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The estranged father of alleged ‘dating app’ killer Ashley Gaddie has exposed the bitter rift in his shattered family by breaking his silence on his son’s murder charge.
Gaddie, 33, is accused of brutally murdering teacher Dannielle Finlay-Jones, 31, at her friend’s house in Cranebrook, western Sydney, after they met through a dating app.
Police allege that Gaddie fled the scene through the bedroom window after inflicting serious fatal head injuries sometime between 5 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sunday when his friends found his body.
Now Ian Gaddie, the horrified father of the alleged killer, has revealed how his son cut off all contact with him five years ago.
Ian Gaddie, the horrified father of alleged murderer Ashley Gaddie has revealed how his son cut off all contact with him five years ago.
“He doesn’t want to meet me,” she told Daily Mail Australia outside her modest home in St Marys, western Sydney, which she once shared with her teenage son.
Ian Gaddie is a motorcycle enthusiast who wears a shiny Harley Davidson bomber jacket and whose LinkedIn profile shows him on a massive touring bike (pictured)
The motorcycle enthusiast, who wears a bright Harley Davidson-branded bomber jacket and whose LinkedIn profile shows him on a massive motorbike, said he had not spoken to his son in five years.
He said that the accusations against his son had shaken him.
“It’s very upsetting,” Gaddie said of the claims. “It’s going to take a while to get over it.”
Gaddie said he was unlikely to support his son in court as their relationship broke down some time ago.
The machine technician said he didn’t think his son would want to see him now.
Meanwhile, at the Cranebrook crime scene, forensic cleaners could be seen scrubbing the house that has been vacant since the gruesome crime was discovered.
Dannielle Finlay-Jones (pictured) worked as a support officer with the NSW Department of Education and was a beloved football administrator at her local Ramsgate RSL Football Club.
Ashley Gaddie (pictured) used multiple apps to date, including Tinder
Ms Finlay-Jones’s friend, who recently moved there, is staying at a temporary address while investigations continue and all traces of the tragic death are removed.
Crime scene cleaning specialist piled bedding next to a broom and other equipment in the corridor of the bungalow house on the quiet family street.
The street is part of a community crime prevention scheme and the house where Ms Finlay-Jones was killed was designated a ‘Safe House’.
A yellow NSW Police sticker on the house’s street number showed that it was considered a safe place for children when they feared they were in danger.
As the cleaners went in and out of the house, neatly wrapped Christmas presents could be seen stacked on the kitchen table.
Bouquets and cards have been placed at the front door as locals pay tribute to Mrs Finlay-Jones and send their condolences to her grieving friends.
At the Cranebrook crime scene, forensic cleaners (pictured) could be seen scrubbing the house that has been vacant since the gruesome crime was discovered.
Ms Finlay-Jones’s friend, who recently moved into the house (pictured), is staying at a temporary address while investigations continue and all traces of the tragic death are removed.
One card read: “Thinking of all of you during this sad time.”
Sources close to the Gaddie family told Daily Mail Australia that the alleged killer grew up in nearby Bidwill, a working-class suburb in western Sydney, with his mother, father and two sisters.
When his parents separated in the early 2000s, the two daughters stayed in the family home while Gaddie, then a teenager, moved in with his father in St Marys.
“They were just a normal family,” the source said. ‘The parents went to work; the children went to school.
Property records show that Ms Gaddie sold the Bidwill family home in 2018, having moved into a unit in Five Dock, in the inner-west of the city, three years earlier.
Gaddie was living with her mother in the small two-bedroom apartment at the time of her arrest after leaving a share house in Ryde in October.
Accused murderer Ashley Gaddie is seen posing with Santa Claus while her baby was dressed as Santa Claus.
One of Gaddie’s ex-lovers, Karla Tauro, 28, revealed how she would spend time with the accused killer at her mother’s house just days before Sunday’s alleged murder.
Ms Finlay-Jones died after allegedly connecting with Gaddie via an app and introducing her to friends on a Saturday night date at a nearby pub.
The couple reportedly returned with friends to the house in Cranebrook, where the couple moved into the room.
Concerned friends searched the room at 2:30 pm when they had not heard from the couple and found the lifeless body of Mrs Finlay-Jones.
Dannielle Finlay-Jones died after allegedly connecting with Gaddie through a dating app and introducing her to friends on a Saturday night date at a nearby microbrewery.
Pictured: Specially trained police negotiators engaged Gaddie, who was perched on top of a precarious cliff at Fletcher’s Lookout (pictured taking a selfie in the same spot)
Police launched a massive manhunt for Gaddie in the wake of the murder, issuing a warrant for his arrest for murder Tuesday morning and a public plea for help.
Less than three hours later, he was found atop a precarious cliff at Fletcher’s Lookout overlooking Wentworth Falls in Sydney’s Blue Mountains.
A tense 12-hour standoff ended just after midnight Wednesday when special police response teams took him to safety and arrested him.
Gaddie was questioned overnight at Katoomba Police Station before being charged with murder and remaining in custody at Penrith Local Court until his next hearing on March 3.