Cleo Smith update: Police investigate whether four-year-old was in one place whole time she was missing

Western Australia Deputy Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the suspected kidnapper of four-year-old Chloe Smith was “assisting” detectives — but it’s still unclear if he is fit to be interviewed amid reports he has been injured.

“He’s gone off to hospital again this morning,” Mr Blanch told Sunrise on 7 News.

“The important thing for police, if we’re going to interview someone about offences as serious as this ... we will need them in a condition where they have had a rest, they’re in a good mental state, they’ve been fed.

“So, we’ve got to make sure we give them the best opportunity to answer questions and that’s to ensure that the court process is validated if we get to that point.”

Western Australia state government had offered a $1 million reward for information to find Cleo but authorities do not expect it to be claimed, it was reported on Thursday.

Authorities have not said exact what intelligence led officers to find the girl.

Police Minister Paul Papalia said the breakthrough had not been sparked by a chance sighting but rather “hard police grind”.

“From the moment this investigation began, the Western Australian police force conducted themselves to the absolute highest level of professionalism,” he told 7 News.

Police have finally released the audio of the moment four-year-old Cleo Smith was found by officers locked in a bedroom at a Carnarvon house.

An officer can be heard saying: “We’ve got her, we’ve got her” and then another officer says, “Hey, bubby, come here. I’ve got you, bubby, you’re alright.”

In the audio, the WA police detective senior sergeant Cameron Blaine then asks Cleo, “What’s your name, what’s your name? What’s your name sweetheart?”

The four-year-old can be heard saying: “My name is Cleo.

“Your name is Cleo”, “Hello Cleo”, the officers respond.

Seven West media issued an apology for wrongly identifying an Aboriginal man as the main suspect in the Cleo Smith abduction case.

Four-year-old Cleo Smith was reunited with her family on Wednesday.

Local reports said that around midday on Wednesday, 7NEWS.com.au published an article on their website with two images of a person they identified — incorrectly — as the 36-year-old Carnarvon man who was taken into custody by the West Australian Police in connection with Cleo’s abduction hours earlier.

The media platform had taken those images from Facebook.

However, just before midnight, Seven West published an apology online. The statement read: “Earlier on Wednesday 7NEWS wrongly showed images of a man that were incorrectly labelled as the person under arrest over the disappearance of Cleo Smith. These were removed promptly, but 7NEWS apologises for the error.”

The community members in Carnarvon pointed out their mistake on social media.

Pilbara-based First Nations broadcaster Ngaarda Media said that the wrongly accused man has contacted the police for this false information.

“A man who has been wrongly accused has been harassed online due to misinformation. Because people jump the gun when they look up Facebook, they put in [his name] straight away,” they posted.

The 36-year-old man who is in custody in connection with the Cleo Smith abduction case is expected to be charged today and will be interviewed by the police, officials say.

Meanwhile, the lead investigators in the case have urged the public to refrain from spreading “wild” conspiracy theories on social media.

WA Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch told the media that the man was taken to hospital twice as a precautionary measure after he was injured in custody, before being taken back to the Carnarvon police station, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The interview process is expected to continue on Thursday afternoon, it said.

Detective Sergeant Cameron Blaine, one of the officers who found Cleo, said that the four-year-old was aware and alert when she was discovered.

Detective Blaine told reporters about how relived he had felt to find that the child was alive and well.

“It was amazing to see her behave like a normal four-year-old child would,” he said.

He added that he had been to see Cleo and that she was “bubbly and laughing” and playing in her backyard.

“She was eating an icy pole, she told me it was very sticky to eat, she was just delightful.”

The police went on to add that the family would be counselled on the next steps in the investigation.

News of Cleo’ Smith’s rescue has been welcomed by Australians.

The country’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, tweeted that it was “wonderful, relieving news” and posted a picture of Cleo beneath the caption “A moment for great joy.”

Meanwhile Cleo’s mother, Ellie Smith, wrote on Instagram: “Our family is whole again.”

Police Commissioner Chris Dawson, who broke down in tears at the news Cleo had been found, said: “I think Australia is rejoicing.”

“To find a little girl - a vulnerable little girl - after 18 days. You know, obviously people think the worst, but importantly hope was never lost,” the he added.

Cleo Smith, a four-year-old girl allegedly abducted from her family’s tent at a coastal campsite in Western Australia, has been found alive and well after 18 days of intense search efforts.

Investigators raided a house in the early hours of Wednesday morning, finding the child alone and unharmed to the jubilation of her parents and all involved in the hunt.

A 36-year-old man has since been taken into custody.

Joe Sommerlad has more:

The police search for Cleo involved looking across land, sea and air, with reconnaissance planes used to search sparsely populated areas.

ABC reporter Evelyn Manfield revealed what the extensive search operation had consisted of, saying police were “up in the air, on horseback, using drones to forensically map every area inch-by-inch looking for clues”.

Police even went through hundreds of bags of rubbish on the side of a road covering a 600km (373 mile) stretch of Western Australia,

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde revealed how police had to go through “hundreds of thousands” of bit of evidence and testimony.

“We had to sift through a lot of information. The statements of the 100 people who were at the campsite, CCTV footage, data from phones...” he said.

A A$1m (£540,000) reward for information on Cleo’s whereabouts was also offered to the public by authorities.

A man has been charged over the abduction of four-year-old Cleo Smith, who went missing from a remote campsite in Australia.