Overview
- Walker, 58, admitted in the NSW Supreme Court to unlawfully killing 13-year-old Arthur Haines during a 1998 house fire.
- Forensic investigators determined the Waterloo blaze was deliberately lit, and Haines died in hospital 11 weeks after suffering severe burns.
- Prosecutors proceeded on a fresh indictment, with a related malicious wounding offence to be taken into account at sentence and no further action on earlier charges.
- Police had intensified the long-running investigation, extraditing Walker from Queensland in 2022 after lifting the reward in 2020 from $100,000 to $1 million.
- Arthur’s mother, Julie Szabo, welcomed the admission of guilt and thanked detectives for persisting over nearly three decades.