[3][13] Thorne's morning routine was to wait at the corner of Wellington and O'Brien streets, a walk of approximately 300 metres,[14] where a family friend, Phyllis Smith, would pick him up and take him to school with her sons.
Sergeant Larry O'Shea of the Bondi police had already arrived around 9:30,[15] and took the telephone from Freda Thorne, pretending to be his father (who was out of town in Kempsey on business).
"[5][11] O'Shea expressed doubt as to his ability to get hold of such a large sum of money, being unaware that the Thornes had recently won the lottery.
[18] The next evening, on Friday 8 July, the focus of the investigation moved to Sydney's north-eastern suburbs, when Thorne's school case was found near Seaforth.
[4] Also, at 8:20 a.m. on the morning of the kidnapping, some witnesses had seen an iridescent blue 1955 Ford Customline double-parked on the corner of Francis and Wellington streets,[1] near where Thorne was usually picked up for school.
[8][23] On Tuesday 16 August, nearly six weeks after the kidnapping and 1.5 km from where the school case was found, Thorne's body was finally discovered hidden on vacant land in Grandview Grove, Seaforth,[24][23] and identified at the City Morgue by his father the next day.
[25] Wrapped in a blue tartan picnic blanket, and tucked into a ledge, the boy had been tied with string, gagged with a scarf and was still wearing his school uniform.
[27] Also, two tree types (Chamaecyparis pisifera and Cupressus glabra) that were not present at the vacant lot where the body was found were identified by an expert in the blanket, along with Pekingese and blonde human hair.
Examination of the body showed cuts and abrasions and internal trauma, and it was clear that the boy had died from either asphyxiation, a skull fracture or a combination of the two.
[11][1][4] Forensic experts (including from the School of Agriculture, University of Sydney[1]) gathered time data from Thorne's body, his stomach contents, fungi on his shoes and fly larvae (identified as Calliphora stygia).
Bradley had also owned an iridescent blue 1955 Ford Customline (registration number AYO-382),[1] had a Pekingese as a family pet and his wife had dyed blonde hair.
When Himalaya docked at Colombo, Ceylon, on Monday 10 October, two Sydney policemen, Sergeants Brian Doyle and Jack Bateman, were waiting for Bradley.
After five weeks of legal wrangling,[11] Bradley was extradited to Australia on 18 November 1960, allegedly making an oral confession to Bateman just before the BOAC flight landed in Sydney.
[1] The next day at 10:00 a.m., Bradley signed a written confession in English (although he later retracted it[5]), part of which states:"I went out and watched the Thorne boy leaving the house and seen him for about three mornings and I have seen where he went.
[1] A divorcée since 1948, Bradley had remarried in 1952 and had a child with Eva Maria Lazlo in Melbourne, living with her until her death in a car accident on 26 February 1955.
[1] He admitted the kidnapping, providing details of how he posed as a driver and fabricated a tale to persuade Thorne into his car that day.
[3] Taking him west to Centennial Park, he had then assaulted the boy, rendered him unconscious, then tied and wrapped him up in a blanket, and placed him in the boot before driving north across the Sydney Harbour Bridge[22] and making the first ransom call.
[3] Arriving at his home in nearby Clontarf, he rechecked the boy,[3] but at around 3:00 p.m. when he checked again, he claimed that Thorne had apparently suffocated in the back of his car.
[1] News surrounding the case led to an overwhelming sense of public shock, disbelief and anger which, alongside later events such as the Wanda Beach Murders and the Beaumont disappearance, "marked an end of innocence in Australian life".
[32] On 6 October 1968 Bradley died in prison of a heart attack at the age of 42,[1][11] while playing in the gaol tennis competition, and was buried in the Catholic section of Goulburn cemetery.