Jesse Leigh Green charged with murder of Teah Luckwell in Robert Street, Tamworth | Strike Force Penola

EARLIER

A MAN has been charged with the murder of Tamworth mother-of-one Teah Luckwell.

The Leader can reveal Jesse Leigh Green will front Tamworth Local Court on Wednesday charged with murder, following his arrest in a Sydney prison on Tuesday morning.

It’s understood the now 27-year-old was known to the 22-year-old before he allegedly killed her inside the Robert Street unit in South Tamworth on March 28. 

In April, The Leader revealed Green had been interviewed by investigators from Strike Force Penola – the murder probe set-up by the homicide squad and Oxley detectives – in the wake of the woman’s suspicious death.

Ms Luckwell was attacked inside her unit and her body, alongside her 13-month-old daughter, who was uninjured, was discovered about 9.30pm on March 28, by a neighbour.

Green was arrested in coordinated police raids in Tamworth on April 5. He faces charges of aggravated break-and-enter and goods in custody in relation to an alleged break-in in Oxley Vale on March 27.

At the time, detectives were investigating several aggravated break-ins in the week of Ms Luckwell’s murder as part of the homicide investigation.

Green is yet to enter pleas to the property-related charges and will appear in Tamworth Local Court on Wednesday.

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Green was arrested at about 8.30am on Tuesday by Strike Force Penola detectives at Silverwater Correctional Centre, where he is being held on the break-in charges. 

“A 22-year-old lady murdered in her own home is a horrible tragedy and the homicide squad and Oxley detectives were working round the clock on this to resolve the matter,” Homicide squad Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin told The Leader on Tuesday.

“A number of people were suspected of having involvement in this homicide, and that is not unusual in investigations of this nature, for numerous lines of inquiry to present themselves at the start.

“Those lines of inquiry have been followed up and certain things have been discounted.”

Chief Inspector Jubelin would not comment on Ms Luckwell’s cause of death but said Green is the only person charged in connection to her murder.

“This has been a comprehensive investigation where the activities and movements of the victim and persons of interest have been closely scrutinised,” he said.

He said numerous witnesses were spoken to as part of the investigation, and several hear-say reports or rumours were eliminated in the probe. But police appeared to focus on the comings and goings of people in and around the Robert Street unit block.

“It’s not unusual in country towns where rumours are rife, it sometimes assists and sometimes distracts investigation, that we have to follow those rumours up,” he said.

Oxley Superintendent Fred Trench praised the community response to helping officers in the investigation.

“Investigators received significant information and assistance from day one, which has provided prompt results and reaffirms our commitment to keeping the community safe,” he said.