A man accused of murdering three women in the Perth suburb of Claremont in the late 1990s has a fetish for women's underwear and is socially awkward, a court heard on Tuesday.
Bradley Robert Edwards, 50, is accused of murdering Ciara Glennon, 27, Jane Rimmer, 23, and 18-year-old Sarah Spiers who all disappeared on nights out in 1996 and 1997.
Some 20 years later, a breakthrough led police to Telstra worker Edwards who was arrested in 2016 and later charged over all three murders.
A pre-trial hearing at the West Australian Supreme Court on Tuesday heard that he collected women's underwear.
Bradley Robert Edwards (pictured), 50, will go on trial over the murders of Ms Glennon, 27, Jane Rimmer, 23, and 18-year-old Sarah Spiers
State prosecutor Carmel Barbagallo said his finger prints were found at several crime scenes in the suburb of Huntingdale in January and February 1988.
At one of them a man allegedly stole women's garments including a silk kimono from a clothesline, the West Australian reported.
At another, a man broke into a woman's home wearing what appeared to be a silk kimono.
Secretary Sarah Spiers (pictured), 18, was the first of three victims to disappear
Later that night a man allegedly wearing a 'dressing gown-like' garment was trying to enter a house via a sliding door but was seen and ran off.
The court heard three of four fingerprints taken at the scenes belonged to Edwards.
The prosecution did not present evidence for the allegations because this is only a pre-trial hearing.
Barbagallo described Edwards as a 'socially awkward' man and said he had a fetish for women's underwear.
The court also heard Edwards attacked a social worker while he was working at Hollywood Hospital in 1990.
When the woman came out of the toilets, he allegedly grabbed her from behind, tried to smother her mouth with material and drag her back into the bathroom.
She kicked him to escape and ran off, the court heard.
He allegedly apologised before the police found cable ties in his pocket.
The court also heard Edwards attacked a 17-year-old girl while she was walking to a friend's house in Claremont in February 1995.
He allegedly bound her hands, drove to Karrakatta cemetery and raped her before leaving her there. His DNA was found on the girl, the court heard.
The prosecution also told the court that five young women complained of being approached by a man driving alone in Claremont between 1995 and 1997, Perth Now reported.
The man allegedly told one woman he worked for Telstra and was 'looking for damsels in distress just like her'.
He offered to give her a lift and tried to kiss and touch her in the car, the court heard.
Ms Spiers was the first of the Claremont victims to vanish in January
