Man accused of abducting Cleo Smith to front WA court

Cleo Smith’s alleged abductor is set to return to court after having spent more than a month in a maximum-security remand prison in Perth.

Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, is accused of taking four-year-old Cleo from her family’s tent at the remote Blowholes campsite in Western Australia.

He will face a magistrate via videolink from custody on Monday, charged with multiple offences including forcibly taking a child under 16.

Cleo was found alive and well in early November, 18 days after she went missing from the campsite.

She was rescued from a property just minutes from her family home in the nearby town of Carnarvon, almost 1000km north of Perth.

Police forced entry to the home and found Cleo alone in a room, physically unharmed and playing with toys.

Kelly was arrested on a nearby street around the same time. He is alleged to have acted alone and is yet to enter a plea to his charges.

Police say he has no connection to Cleo’s family.

Kelly appeared before a magistrate in Carnarvon last month and was remanded in custody ahead of the matter returning to the same court.

He was shackled and accompanied by armed riot squad guards on a charter flight from Carnarvon to Perth after his first court appearance.

The extra security was put in place after Kelly was twice hospitalised with self-inflicted injuries while in custody.