One day before he allegedly killed Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon questioned a colleague about two high-profile murder cases involving Lilie James and Matthew Leveson.
Ben Higginson, a former police officer, told the court on Friday that he was working alongside Lamarre-Condon at an event in Sydney’s Domain on February 18, 2024.
After Lamarre-Condon asked about his professional background, Mr Higginson said he had worked on the investigation into the murder of Lilie James.
Ms James, 21, was bludgeoned to death by her former boyfriend, Paul Thijssen, 24, at St Andrew’s Cathedral School in Sydney’s CBD on October 25, 2023. Thijssen later took his own life, with both pictured below.
Mr Higginson told the court that Lamarre-Condon showed a strong interest in the case.
“I gave him a fair bit of detail about how f***ed up it was, and then some of the things Thijssen had done,” he said.
Asked by the Crown prosecutor what information he had shared, Mr Higginson replied: “We believe Thijssen used Lily’s phone to text her father to come to the school after he killed her.”
“[Lamarre-Condon] thought Thijssen was stupid for doing it on CCTV.
“He asked if Thijssen hadn’t murdered Lily and then been seen on CCTV, would he have gotten away with it.
“I said we don’t only rely on CCTV; there’s a big effort involving investigators and other evidence,” Mr Higginson said.
Mr Higginson also told the court that Lamarre-Condon asked about other investigative techniques, including the use of mobile phone data.
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“We can make a request to your phone company and they’ll give us a rough signal pinging and mark where you are or where you’re going,” he said.
“So if you leave your phone at home and commit a murder, the phone would show up in the vicinity of your residence.”
Mr Higginson said Lamarre-Condon also appeared interested in the unsolved murder of Matthew Leveson, pictured below, who was last seen leaving a Sydney nightclub in 2007.
Leveson’s remains were discovered in 2017, but no one has been convicted over his death. His boyfriend, Michael Atkins, was tried and acquitted.
Mr Higginson told the court that he had discussed how Atkins was captured on CCTV buying a tarp at Bunnings after Leveson disappeared.
“Then we spoke about not using bank cards and using cash because it’s more difficult for police to trace,” he said.
“With bank cards, we issue a notice to produce to the bank, so they provide us with all your purchases and deposits. Then you follow up by locating CCTV and speaking to people.”
The prosecutor then questioned Mr Higginson about Lamarre-Condon’s demeanour during the conversation.
He said: “He thought Thijssen was stupid for doing it on CCTV.”
‘He was pretty blase.’