Editorial: Sharon Fulton deserves justice

Someone out there knows what happened to Sharon Fulton.

Someone out there knows where she is.

It’s been 37 years since Ms Fulton disappeared from her Duncraig home, leaving her four children with nothing more than fading memories of their devoted mother.

Her youngest Heath, just three when Ms Fulton went missing, barely has that. More of a feeling of safety, he tells STM, as his mother stood over his cot when he was toddler.

He has spent almost his entire life wondering about this woman he barely remembers.

“There is nothing more I want in life than the truth to what happened to Mum,” he says.

Sharon’s story is a tragic tale made even more distressing by the fact it is so familiar. It calls to mind the disappearances and presumed murders of other women, including Sydney’s Lynette Dawson.

Both women’s bodies have never been found.

In another similarity with the Dawson case, a coronial inquest found that Ms Fulton’s husband Robert was “directly or indirectly” involved in his death.

But while Ms Dawson’s family finally found closure when a court last year found her husband Chris guilty of murdering her in 1982, Ms Fulton’s family has only questions, and anguish.

Mr Fulton did not appear at his wife’s inquest, despite being summonsed.

He himself has now vanished, ignoring attempts from both police and STM to reach him.

But in an email to the Coroner’s Court earlier this year, Mr Fulton, now in his 70s and last known to be living in Queensland, denied killing his wife.

Still, in light of the court’s findings, WA’s Director of Public Prosecutions is considering whether criminal charges can finally be laid.

A successful prosecution would finally bring some level of closure to Ms Fulton’s children, still suffering all these decades after they were made to believe she had walked out of their lives.

It would also go some way to making amends for the botched initial investigation.

“There is no excuse for the lack of police work,” Heath says.

“There were several clear red flags that were not followed up on. This was basic investigative work that went missed and there has been no accountability for it.”

Heath’s message to whoever knows what happened to Ms Fulton is to show some compassion.

“Whoever was involved in her death has lived their life for the last 37 years knowing they have caused my siblings and I so much pain and torture by not knowing what happened to our mother.

“That person would be old now. They have an opportunity to bring us some small comfort in providing the truth.

“Just as much as good people can do evil things, evil people can do good things too.

“What we need is to bring her to peace and to move on, knowing we can lay her body to rest and have somewhere that we can visit her.”

Though the stories of both Ms Fulton and Ms Dawson are ones of immeasurable sadness, that Ms Dawson’s killer was finally brought to justice also offers hope, that one day Ms Fulton will be afforded the same dignity.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by WAN Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie