Murderer a child molester, says paper

Killer John Sharpe may have murdered his wife, New Zealander Anna Kemp, because she discovered him abusing their daughter Gracie, some of his relatives believe.

The claim was made in Melbourne's Sunday Herald Sun newspaper yesterday, as family letters reveal Sharpe had a history of abusing children.

Sharpe, 38, was sentenced on August 5 to two life terms in prison, with a non-parole period of 33 years, for the murders of five-months-pregnant Ms Kemp and 20-month-old Gracie in Mornington, Victoria, in March last year.

Sharpe shot his pregnant wife with a spear gun as she slept at their Mornington home south of Melbourne on March 23 last year.

He killed his daughter with a spear gun four days later. He dismembered his wife's body with a chainsaw and dumped the remains.

Ms Kemp's family live in Dunedin. A search for the pair was sparked by mother Lilli Gebler's concern over her daughter's lack of contact over several months. Dunedin Constable John Woodhouse looked into the matter and it was his efforts that prompted Melbourne police to launch a homicide inquiry.

Sharpe committed sex crimes on young members of a circle of family and friends two decades before he killed his wife and daughter, the Melbourne newspaper said.

Police learned that Sharpe was a child molester last March while investigating the disappearance from their Mornington home of Ms Kemp, 41, and Gracie.

They used the information to press Sharpe to confess.

Ms Kemp, who married Sharpe in 1994, was not told by his family that her husband was a paedophile.

One relative told the Herald Sun: "We reckon she has caught him at the child ... We think that's why he killed her."

Sharpe abused one of his victims - a girl - for two years, ending when he was 18, the relatives revealed. The victim is tormented by the abuse and the knowledge that reporting it earlier might have prevented the murders.

Mr Woodhouse said in Dunedin yesterday that he did not believe the claims could have played a part in Sharpe confessing to murder.

"I worked on this for nearly two years and that has never been mentioned as a possibility," he said.

"It was the weight of evidence which forced a confession, not anything else."

- NZPA