Bounty hunters join chase for fugitive Naden

Bounty hunters join chase for fugitive Naden
BY DAN PROUDMAN CHIEF POLICE REPORTER
11 Sep, 2010 12:00 AM
BOUNTY hunters are arriving in the Barrington Tops set to enter the hunt for fugitive Malcolm Naden.

As the families of Naden's alleged victims make another plea to authorities to increase the reward in the hunt for the suspected murderer, bounty hunters are lining up for their chance to catch him.

Three years ago, the State Government announced a $50,000 reward for information that led to the arrest of Naden after homicide squad detectives spent two unsuccessful years chasing him.

The announcement was supposed to encourage those who know Naden or his whereabouts to give him up.

It was never meant to spark a free-for-all in hunting him down.

News a possibly armed Naden is roaming across the Barrington Tops breaking into houses and surviving by using his bush skills has attracted some people wanting to make a quick dollar.

One would-be bounty hunter said he believed he and his crew had enough bush knowledge and military background to find the fugitive.

"I have been waiting 20 years for something like this to come up," he said.

Police were silent over any suspicions of Naden roaming the Barrington Tops.

There has been at least one major police search in the past three months but senior police are not confirming their beliefs that Naden is in the area.

Their denials have angered the families of Lateesha Nolan and Kristy Scholes, the two young mothers suspected of being victims of Naden.

"We really need some closure and the only way we are going to get that is when they get Naden," Ms Scholes' uncle Tony Scholes said last night. "It has destroyed our family, we need him caught."