David and Catherine Birnie: Man accused of murdering Sharon Fulton wants to test serial killers’ exhibits

Evidence connected to Catherine and David Birnie could be re-examined in a bombshell bid to pin one of Australia’s longest-running unsolved murder cases on the nation’s worst serial killing couple.

Decades-old exhibits relating to the Birnies’ evil crimes are being pursued by Raymond Reddington’s lawyers as he fights allegations he murdered his wife Sharon Fulton in 1986.

Mr Reddington, who changed his name from Maxwell Robert Fulton, was arrested this time last year by cold case detectives in relation to his missing wife’s death nearly 40 years ago.

The 78-year-old was subsequently charged with the wilful murder of the devoted mum of four, whose body has never been found.

His arrest came after a 2022 coroner’s inquest into her disappearance from their home in Duncraig in Perth’s northern suburbs on March 18, 1986 – the day in which Mr Reddington is alleged to have murdered her.

Mr Reddington pleaded not guilty to the wilful murder charge earlier this year.

He remains in custody and is due to stand trial in July.

Now, court documents obtained by The Nightly reveal Mr Reddington’s lawyers believe they have acquired “very substantial” material about the Birnies and were now looking into whether they are “a credible alternative perpetrator”.

The Nightly can reveal Mr Reddington’s lawyers and the State prosecutors handling the case have discussed at length the killer couple — who killed four women in the same year Ms Fulton disappeared.

Most of those discussions have revolved around whether or not any exhibits connected to the Birnie cases have ever been tested for Mrs Fulton’s DNA.

And in transcripts of Mr Reddington’s June 24 hearing in the Supreme Court his defence lawyer Jonathan Davies told the court he and his legal team were now studying Birnie material, which was about 900 pages in length.

“We have … received very substantial disclosure concerning the infamous David and Catherine Birnie, who were active … in offending during the relevant period,” Mr Davies told the court.

“And the case will very much, we expect be looking at whether they are a credible alternative perpetrator for the disappearance of Ms Fulton.”

On September 26 this year, a further status conference hearing was held in the Supreme Court about the case.

During that hearing State prosecutor Ben Stanwix confirmed a “large amount of disclosure” had been provided to Mr Davies in relation to the Birnies.

At Mr Davies’ request, Mr Stanwix said “testing of any materials” seized from the Birnie home in 1986 had also been “actioned.”

“If Mrs Fulton’s DNA turns up on one of those items, then we won’t be having a trial one would imagine,” Mr Stanwix told the court at one stage.

But Mr Stanwix explained to the court WA Police had no boxes in its possession connected to the Birnie cases.

“I’m told that there is not a single Birnie box that is in the possession of … WA Police, that’s the issue,” Mr Stanwix told the court.

“The Birnie case theory is not one that the State intends to give a great deal of attention to,” he added.

But Mr Davies told the court on September 26 that he still wanted to know what items might be available for testing.

“What I do foreshadow is a request to know what is available that might be tested in order that the defence may have some input into how those matters are pursued,” he said.

“We will have to go and see where the exhibits are after all these years.”

Media reports over the years suggest WA Police have never linked the Birnies to Mrs Fulton’s disappearance.

In a brief statement to The Nightly this week Mr Davies said: “We are in earnest that the exhibits from the prosecution of the Birnies will be located and tested for the presence of Mrs Fulton’s DNA and given the age and ill health of Mr Reddington, we are pressing for this to happen.”

Both WA Police and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions declined to comment this week.

The stunning revelations about the Birnies and their potential link to Mrs Fulton’s alleged murder are expected to be examined in greater detail at next year’s trial.

Australia’s worst serial killer couple, the Birnies carried out four brutal murders over just five weeks in 1986.

Using the busy thoroughfare Stirling Highway as their primary hunting ground, the evil couple abducted five women aged between 15 and 31.

Four of the young women were brutally murdered and their bodies were later dumped in bush graves. Their reign of terror finally ended when a fifth woman who’d been abducted managed to escape from their house.

As a result of her escape police were led to the pair’s Willagee home in Perth’s south, bringing an end to their horrendous killing spree.

The notorious pair were jailed for a minimum of 20 years after pleading guilty to four charges of wilful murder in 1987.

David Birnie took his own life in jail in 2005, while Catherine Birnie is still serving a life sentence for the four murders and has been denied parole multiple times.