Dezi Freeman: Man and woman arrested in relation to Porepunkah cop killer

Police have arrested two “associates” of cop killer Dezi Freeman.

Victoria police said their detectives arrested a man and a woman on Saturday as part of their ongoing investigation into Freeman’s movements after he fled Porepunkah.

The cop killer was on the run for seven months after shooting dead Sen. Const. Neal Thompson and Sen. Const. Vadim de Waart-Hottart and seriously injuring a third officer.

A team of 10 police officers had attended his rural Victoria property to execute a search warrant related to alleged child sex offences.

“The man and woman were arrested about 7am on 4 April at two properties in north east Victoria,” Victorian police said in a statement.

“They will now be interviewed by police.

“The investigation remains ongoing and as such, we are not in a position to provide further details at this immediate time.”

Police confirmed that the man and woman are both associates of Freeman but are not family members of his.

After Freeman fled Porepunkah in August last year, a huge manhunt ensued for months, with many speculating that the cop killer had died somewhere in the bush.

That came to an end on Monday, when Freeman was shot dead after a three-hour standoff with police that began about 5.30am.

The arrest of Freeman’s associates comes after Victoria’s Police Commissioner Mike Bush said it would have been difficult for the fugitive to get to the location where he was found.

“We’re very keen to learn who, if any, but I’m sure some (people) actually assisted him in getting away from Porepunkah to where he was located,” he said.

“But that’s a very important part of what comes next to determine that, and if anyone was complicit, they will be held to account.”

Mr Bush said there had been no confirmed sightings of the fugitive until Monday.

“We had over 2000 leads, some of them were a number of sightings, none that were confirmed. In fact, they were eliminated. But we had a lot of information that came to us and I do thank the public for providing that information to us.”