Skip to Main Content

About The Book

Now with two new chapters, author Stuart Mullins and former South Australian police detective Bill Hayes expose Harry Phipps as the prime suspect in the abduction, disappearance, and likely murder of the Beaumont children, one of Australia’s most notorious cold cases since 1966.

On Australia Day, 26 January 1966, Jane, Arnna, and Grant Beaumont were abducted from Colley Reserve, Glenelg, South Australia and never seen again, leading to one of Australia's most extensive police investigations and manhunts. Five decades later, no trace of the children has ever been found.

Over the years, several individuals have been put forward and investigated as suspects, resulting in false leads and dead ends and with no real suspect until now: Harry Phipps.

On the surface, he was a gentleman: generous, charismatic, and intelligent – a person of wealth and influence in the community. However, a dramatically different person resided behind the walls of his Glenelg mansion, located a mere 190 metres away, in direct sight of Colley Reserve.

In Unmasking the Killer, author Stuart Mullins (The Satin Man: Uncovering the Mystery of the Missing Beaumont Children [co-author], Joe Bugner: My Story [author]) and former South Australian police detective Bill Hayes expose Harry Phipps as the prime suspect in the abduction, disappearance, and likely murder of the Beaumont children.

Over ten pieces of circumstantial evidence linking Phipps to the Beaumont abduction are explored in detail, supported by geographic and predator profiling chapters, which detail how these monsters operate. The authors explore a potential link to the 1973 Adelaide Oval abduction of Kirste Gordon and Joanne Ratcliffe and reveal conversations with Haydn Phipps, the eldest son of Harry and a possible eyewitness to events on that fateful day.

Stuart and Bill answer the question: where to next? Along with other experts, they firmly believe the answer to this baffling mystery lies buried at Castalloy, a factory once owned by Harry Phipps.

About The Authors

Stuart Mullins was born in Glenelg, South Australia, in the late 1950s. He grew up in Seacombe Gardens, a mere five kilometres from Somerton Park, where the Beaumont family resided, and holds multiple personal connections to the family and the case. He attended the Nepean College of Advanced Education, Penrith, now the University of Western Sydney, where he obtained his teaching qualifications. He has worked in multiple roles abroad including with former SAS personnel for the Scottish Adventure School on the island of Raasay, working with unemployed teenagers from Glasgow, Dundee, and Stirling, as a Physical Education teacher in Durban, South Africa, as well as with Club Mediterranean South Pacific as recreation manager, then at the five-star Hayman Island Resort North Queensland. He spent two years in Japan working in an executive search company, finally returning to Australia to start his own hospitality recruitment company, which he still runs today. Stuart assisted Alan Whiticker in his research for Alan’s book Searching for the Beaumont Children, published in 2006. He then teamed up with Alan as co-author of the bestselling The Satin Man: Uncovering the Mystery of the Missing Beaumont Children. Stuart was also the writer for Joe Bugner: My Story about the only heavyweight boxer to go the distance twice with the greatest, Muhammad Ali.

Bill Hayes was born in Northern Ireland and later spent part of his childhood in London’s East End. He joined the Merchant Navy at age fifteen, going on to enlist in the UK Armed Forces where he earned the famous British Airborne Paratroop wings. Migrating to Australia, he also joined the Australian Army Reserve, where he was commissioned as an officer. In his civilian career, he joined the Australian Federal Police and was posted to Woomera, South Australia. After a couple of years, he joined the South Australia Police (SAPOL), serving as a uniform patrol officer and then in the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) as a detective. Later, Bill joined the Major Crime Squad, where in the 1980s, he was tasked with reviewing statements pertaining to the case of the missing Beaumont children. After fifteen years’ service, Bill left to set up his own successful private investigation company, where he remains. He was approached by Stuart Mullins in 2008 to assist with investigating Harry Phipps and his possible link to the Beaumont children’s abduction. Bill is happily married with three children and four grandchildren and now lives on the south coast of South Australia.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia (July 2, 2025)
  • Length: 352 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781761635854

Browse Related Books

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images