Queensland police did not focus hard enough on Daniel Morcombe's murderer when they began investigating the schoolboy's disappearance, a coroner has found.
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Brett Peter Cowan was a convicted child sex offender, admitted being in the Sunshine Coast area where Daniel, 13, disappeared in 2003 and had a weak alibi.
State Coroner Terry Ryan has handed down findings and recommendations from an inquest into Daniel's death more than 15 years since he vanished on his way to buy Christmas presents.
He was abducted from a bus stop, taken to a remote area and strangled after resisting Cowan's sexual assault.
Mr Ryan said police could have focused more on Cowan in the early stages of the investigation
"(That is) particularly having regard to his admissions that placed him at the scene of Daniel's disappearance, the gaps in his alibi, and the specific nature of his offending history," he said.
Taking DNA from Cowan's car, in which Daniel was killed, should have been done "much earlier".
But Mr Ryan stopped short of admonishing police over the "largest criminal investigation in the history of Queensland" with 100 dedicated officers and about 10,000 interviews.
Efforts by undercover officers in extracting a confession from Cowan, leading to his 2011 arrest and life sentence for murder, were praised.
Prior to that, there was not enough evidence to determine his alibi - that he was off buying drugs - was a lie.
"Mr Cowan was an accomplished liar and his alibi, although not strong, could not be rebutted," Mr Ryan said.
Claims made at the inquest by two police officers - that they were rebuffed when they raised Cowan as a suspect - could not be proven.
Mr Ryan said the immediate police response that treated Daniel's disappearance as a possible teenage runaway should not have happened but was "not inappropriate" in terms of policy at the time.
Given Daniel was killed within an hour of his abduction, his death could not have been prevented by police, he said.
Mr Ryan also said "blinkered" and incorrect police focus on a blue car, seen by witnesses around the time and place of Daniel's disappearance, was justified.
After the findings, Daniel's mother Denise Morcombe expressed relief that 15 years of court processes were over.
But the family would be forever haunted by the chilling description of the kidnap and murder by the "repulsive pedophile" who killed their son.
"I hope in the future families won't have to wait so long to get some answers," she said outside Brisbane Coroners Court.
"We'll never get Daniel back."
They welcomed the coroner's "powerful" recommendations - for independent reviews of unsolved missing person cases after 12 months and a time limit on the testing of human remains.
"Mr and Mrs Morcombe have displayed incredible resilience in the circumstances," Mr Ryan said.
"They relentlessly pursued answers."
Police said they would consider the findings.
Australian Associated Press
