Seven-year Australian manhunt ends

Malcom Naden was captured after seven years on the run. Photo / NSW Police

New South Wales's most wanted man, Malcom Naden, was captured late last night bringing to an end one of the biggest manhunts in Australian history.

Naden, 38, was arrested just after midnight on a private property near Gloucester in NSW's mid north after seven years on the run.

The former abattoir worker has been on the run since disappearing from his grandparents' home in west Dubbo in 2005.

Days before he left, his 24-year-old cousin and mother of two Kristy Scholes was found strangled in a bedroom of the house.

Naden is also a suspect in the disappearance of another of his cousins, Lateesha Nolan, who has been missing since January 2005 and made headlines December last year after allegedly shooting and wounding a police officer.

Ms Nolan's father, Mick Peet, said he hoped the fugitive's capture will shed light on what happened to his daughter and that he felt excited when polilce contacted him at around 1.45 am this morning.

"I sort of felt like falling to the ground on my knees, I didn't know what to say," he told ABC Radio.

"I had so many questions I wanted to ask (but) I didn't know where to start."

Mr Peet said he was worried the search would drag on "forever" but understood the police's frustration in trying to catch Naden.

"I'm just glad we're on the road to some kind of recovery to find out what happened to my daughter and some closure," he said.

"There's a lot of family that's been affected."

Mr Peet said Naden's capture was a "giant step" but there was still a long road ahead.

"I don't know what it's going to lead to now, we just have to take one day at a time," he said.

"But I'm just glad the whole seven years of trying to catch the person that's wanted for questioning over the disappearance of my daughter has happened."