Cleo Smith kidnapping: How police arrested Terence Kelly and saved girl in case that gripped the world

The shock of Cleo Smith’s kidnapping spread far from Western Australia, here are how events unfolded in a case that gripped the world. OCTOBER 15, 2021 Mum Ellie Smith, her partner Jake Gliddon and children Cleo and Isla arrive at the Blowholes camp site, about 75km north of Carnarvon, in the early evening. 8pm: Cleo and Isla are put to bed in the family tent. OCTOBER 16 1.30am: Ellie woken by Cleo for a drink of water. Cleo is put back to bed. 3-3.30am: Vehicle seen at the intersection of Blowholes Road turning south on to North West Coastal Highway. 6am: Ellie wakes to find Cleo is missing. 6.30am: She calls 000 to report her daughter missing. 7.10am: Two police vehicles arrive from Carnarvon. 7.30am: The family’s camp site is cordoned off. 8am: Carnarvon detectives search the family house for Cleo before heading to the Blowholes. They stop vehicles travelling away from the camp site on Blowholes Road. 8.10am: Local helicopter arrives and begins searching. 8.30am: Police set up a roadblock at the entrance to the Blowholes. 9.30am: Nine SES personnel arrive and begin searching the area around the camp site. 3pm: Homicide detectives and emergency operations unit search experts arrive by plane in Carnarvon from Perth. OCTOBER 19 After three sleepless nights without their daughter, Ellie and Jake make a heart-wrenching plea to the person who snatched their little girl in a TV interview. NOVEMBER 2 Detectives get a lead, and start working on it. In “a matter of hours” they take action. NOVEMBER 3 12.45am: Police arrive at a locked house in Carnarvon. 1am: Officers force their way into the house and find Cleo alone in one of the rooms. She is alive and physically well. An officer lifts the girl into his arms and asks her name. She replies: “My name is Cleo.” The word starts to go out among police that she has been found. 4am: Police officially release the news. WA Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch describes seeing seasoned detectives openly crying with relief, saying: “We were literally looking for a needle in a haystack and we found it.” Terence Kelly, 36, is taken into custody and questioned by detectives in Carnarvon. Police later confirm he has no connection to Cleo’s family. The youngster’s mother Ellie posts a photo of her daughter on Instagram, captioned: “Our family is whole again”. NOVEMBER 4 Kelly makes his first appearance in court charged over Cleo’s abduction. He threatens a journalist before he is remanded in custody. NOVEMBER 5 Kelly is transferred by plane from Carnarvon to Perth, under the watch of specially trained prison guards. DECEMBER 6 He makes another brief court appearance after having spent more than a month in a maximum-security remand prison in Perth. JANUARY 8, 2022 It’s revealed that Kelly is facing a new charge of assaulting a public officer, relating to his time in custody in Carnarvon immediately after his arrest. JANUARY 24 In a stunning twist, Kelly pleads guilty to child snatching during an appearance at Carnarvon Magistrates Court. JANUARY 30, 2023 He admits to obstructing police in the hours after his dramatic arrest, bolting from officers during a cigarette break. He was fined $1000. APRIL 5, 2023 At Perth’s District Court, Kelly is sentenced for kidnapping Cleo.