Coroner to deliver findings in Daniel Morcombe inquest

A Coroner will tomorrow deliver his findings into the death of Daniel Morcombe, 16 years after the schoolboy was abducted and murdered.

Daniel’s parents, Bruce and Denise, say they will be relieved to see the end of legal proceedings and are hoping for recommendations that will see improvements in policing.

Daniel vanished on December 7, 2003, from underneath the Kiel Mountain Road overpass on the Sunshine Coast, where he had been waiting for a late-running bus that never stopped.

He was abducted and murdered by convicted child molester Brett Peter Cowan, who is serving a life sentence, having exhausted his options for appeal.

But the inquest, which first began in 2010 when Cowan was merely a person of interest, has examined the adequacy of the police investigation.

Bruce Morcombe believes the investigation could have been far simpler, and quicker.

“It's important that the process, the police review process, is thorough and they get it right because there were some errors made,” he said.

As a result of the Morcombes’ tireless work advocating for the safety of children, some improvements have already happened, including the introduction of the Amber Alert system, which allows police to urgently provide the media with details about an abducted or high-risk missing child.

The Morcombes will be in the courtroom tomorrow as the findings are handed down.