physically unharmed” is now settling back home, just four miles from where she was discovered.

On Thursday, Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, appeared in court and was charged with “forcibly or fraudulently taking or enticing a child under 16”. He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody until December 6.

In a short statement issued by police, Cleo’s parents, Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon, said they wanted to take the opportunity to thank all those involved in her rescue: “We are so thankful that our little girl is back within our arms and our family is whole again.”

A key part of the investigation that led to Cleo’s rescue was the swift clearing of her parents from any suspicion of guilt. Initially, police said they “weren’t ruling anything out” in relation to her bizarre disappearance from her mother and step-father’s tent in the middle of the night. Suspicion unfairly, if perhaps inevitably, fell on them – particularly online – but police extensively monitored the couple and tapped their phones before publicly concluding they were not involved.

One of the many documented faults of the Portuguese investigation was their clumsy policing in the initial hours after Madeleine vanished as she slept alongside her twin siblings.

While the Australian police immediately sealed off the tent where Cleo and her family had been sleeping, in Portugal they failed to make the McCann’s holiday apartment a crime scene. As a result, up to 40 people, including police and resort staff, trampled through the accommodation, literally wiping out any chance of DNA evidence or other forensic clues. An entire volume of evidence was essentially – and possibly fatally – erased.

Madeleine McCann's disappearance: A timeline of the events
May 3, 2007

Kate and Gerry McCann leave their three children — Madeline, Amelie and Sean — asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, while having an evening meal with friends. Later that night, three-year-old year Madeleine goes missing from her bed. The following day, an investigation is launched into her disappearance by Portuguese police.
May 14, 2007

Robert Murat, an Anglo-Portuguese man, is questioned by the Portuguese police and named an official suspect, or arguido.
August 3, 2007

100 days after Madeleine's disappearance, investigating officers publicly acknowledge that the three-year-old year could be dead.
September 7, 2007

Gerry and Kate McCann are questioned by Portuguese police and are named as official suspects — or arguidos — within the case.
October 2, 2007

Goncalo Amaral, the Portuguese detective in charge of the inquiry, is removed from the case after criticising the British police in a Portuguese newspaper interview. He is later replaced on October 9 by Paulo Rebelo, a senior Portuguese detective.
March 19, 2008

Kate and Gerry McCann are awarded £550,000 libel damages and front-page apologies from the Express Newspapers over allegations they were responsible for their daughter’s death. The apology headline reads — “Kate and Gerry McCann: Sorry”.
July 21, 2008

The Portuguese authorities end their investigation and remove the arguido status of Gerry and Kate McCann as well as Robert Murat.
May 2011

Under the guidance of Home Secretary, Theresa May, Scotland Yard launches Operation Grange. The operation led by the Metropolitan Police Service aims to review the circumstances of Madeline’s death.
April 25, 2017

Met Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley says that the police have “a significant line of inquiry” that is “worth pursuing”, but stresses that there is no "definitive evidence" as to whether Madeleine is dead or alive.
June 5, 2019

The government announces in June 2019, that it will continue to fund Operation Grange until March 31, 2020. The Home Office also confirm that £11.75 million has been spent on the operation since 2011.
June 3, 2020

Scotland Yard identify a German man as the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The Telegraph’s crime correspondent Martin Evans, who spent months reporting in Portugal on the Madeleine story, recalls how there was also seemingly “no strategy in place” at the inexperienced local force.

“The investigation was flawed from the very start as it was clear the police were totally out of their depth,” Evans says. “They were unsure what they were even investigating for far too long – was it a missing person they were dealing with or an abduction? They had no idea.”

During the Cleo investigation, a thorough and detailed land and sea search, involving helicopters and drones, was called off after a few days, leading local police, backed up by senior detectives flown in from Perth, to focus their resources solely on investigating the abduction theory.

In contrast, the Portuguese police led a chaotic, scatter-gun operation and spent weeks speculating Madeleine may have just wandered off, before slowly exploring other lines of enquiry. Then came the extremely flawed “distractions” to the entire investigation, including the theory the McCanns had killed their own daughter and later placed her body in the boot of a hire car.

This harmful accusation, including declaring the parents “arguidos” (suspects), scuppered the chances of investigating local sex offenders and other vital lines of enquiry for some time.

Writer Miranda Levy witnessed the visceral grief of Kate McCann up close in the Algarve in 2007, when she interviewed her to mark 100 days since Madeleine vanished. By then, suspicion had already turned to her parents: “I found [Kate] heartbroken, fragile, but also resolute,” Levy says. “‘It could have happened to anyone,’ she told me. ‘I feel like the unluckiest person in the world.’”

In 2011, when Scotland Yard started their own inquiry, dubbed Operation Grange, they went back to basics – going over every theory and lead in detail, also carrying out excavations and land surveys near the holiday resort. But by then it was tragically too little, too late.

The Australian police had one major advantage that the Portuguese police didn’t have at their disposal in 2007, being on the right side of the smartphone revolution and abundant CCTV street cameras.

Luck, of course, often plays a role – alongside good old-fashioned policing. After all, it was sheer chance that two 10-year-old British girls were discovered in a flat in January 1999 after going missing for four days after being snatched off the street by paedophile Alan Hopkinson in St Leonard’s, East Sussex. The case dominated the headlines as 300 officers frantically searched for them, yet they were only found because police went to his home to do a spot check in relation to his previous crimes.

In finding Cleo, Australia has its miracle ending. But Levy’s first thoughts, on hearing the happy news, turned to what the McCanns must be feeling. “Relief, that another family won’t have to go through what they suffered, and that a little girl has been reunited with her family?” she wonders. “Or, an ache that this was a happiness denied them: that they still don’t know what happened to Madeleine? Most likely, it’s a mixture of both.”

Last year a German prosecutor declared Christian Brueckner, a prisoner currently behind bars for an unrelated matter, to be the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance. However they have so far failed to release precise details of their evidence and as a result her parents still don’t have closure or final answers.

“For Kate and Gerry McCann, the pain of losing Madeleine never goes away,” note Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, authors of the book Looking for Madeleine. “Every new ‘child missing’ headline must exacerbate that pain. A successful resolution, as in the case of the little girl in Australia, is in happy contrast. Could it be that the McCanns’ persistent badgering of officialdom to find their child, their determination to raise public awareness, has spurred on another police force, helped another stricken family? One can certainly hope so.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/could-maddie-mccann-have-saved-like-cleo-smith/
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For the umpteenth time, there is no comparison between the case of Cleo Smith and that of Madeleine McCann. Secondly the crime scene in Portugal was compromised prior to the police alert - it was not a failure on the part on the Portuguese police!

Shame on you Mr Telegraph shame on you

Once again another attack on the Portuguese police and investigation .

As for Operation Grange " going back to basics " what have they achieved in 10 years apart from spending millions of taxpayers money ? 

I think we all know the answer to that , how long will this farce go on .

Indefinitely I think! But you have to admit, they've lost their clout leaving only a few tabloid journalists hanging on to the bowels of the sinking ship.

Having said that, it's always been about the blundering Portuguese police - I'm sure battles have been fought in days of old for lesser crimes. Practically all media reports, chat show sofa interviews, books written and documentaries have focused on the ineptitude of the Portuguese police.

Portugal should take the case to the European Court of Human Rights, Portugal v. United kingdom. They'd have better chance of a hearing and successful outcome than McCann v. Portugal ever had - or will have!

It's pathetic!

The trashing of the Portuguese police by the British press is sickening. Does the Portuguese media report on the perverts we have in various police 'services'?

Whitewashing the McCann's and OG and trashing the PJ once again Had any of these journalists actually read the PJfiles. Had they ever talked about the only finger prints the police found on that jemmied shutters belong to Kate.. ?

In contrast, the Portuguese police led a chaotic, scatter-gun operation and spent weeks speculating Madeleine may have just wandered off, before slowly exploring other lines of enquiry. Then came the extremely flawed “distractions” to the entire investigation, including the theory the McCanns had killed their own daughter and later placed her body in the boot of a hire car.

This harmful accusation, including declaring the parents “arguidos” (suspects), scuppered the chances of investigating local sex offenders and other vital lines of enquiry for some time.

It's total fabrication, journalists should honour their code of ethics and check their facts before going to print.

The prime suspects, Gerry and Kate McCann, were designated 'arguido' early September 2007.  This formality did not prevent the Portuguese police from investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann - at least not by their, the Portuguese, hand.  The ground work, the investigation, had commenced immediately the GNR were alerted on the night of Thursday 3rd May 2007.

It's all documented in the PJ files if the journalists only care to look - only they don't care to look!

Back in 2007 there may not have been the advancements in technology so beneficial to contemporary policing, but that didn't prevent the PJ from carrying out a thorough professional investigation.  If there was any fault with the Portuguese investigation, it was by way of British interference, not Portuguese police ineptitude.

Policing did exist before Bill Gates was a twinkle in the galactic eye.  They relied more on intuition - so much more effective than relying on modern plastic innovation.

All this rubbish exasperates me - it really does.

Cleo Smith: Bombshell in case of missing Australian girl
Amy Harris In Carnarvon For Daily Mail Australia  5 hrs ago
8 Comments

A mystery woman is now central in the Cleo Smith case after the little girl revealed to investigators a female would come to her accused kidnapper's house to 'look after her'.

The bombshell development came to light during delicate police interviews with the four-year-old, who allegedly spent 18 days locked up inside a house in Carnarvon, in Western Australia's northwest.

Local man Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, has been charged with kidnapping and remains in a Perth jail, as a team of elite detectives returned to the remote town on Monday in the hunt for more clues.

Sources close to the investigation told Daily Mail Australia that Cleo has mentioned that a woman visited the Tonkin Crescent duplex during the time she was allegedly held captive, and helped care for her.

It's understood Cleo said the woman helped to dress her and brush her hair.

Cleo was found in the early hours of last Wednesday morning after being missing since October 16, when she was allegedly abducted from her family's tent at the remote blowholes campsite about 75km away.

The preschooler was awake and 'playing with toys' when detectives broke down the door of the house, just after 1.30am.

Bodycam footage shows the brave little girl being carried out the Tonkin Crescent address with her hair clean and brushed and her pyjamas appearing freshly washed. 

Police had initially stated no other suspects were being sought in relation to the matter, alleging that Kelly acted alone.

With the landmark case appearing to be wrapped up, a team of detectives who helped track down Cleo have since raced back to Carnarvon from Perth as they probe the possibility another person was involved. 

The group are expected to remain in the small town for at least another week as forensic specialists continue to scour the alleged abductor's home for evidence another suspect may have been there.

Detective senior sergeant Cameron Blaine, who was captured on police bodycam vision rescuing Cleo from her nightmarish ordeal, has remained tight-lipped about the latest developments in the case but said police have 'more work to do.'   

'Our focus this week is for us to ascertain whether there was anyone else involved. That's why we are still here,' he said after stepping off the plane.

'So, we just ask that if there was anyone that had any contact with Mr Kelly, whether you saw him, whether you met with him, whether you spoke to him on the phone during the relevant period to please make yourself known to police.'

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to WA Police for comment on the mystery woman. 

A spokesperson said investigators would not comment specifically on the major development, but added 'inquiries are continuing'. 

Specialist child interview officers attached to the child abuse squad in Perth began the delicate task of sitting down with Cleo last Thursday.

The process of uncovering what happened could take several weeks.

For a sixth straight day forensic officers have combed through Kelly's house and gathering evidence for laboratory examination which could indicate the presence of another person.

Trailer-loads of evidence have been bagged up and removed from the alleged abductor's property during that time with the top-to-bottom search of the roped-off commission house likely to go on for several weeks as prosecutors build their case against Kelly.

Since his arrest, it's been revealed he had an obsession with collecting dolls and boasted about his love for girl's toys on various social media pages.

One photograph he posted shows Bratz and Disney princess dolls stacked from floor to ceiling.

Just a thought, but being that it now looks likely that Kelly was not working alone, could it be that he is refraining from "Dobbing in" others because he wishes to protect someone with whom he is particularly close?
Could that person be the woman who dressed little Cleo and brushed her hair?
Are we looking at a situation involving multiple accomplices any of whom might be threatening: "If I go down I'm taking you mongrels with me"?

I know I have to tread extremely carefully here but Kelly's "Maximum security" status seems somehow to be at odds with the picture we appear to be getting of someone inexperienced in looking after children who then goes to the trouble of bringing in a woman to take care of the little girl.

Now, at this point I must make it absolutely clear that I believe any decent, sane human being should vehemently condemn Kelly for the part has played in this awful crime but at the same time and in light of this latest revelation, the epithet "Opportunistic monster" no longer seems to accurately describe him.

Having a female accomplice spoils the 'opportunistic' abduction theory, imo. We know now that Kelly was obsesses with the dolls, which makes me think that the accomplice was scouting for a girl. also, the fact that he had a hair brush, and girl's clothes.  Cleo was selected.

CaKeLoveR wrote:Having a female accomplice spoils the 'opportunistic' abduction theory, imo. We know now that Kelly was obsesses with the dolls, which makes me think that the accomplice was scouting for a girl. also, the fact that he had a hair brush, and girl's clothes.  Cleo was selected.

I'm not convinced the doll obsession necessarily implies anything sinister. 
Moreover, I think it highly unlikely that another would share the same weird obsession to the point where they would be willing assist in the procurement of a little girl in order to "Make complete" that bizarre fantasy.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10183679/Cleo-Smith-Family-friend-man-accused-kidnapping-says-abductor-accomplice.html

A family friend of the man accused of kidnapping Cleo Smith says the doll-obsessed 36-year-old must have had an accomplice because he doesn't have the 'know-how' to pull off the act alone.
Terence Darrell Kelly has been charged with Cleo's kidnapping and remains in a Perth jail after his dramatic arrest last Wednesday. 
Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed how the brave four-year-old told detectives a mystery woman came to the house to dress her and brush her hair, with police now investigating the possibility another person was involved in her alleged kidnapping. 
Now a family friend of Kelly has revealed she believes he had help in Cleo's 'abduction' because he doesn't have the capacity to carry out such a crime without assistance.
'He wouldn't be because he hasn't got the know-how of how to do things,' Barbara Graham told Nine.
'He would have had someone there to show him what to do and where to go and what.'

Exactly my point. I don't think Cleo would have been clean and well fed, in the care of that grubby, disturbed man.

Also, as for finding a willing accomplice, the McCann's had several. 'We have a pact', alleged one of them.

Something I forgot to mention in my last posting was Kelly's outburst towards the media in court.
I think this may constitute further evidence that others were involved.
I'm not referring to the "What the f*** are they doing here ? " comment but to the "I'm coming for you" comment.

I doubt, as some have suggested that Kelly was directing this particular comment towards those individuals from the media, I think he was relying on them to publish the comment so that a particular person or persons would either read it in a newspaper or see it on the television news.
I could be completely wrong here but to me this sounds like Kelly is relaying a message to an accomplice via the media because he has been stitched up and is letting that person know that he intends to get even with them.

I'm still struggling with the concept of Kelly (or accomplice) driving all that way, picking that campsite, selecting that tent and that compartment to whisk away a little girl and take her back to within miles of her own home. 

Smacks of Sharon Matthews. A family member (or partner thereof) will be involved somewhere.

That is a less unsettling thought than that of Kelly preparing her for whatever he had in mind. First dolls, then a living girl. Ugh.

I think we have cause to question whether Kelly even was the "Abductor".
I get the impression that he was lumbered with the task of looking after the child.Quite clearly he was way out of his depth as he thought that a four year old would still be using nappies !

Also, does this awkward, overweight oddball really fit the profile of a confident, stealthy, panther-like abductor who was able to whisk the child away, sleeping bag and all, without so much as a whisper?

WORLD UPDATED 
Cleo Smith abduction: Detectives yet to find sleeping bag from Blowholes campsite

10 Nov, 2021 08:43 

news.com.au
By: Anthony Piovesan and Angie Raphael

Detectives are still searching for the sleeping bag Cleo Smith was curled up in when she was allegedly snatched from a tent at the Blowholes campsite.

A police spokesperson said it was believed the red and grey sleeping bag was still unaccounted for more than three weeks after Cleo vanished and was still missing today - days after she was found in a locked house in Carnarvon.

Forensic teams are examining other items from the site and the Carnarvon home where the 4-year-old was found after 18 days.

Numerous items have already been collected from Terence Kelly's house, including a mobile phone and a Bratz doll. 

The sleeping bag was deemed a critical item during the search for Cleo, with police releasing an image that was splashed on missing person posters all over the country.

Motorists travelling on the North West Coastal Highway have even been urged to keep an eye out for the item as police conducted searches through roadside bins.

Officers waded through 50 cubic metres of rubbish recovered from bins from Minilya to Geraldton, but the sleeping bag was not found.

Detectives are still searching for the sleeping bag. 

The item also was not found at the home of Terence Kelly, who is behind bars accused of abducting Cleo from her tent.

Further charges could be laid over the alleged abduction of Cleo, but Western Australia's deputy police commissioner ruled out claims that a "mystery woman" was being investigated.

Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine said this week that police were trying to "ascertain whether there was anyone else involved" in the 4-year-old girl's alleged kidnapping.

Deputy Police Commissioner Col Blanch was asked on Wednesday about reports that a woman was under investigation, as rumours continued to swirl that accused man Terence Darrell Kelly had an accomplice.

"I can rule that one out," Blanch told reporters.

Asked if anyone else knew about Cleo's alleged abduction, he said: "That's all part of the investigation at the moment … my comment is I'm making no comment on the investigation. "

Pressed further about whether police had now ruled out a second person being involved, Blanch said: "The investigation is ongoing — that's all I'll say at this time."

Kelly, 36, has been charged with two offences, including one count of forcibly taking a child aged under 16. He is yet to enter a plea.

Cleo Smith went missing from a campsite at the Blowholes. 

He will remain in a maximum-security prison in Perth until his next court appearance on December 6.

Police continue to guard Kelly's house while forensic officers gather evidence.

They are expected to remain at the scene for several more days.

Cleo Smith was found in a house in her hometown of Carnarvon. 

Numerous items have already been collected from the house, including a mobile phone and a Bratz doll.

Cleo Smith was found on November 4, 18 days after she first went missing.

I don't believe this guy is capable of snatching a child, let alone looking after a child. Maybe keeping an eye on behalf of someone.

He certainly would be a good patsy, with his doll obsession.