Lisa Govan: Police claim bikie Andrew Edhouse will be handed court summons after returning from overseas

A notorious bikie accused of stomping on Kalgoorlie woman Lisa Govan’s head will be ordered to appear at an inquest into her death as soon as he returns from overseas. Club Deroes bikie Andrew Edhouse avoided testifying at the recent coronial inquiry because he was travelling abroad. His absence left a gaping hole in the inquest but WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch on Wednesday vowed to serve the gang elder with a summons to appear. “He’s overseas and he’s been overseas since we’ve had the summons,” Mr Blanch told ABC radio. “When he gets back, we’ll give him the summons.” Mr Edhouse was partying with the 28-year-old on the morning she went missing on October 8, 1999. He was one of the last people to have seen her alive — and the inquest was recently told Mr Edhouse stomped on her head as she lay on the floor of the Club Deroes’ Kalgoorlie clubhouse. When asked if police thought Mr Edhouse had fled overseas due to the inquest, Mr Blanch said there was “nothing to suggest that”. “I can’t say either way, the fact is he wasn’t here and he’s not here... we’ll serve it when he gets back,” he said. The West has previously reported that Mr Edhouse’s non-attendance would likely not impact the outcome of the inquest as it is expected he would refuse to answer questions. Officers were searching for the outlaw, who was believed to have been living on a sheep station in the northern Mid West, but were unable to find him. It is understood Mr Edhouse’s friends and family have refused to help police. The Coroners Act 1996 states that a person who does not obey a summons, order or direction of a coroner is guilty of a crime and is liable to a maximum penalty of imprisonment for five years and a fine of $100,000. But that penalty is unenforceable if a witness was not served a summons to attend the hearing. During the inquest, tradesman Kevin Smith, who had delivered cocaine to the bikie stronghold, told his employee Ross Edwards what he had witnessed while he was standing at its front door. Mr Smith told Mr Edwards that he believed Mr Edhouse stomped on a woman’s head, fatally killing her. Counsel Assisting Sue Markham said that when Mr Smith got back into the car, he told Mr Edwards that he had seen a woman lying on the floor inside the clubhouse. “While he was taking to Edhouse, Edhouse had run off and jumped on the woman’s head,” Ms Markham said. Mr Edhouse was hauled into a police interrogation room in 2017 after the special crime squad raided his gang’s Kalgoorlie clubhouse but was released without charge. Club Deroe associate Trevor Atkinson, who was with Mr Edhouse and Ms Govan the morning she disappeared, was arrested three times but no charges were laid against him. SEE MORE IN OUR SUBSCRIBER-EXCLUSIVE VIDEO SERIES, CATCHING LISA’S KILLER, HERE. Catching Lisa’s Killer: The Inquest is hosted by Ben Harvey and Natalie Bonjolo, creators of the true-crime docuseries, Catching Lisa’s Killer: Fear and Murder in Kalgoorlie.