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Prostitute claims missing woman was murdered
By Rania Spooner
December 10, 2012 — 1.21pmA prostitute who believed she was dying of a terminal illness has made conflicting new claims about what happened to Perth woman Sarah McMahon who disappeared from Claremont more than a decade ago, a Coronial Court has been told.
Ms McMahon was only 20-years-old when she was last seen driving away from her Claremont workplace while speaking on the phone on November 8, 2000.
Her car was found two weeks later at the Swan District Hospital.
She was never heard from again.
The last phone call Ms McMahon answered was from a man who has since been convicted of trying to strangle a prostitute to death, Donald Morey, the Coroner's Court of WA heard on Monday.
Ms McMahon was reported missing by her parents the following day after failing to pick her younger sister up from church on November 8.
The inquest into Ms McMahon's disappearance was told it is expected to hear how she was friends with Morey - who was 45-years-old at the time.
Although there was a 25-year age difference between the pair, the court was told witnesses were expected to claim Morey had strong feelings for the young woman.
Despite three extensive police investigations conducted in the years following her disappearance Ms McMahon's fate has remained a mystery and her body has never been discovered.
But a coronial inquest was launched in Perth this week after her case was reopened by cold case detectives who have reinterviewed several key witnesses.
One witness, whose identity has been suppressed, changed her statement in November 2011 believing she was suffering from a terminal illness, the Coroner's Court heard.
The woman decided to "tell the complete truth," about what she knew of events on November 8, 2000, counsel assisting the coroner Philip Urquhart said in his opening address on Monday.
In her most recent statement to police, the woman claims she was called to a house where Morey was living and was told "he's killed her," by the man who owned the house, the court heard.
"She says that when she walked into Mr Morey's bedroom she saw a naked girl on the bed and that she had a piece of robe about 1 cm think looped twice around her neck," Mr Urquhart said.
Philip Urquhart said the inquest is also expected to hear evidence from several witnesses about a bag Morey carried with him containing a reel of silver gaffer tape, rope, two knives and explicit pornographic material.
Morey has consistently denied any involvement in Ms McMahon's disappearance.
He is currently serving a 13-year term of imprisonment for the attempted strangulation murder of a female sex worker in December 2003.
The court also heard that less than nine months prior to the attack a friend and fellow sex worker of the woman disappeared from the same Highgate area Morey's victim was picked up from.
The inquest continues.