Elizabeth Mead, victim of Claremont killer Bradley Edwards, reveals how she fought off ambush in her home

One of Bradley Edwards’ first victims has broken her silence, revealing the moment the Claremont killer attacked her in her Huntingdale in October 1988. Elizabeth Mead, the mother of the so-called “secret daughter” of billionaire mining heir Michael Wright, spoke out about the night she came face to face with “a monster” in Sky News’ newly aired investigative documentary — Catching the Claremont Killer: The Untold Story. Up until days before the historic sentencing of Edwards for the murders of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon on December 23, any information which might identify Mrs Mead was suppressed by the WA Supreme Court after her name was included on a long list of “protected witnesses”. Speaking to anchorman and former The West Australian journalist Steve Pennells, Mrs Mead detailed the moment she discovered Edwards waiting in her toilet after letting the cat outside. “He had a woman’s nightie and what I think were undies over his head, but his eyes were exposed,” she said. “At first I thought it was a joke, your mind doesn’t quite catch up for a second, but he pushed me against the wall. “I had a suspected fractured skull, so he pushed me pretty hard. He was pretty strong, but so was I at the time.” As he punched her, Mrs Mead fought back hard, eventually managing to knee the then 19-year-old Edwards in the groin with enough force to get him off her. “And then he ran through the back door, jumped the back fence and he was gone,” she said. “(Then) I rang the police, and I went to the door with a knife ... because by that stage I thought if he comes back I’m going to kill him. “I think he would’ve raped me (if I hadn’t fought him off). In those days I think that’s what his intention was. I think the sexual assault is what he was looking for … the gratification.” The details match up to those given pre-trial about an incident which was the last in the so-called “Huntingdale prowler” series, where items of women’s underwear were stolen from homes and washing lines close to where Edwards was living and within 1km from Mrs Mead’s house. It also happened only months after the Valentine’s Day attack on an 18-year-old girl in Huntingdale, for which Edwards was sentenced in December as well. Edwards was never charged over the incident with Mrs Mead, but it was part of the initial circumstantial case against him. Mrs Mead suffered two black eyes and extensive bruising to her face, her back and her head. “It was quite brutal. It didn’t actually look like my face because it was so swollen,” she said. Mrs Mead said it took her more than 10 years before she was able to move on from that horror night. That all changed again, however, when the cold case squad called her in July 2016. “I try not to (still think about it) but sometimes you can’t help it, it’s a traumatic thing to be exposed to,” she said. “I shouldn’t have opened my back door to let the cat out ... (but) I wouldn’t wish it on someone else, so it may as well have been me rather than some other girl.” Mrs Mead first came to prominence when, in 2015, her daughter Olivia made an extraordinary claim against the will of her father — billionaire mining heir Michael Wright. Ms Mead, just 19 at the time, was revealed as the unknown daughter of Mr Wright, the son of mining magnate Peter Wright and owner of Voyager Estate winery. Michael Wright died in 2012 with an estimated family fortune of $2.7 billion, and Ms Mead sued the estate claiming she had been left “without adequate provision” in her father's will. She was awarded $25 million, cut on appeal to $6.1 million.