By GREG ANSLEY
PT CLARE - The New South Wales beachside town of Pt Clare is mourning the kidnap and death of a 3-year-old girl, allegedly killed by a 13-year-old boy.
In a murder that has raised frightening parallels with the killing of British toddler James Bulger, Courtney Morley-Clarke was snatched
from her bed, killed and dumped.
On Sunday night, Tamara and Lawrence Morley-Clarke kissed their little girl goodnight.
They checked on her as she slept about 1 am.
When they looked into her bedroom six hours later, Courtney was missing.
But as the frantic parents and their sons Nathan, 15, and Justin, 13, roused neighbours in a desperate search, Courtney was already dead.
Just before 11 am, police found her body, dressed only in a nappy, dumped in the long grass of a vacant section just down the street.
Later that day police arrested a 13-year-old, described by other youths as a loner, and escorted him across the crime scene.
The boy lives with foster parents in Pt Clare and is understood to attend a special school.
In a green T-shirt and blue floral surf shorts, he walked with detectives across the murder scene within two minutes' walk and in clear sight of Courtney's home.
Yesterday, as rain poured down, the vacant section was roped off by scene-of-crime tape.
The Morley-Clarke's home was shrouded in silver tarpaulins as forensic specialists searched for evidence of a crime that has deeply shocked the quiet, tree-clad town.
Detective Inspector Paul Mayger described Courtney's death as tragic.
"Her parents are extremely distraught, as is everyone in the street and those connected to the family," he said.
In nearby Wyong, the suspect appeared in court in a two-minute hearing, charged with kidnapping and murder.
Still in the same T-shirt and shorts and watched by tearful foster parents, he was remanded in custody to appear again on Tuesday.
The boy will undergo a psychiatric assessment.
