Leonard John Warwick was detained on Wednesday when policemen stormed a
home in Sydney, in a cold case investigation that spanned decades.
He faces 32 charges including murder and attempted murder in connection
with a crime spree that became known as the Family Court bombings.
Warwick, a 69-year-old former fireman, was embroiled in a lengthy
dispute with his estranged wife in the early 1980s over the custody of their
daughter.
He is alleged to have gone on a deadly rampage against his wife's
relatives and Family Court judges.
First, in 1980, he allegedly shot dead his brother-in-law Stephen
Blanchard. Weeks later, Family Court Justice David Opas was shot dead at his
front door when he answered the doorbell.
Justice Richard Gee, who took over Warwick's case after Mr Opas's death,
survived a bombing at his own home in 1984.
That same year, a bomb that went off at another judge's home killed the
man’s wife, Pearl Watson.
And Jehovah's Witness minister Graham Wykes was killed by a blast at a
church hall in 1985 that wounded 13 others.
Warwick's sister-in-law was a member of the congregation.
The Parramatta Family Court in Sydney was destroyed by a blast in 1980,
but no one was injured.
Warwick had long been a suspect in the case, but his arrest follows
advances in forensic technology.
"The evidence that we've gathered includes significant new
evidence, historic evidence that has been enhanced using technology that was
probably not available 30 years ago," Assistant Police Commissioner Nick
Kaldas said.
Mrs Watson's stepdaughter welcomed the arrest.
"I'm just very, very grateful that they have finally arrested
someone," Sue Chapman told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
But she added: "I'm just so terribly, terribly sorry that my
father, who died about four years ago, is not around to see that justice will
finally be done for the loss of his wife and my beautiful stepmother."