A tradie wanted for murder has been arrested after a dramatic 12-hour stand-off with police on a clifftop edge in the Blue Mountains.
Ashley Gaddie, aged 33, was apprehended around 12am Wednesday after a manhunt was launched over the death of a female teacher.
Dannielle Finlay-Jones, 31, was found with brutal head injuries in a Sydney home on Sunday afternoon and could not be revived.
After being on the run all day Tuesday, police cornered Gaddie at Fletcher’s Lookout at Wentworth Falls, in the Blue Mountains.
An intense 12-hour stand-off ensued as Gaddie was perched precariously on a rocky outcrop on the wrong side of the safety barriers.
“Police negotiators attended and engaged the man in conversation before he was arrested about 12am [on Wednesday],” a statement from NSW Police said.
“The 33-year-old man is expected to undergo assessment before being taken to Katoomba Police Station, where he will be charged with murder.”
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Police established Strike Force Eynahm, with detectives from Nepean Police Area Command, assisted by the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad, to investigate the woman’s death.
Police earlier said they believed Ms Finlay-Jones and the suspect were known to one another, adding there were no signs of forced entry and they did not believe it was a case of arbitrary violence.
When emergency services were called to the property, they found a woman with serious injuries.
Paramedics assisted, but she could not be revived.
Police have been told the woman did not live at the home but was known to the occupants, who made the emergency call.
Media report that the pair met recently through a dating app and had spent Sunday night together at the Marsden Brewhouse in western Sydney.
Afterwards they reportedly went back to a friend’s home on Borrowdale Way, Cranebrook.
Ms Finlay-Jones was discovered the next afternoon at about 2.30pm when the owners eventually went to check on her, thinking the couple had slept in.
Ms Finlay-Jones worked as a teacher and a student learning support officer for the NSW Department of Education, according to her Facebook page.
Her family has requested privacy.
The Daily Telegraph reports Gaddie has appeared before NSW courts on 14 separate occasions over the past five years for crimes committed against women.
He is currently serving a two-year sentence for stalking and choking his former lover.
The drilling mechanic is also on bail for allegedly assaulting a different woman, and sexually touching her without consent, writes the newspaper.
He has been the subject of five Apprehended Violence Orders.
A massive manhunt was launched on Tuesday and police had appealed to the public for assistance after an arrest warrant was issued.
The heavily tattooed suspect was described as Caucasian, about 180cm tall, of muscular build, with blue eyes and a bald head.
