After a four-month manhunt amid the scrub and flat red earth of New South Wales\u2019 central west, Julian Ingram\u2019s decomposed body was found on Monday 50km from where he allegedly shot his former partner, her boyfriend and her aunt.<\/p>\n
Police said on Tuesday morning they suspected Ingram, who was found with a gun near the ute he used to flee the scene of the crime, died by suicide \u201csome time ago\u201d.<\/p>\n
The discovery brings some closure to many in the rural NSW town left on edge while his whereabouts remained unknown.<\/p>\n
But questions still linger over how police handled domestic violence allegations against the alleged triple-murderer by his former partner, Sophie Quinn, who he allegedly killed while on bail.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n In February, police announced that the \u201cfull domestic violence history\u201d of Ingram and his access to firearms would be examined as part of a critical incident investigation overseen by the police watchdog. NSW police said this would form part of a broader investigation into how police had handled the investigation into the alleged murders.<\/p>\n It came a few weeks after Ingram, also known as Julian Pierpoint, was last seen on 22 January, fleeing Lake Cargelligo in a ute with signage from the council where he worked. Moments before he fled, he allegedly fired at least three shots<\/a> into a car where Quinn was sitting with her partner, John Harris, 32, outside a house in Lake Cargelligo. After, he allegedly fatally shot Quinn\u2019s aunt, 50-year-old Nerida Quinn.<\/p>\n Floral tributes laid in Lake Cargelligo after the alleged murders. Photograph: Nino Bucci\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Quinn was seven months pregnant with a boy<\/a> her family said she planned to name Troy.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said that the investigation remained ongoing after being asked if he thought anything needed to change in how police tracked repeat domestic violence offenders.<\/p>\n \u201cNSW police do an outstanding job in relation to domestic and family violence,\u201d he said. \u201cAs an organisation, we respond to over 160,000 calls for service each year, which is one every three minutes. We charge over 33,000 offenders for assault-related matters.<\/p>\n \u201cIn relation to Lake Cargelligo, we announced at the time a critical incident investigation to review the circumstances of the police response to domestic and family violence and bail. That investigation is ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n Police have repeatedly said a risk assessment found Ingram did not pose an unacceptable risk and that he had previously complied with court orders.<\/p>\n But experts raised questions in interviews conducted prior to Ingram being found over what that risk assessment looked like.<\/p>\n Dr Emma Buxton-Namisnyk, a UNSW expert in domestic violence policing, said it remained unclear if risk assessments conducted by police took an incident based approach or examined patterns of behaviour.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unclear what those risk assessments look like when they consider prior offending \u2013 do they just look at their rap sheet, or do they go into what the specific allegations of that charge were to get a sense of the nuance around the incident?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Ingram was released on bail in November for alleged domestic violence offences against Quinn. He had a history of domestic violence against other partners.<\/p>\n An incident from a decade ago bore similarities. Court documents obtained by Guardian Australia revealed Ingram told a former partner<\/a> he had a \u201cgun and a hole\u201d for a man he assumed to be her new partner and made threats towards her, their child and her mother. He also breached an apprehended violence order (AVO) the woman had against him.<\/p>\n