Inside the shocking murder of the North Shore Casanova Morgan HuxleyCLEMENTINE CUNEO POLICE REPORTER THE DAILY TELEGRAPH SEPTEMBER 21, 2013 12:00AM
BARE-FOOT and in his signature laid-back style, Morgan Huxley wandered into his local pub for a nightcap.
The suave 31-year-old was well-known by bar staff at The Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay, who would see him several times a week.
Bar staff said he never caused any problems, and never drank to excess. He was charming, amusing, popular but unassuming. He didn't command attention, people were just drawn to him, friends and strangers alike.
It was close to 1am when he arrived, on September 8, and the pub was due to close in 30-minutes. Mr Huxley had been at a friend's engagement party earlier in the day, and after getting dropped home in a cab, he walked over the road for one more drink.
Highlights from the federal election the day before were playing on the pub's televisions, so Mr Huxley, 31, rested against his usual bar table and caught up on the news as he drank his beer.
"From memory, he might have had one more drink when we called last drinks…then he left," a bar staff member said.
Morgan Huxley with ex-girlfriend Jess Hall / Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied That half-hour stint at the pub has been vital over the past almost fortnight in helping NSW Police Homicide detectives from Strike Force Bandt piece together Mr Huxley's interactions and whereabouts in the lead up to his murder.
Surveillance footage from inside and outside the pub has given police the exact times and movements of Mr Huxley, as well as helping identify other people who may have been in the area who may hold crucial information.
His torturous death has transfixed Sydney. How does a hardworking, decent young man get brutally in an up-market north shore suburb, where even petty crime is relatively low, let alone murder?
Morgan Huxley with Jess Hall / Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied From the Ben Boyd Rd side exit of the pub, Mr Huxley walked around into Military Rd. He crossed at a set of lights outside Stir Crazy Thai restaurant, which almost took him to Watson St where he lived. From there it was less than 50m to his front door.
Sometime within the next 90-minutes, although police believe it could possibly be closer to 60-minutes, Mr Huxley was repeatedly stabbed almost 30 times.
Associate Professor of Criminology at Queensland's Bond University, Dr Wayne Petherick, said the description of the injuries sustained by Mr Huxley indicated his killing was "very deliberate and very angry".
He said three stab wounds in the neck indicates a victim was either lying down or sitting when they were lunged at.
"Three in the same location on the body is a very fast attacked. He's been stabbed a third time before he's even registered what's happening," Dr Petherick said.
The slaughter which confronted his flat mate Jean Redmond when she went to investigate a strange sound, will haunt the Irish-born physiotherapist for the rest of her life.
She had just arrived home from a girls night, and soon after walking in the front door of the unit, she told police she was startled by a "gargling" sound and an agonising moan coming from Mr Huxley's room.
Curled up on the floor beside his bed was a semiconscious Mr Huxley. He was bleeding profusely from three gaping holes in his neck and blood was pooling beneath him. He was naked from the waist down, wearing nothing but a t-shirt.
The Triple-0 call to the NSW Ambulance Service sounded so serious that three crews responded. The initial call stated a man was suffering 30 stab wounds to his back and neck. Police would later discover it was 28 wounds - 3 large and deep penetrating wounds to the same side of his neck, then dozens of small stab and slash wounds to his back.
When paramedics got to Mr Huxley, he was already in cardiac arrest. With time imperative, four paramedics jumped in the back of the ambulance and worked on the dying man as they raced to Royal North Shore Hospital, under a police escort.
But despite their best efforts, and those of emergency doctors at the hospital, Mr Huxley died soon after arriving.
JUST days after the Sunday morning killing, police were confident Mr Huxley's murder could be a female.
The Daily Telegraph understands there was evidence on the dead man's body and in his bedroom which has indicated to detectives that a female could have been behind the horrific slaughter.
"Some of the worst things I have ever seen have been done by women who are small ... people assume it can't be a woman who's done things like this, but it can," Dr Petherick said.
He said the attack on Mr Huxley was symptomatic of a personality disorder and given he was found partly naked, Dr Petherick said it sounded as if he could have had sexual intercourse and then a fight.