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Perth killer admits murdering five members of his family

Mara Quinn lived at the Bedford house with her three daughters.

Mara Quinn lived at the Bedford house with her three daughters. Photo: Facebook

A 25-year-old Perth man has admitted murdering five members of his family at their Bedford home, including his three young daughters.

Anthony Robert Harvey pleaded guilty to the five murder charges when he appeared in the Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court via video link from prison.

He has been held in custody since he handed himself into police in the Pilbara town of Pannawonica on September 9 last year.

That led police to the family’s Coode Street house where they found the bodies of two-year-old twins Alice and Beatrix, and their three-and-a-half-year-old sister Charlotte.

They then found the bodies of their 41-year-old mother, Mara Harvey, and her 73-year-old mother Beverley Quinn.

The bodies of Ms Harvey and Ms Quinn were found in the kitchen, while the children’s bodies were found in other rooms.

Police said a blunt instrument and knives had been used to murder them.

They alleged Harvey spent several days in the house with the bodies before travelling to Pannawonica.

No further details of the murders were provided in court on Wednesday, and Harvey was again remanded in custody until he faces a sentencing hearing in June.

He is likely to receive life sentences for the murders.

Family heard of deaths over TV

At the time of the deaths, Ms Harvey’s sister Taryn Tottman released a statement thanking everyone for their support during what she called “an extremely dark and difficult time”.

She described her mother Beverley as a kind-hearted, caring mother and grandmother who loved her daughters and grandchildren and would have done anything for them.

Ms Tottman said her sister Mara loved being a mum and was doing a great job of raising her girls who “were her world”.

She and her husband Alan revealed soon after Harvey’s arrest that they were alerted to the deaths of their relatives after one of Ms Harvey’s friends saw footage of the crime scene on television.

“I turned the TV on and I saw my sister’s fence and I knew it was her fence,” Ms Tottman said at the time.

“Part of me didn’t think it was real.”

Mr Tottman said there was “no indication of trouble or problems” in the family prior to them finding out about the deaths.

-ABC

Topics: Murder
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