Accused denies killing Hayley Dodd
The man accused of murdering teenager Hayley Dodd has declared his innocence and will not oppose his extradition from a Queensland prison to WA to face trial.
The lawyer acting for Francis John Wark told The West Australian yesterday that his client wanted to return to WA to clear his name.
Darryl Ryan, of Chelmsford Legal, said that Wark maintained he had nothing to do with the Hayley Dodd case.
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Mr Ryan said the defence was "I didn't do it".
"He will plead not guilty and will defend the charges vigorously," Mr Ryan said.
WA Police revealed on Monday that they would try to bring Wark back to WA, alleging that he abducted Hayley, 17, as she walked along North West Road in Badgingarra on July 29, 1999, and murdered her before disposing of her body.
Hayley, who had a petite build and who looked younger than her age, had been working as a rouseabout in a Dongara shearing shed when she decided to hitch a ride to visit a family friend near Moora.
Wearing light brown suede hiking boots, blue denim jeans, a black V-neck top, light grey jacket with hood and silver sunglasses, she carried a light brown backpack.
She was dropped off at the Badgingarra Roadhouse, 205km north of Perth, set out on foot and then vanished, setting up one of the State's most baffling and longest-running investigations.
Wark had owned a property near where Hayley disappeared and sold it four months after she went missing.
Detectives questioned him at that time but he was ruled out as a suspect and moved to Queensland.
Mr Ryan said he believed Wark had been interviewed by police three times and had also been asked questions about Hayley's disappearance at an inquest into the death of Kathleen O'Shea, who vanished from the Queensland town of Atherton, near Cairns, not far from where Wark was living in 2005.
"He always maintained that he has never killed anyone," Mr Ryan said.
Wark is being held at the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre in north Queensland, serving a 12-year sentence on a different matter.
Mr Ryan said Wark had seen media coverage this week about the development in the case of Hayley Dodd and police had notified Wark that he would face extradition to WA.
"He does not want to delay things," Mr Ryan said.
"He wants to clear his name, that's the reason for not opposing extradition.
"He is not going to do anything to impede the process."
It is understood WA Police will approach Attorney-General Michael Mischin to ask that Wark be brought to WA under prison transfer laws.
This will require Mr Mischin to lodge a written request with his counterpart in Queensland.
WA Police said they had started to prepare for the case and were not in a position to make further comment.
