THE prime suspect in the disappearance of Lucille Butterworth tried to run a Miss Tasmania entrant off the road, an inquest has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Jillian Wilcox, who lived in New Norfolk in 1969, told a coronial inquest investigating Ms Butterworth's presumed homicide that she used to disguise herself in a man's hat and glasses in fear of being followed when driving home.
Mrs Wilcox told coroner Simon Cooper on Tuesday that weeks before Ms Butterworth disappeared, a man with white hair followed her when she was driving to New Norfolk from Hobart and tried to run her Mini off the road.
"He came up really close and was trying to edge me off the road," she said.
She said she recognised the man from a "family of albinos" in New Norfolk of which Geoffrey Charles Hunt was a member.
On Monday, Mr Hunt, a convicted murderer and rapist, was revealed as the main person of interest in Ms Butterworth's disappearance.
He lived over the road from Ms Butterworth's boyfriend John Fitzgerald.
Mrs Wilcox told the inquest the "white-haired" man would follow her around the town. "He'd always just seem to be there," she said.
Mrs Wilcox said a photo tendered to Mr Cooper of Mr Hunt was the same person.
"I always thought the person chasing me that night, the albino, was the one responsible for Lucille's disappearance," she said.
Mrs Wilcox said she would also receive anonymous phone calls at night from a man telling her, "I watch you get undressed" and "I'm watching you".
She said when Ms Butterworth went missing, she expected police to re-interview her about the driving incident. "They never did," she said.
Other witnesses told the inquest Ms Butterworth would not have got a ride with a stranger.
Her best friend Jillian Keirs and hairdresser Kevin Palmer said she would only have accepted a ride from someone she knew.
Ms Butterworth disappeared from a Claremont bus stop 46 years ago.
Counsel assisting the coroner Simon Nicholson has told the inquest it is likely Ms Butterworth became alarmed when she missed her bus to New Norfolk and "met with foul play".
On Wednesday, the inquest will hear evidence from Mr Fitzgerald and Ms Butterworth's brothers Jim and John.