Christopher James Bartle: Gerard Ross murder suspect dead ahead of historical child sex abuse trial

A suspect in one of Australia’s most baffling unsolved murder cases has died before he was able to go on trial accused of dozens of historical child sexual abuse charges.

Detectives from the Western Australia Police Force’s sex assault squad charged Christopher James Bartle last year with 31 historical child sex offences, including multiple counts of rape and indecent dealing.

Police alleged that, between 1998 and 2007, Mr Bartle sexually abused four girls aged between eight and 15.

The West Australian can now reveal Mr Bartle, from Rockingham, was also a suspect in the unsolved 1997 murder of schoolboy Gerard Ross.

Gerard disappeared during a family holiday in Rockingham almost 30 years ago while walking to a nearby comic shop. A fortnight later, his body was found in the Karnup pine plantation, about 20km away.

Mr Bartle, a computer technician and junior sports photographer, lived a few kilometres from where Gerard was last seen. He was one of hundreds of suspects identified during the investigation.

Police interviewed Mr Bartle at the time but never charged him in relation to Gerard’s abduction or murder.

In 2019, The West Australian released an eight-part investigative documentary, The Boy in the Blue Cap: The Gerard Ross Story.

Before Gerard’s disappearance, Mr Bartle had been a member of the white supremacist Australian Nationalists Movement and a follower of its leader, Jack Van Tongeren.

In 1990, Mr Bartle, Van Tongeren and four others were arrested as part of a high-level police operation called Operation Jackhammer.

They were collectively convicted of hundreds of offences linked to a violent campaign intended to drive Asian and Jewish Australians out of the country.

After his release from Fremantle Prison in 1993, Mr Bartle settled in Rockingham and took up photography.

The father-of-four later shared more than 150,000 images on photo-sharing website Flickr, describing himself as a “very enthusiastic amateur photographer”.

Much of his work focused on junior sport.

Mr Bartle was the Rockingham Redbacks Hockey Club’s photographer for four years from 2011, photographed the University of Western Australia Hockey Club, as well as State junior teams.

“I try not to capture any image that may cause embarrassment or that goes against my own moral standards,” he wrote online.

In 2015, he posted a photo of his Working With Children Check card, describing how difficult it had been to obtain.

“Sports photographers are not required or eligible to have a working with childrens check card, this is because there is no way a photographer can groom or harm a child,” he wrote.

“I have tried for years to get a WWCC, but photographers are not required or eligible to have a WWCC.

“Through my church I was able to obtain a WWCC; finally I found a way to get one and I present my WWCC to the world. Finally a way to prove that I am honourable.”

In response to another user, he added: “It sickens me that such a card even exists.”

“Those that harm children are a problem to me — on one hand I want to execute them and on the other I have a problem with the death penalty.”

In 2011, one of Mr Bartle’s alleged victims reported to police that he had sexually abused her when she was 15. He denied the allegation.

More complainants came forward in subsequent years.

In February 2025, police arrested and charged Mr Bartle with dozens of historical child sex offences.

When he first appeared in Rockingham Magistrates Court on February 13 last year, he was refused bail, partly due to living near a school and his wife working as a tutor.

He was later granted bail in Armadale Magistrates Court after providing a $10,000 personal undertaking and a $10,000 surety.

His matter was set for a trial listing hearing in the Perth District Court on April 17.

But Mr Bartle died on March 21, aged 66. Sources say the circumstances are not suspicious.

His alleged victims told The West Australian his death has denied them their chance at justice.

One woman, who alleges Mr Bartle abused her between the ages of six and nine, said she was “devastated”.

“I had been waiting for my day in court — for accountability, for my voice to be heard, and for some sense of justice — since I was nine years old,” she said.

“That opportunity has now been taken from me.

“I am devastated, not just by what he did to me as a child, but by the fact he has escaped facing the consequences of his actions.

“It feels like the system has failed me and the other victims in the end, and I’ve been left without closure.”

Another alleged victim said she met Mr Bartle through their Mormon church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Rockingham, and that he began abusing her when she was 15.

The 37-year-old first reported the alleged abuse to police in 2011.

“The thing that made me want to press charges is that I have a teenage daughter myself and I wanted him to pay,” she said.

“He took the coward’s way out.

“I reckon it would not have happened if he wasn’t on bail.

“I want women of all ages to be careful who you talk to. People can seem like the nicest people and turn out to be villains.”