Helen Moore is not widely known, but she’s considered to be worse than infamous serial killer Ivan Milat.
Moore was jailed in 1980 at the age of 18 after being convicted of smothering and killing babies and children.
She received three life sentences but was released after serving 13 years and nine months.
It has now emerged that since her release, the 63-year-old has been babysitting for families who were unaware of her criminal history.
One woman who lived next door to Moore on the NSW Central Coast said the pair had a close relationship.
“We were always at each other’s houses, Christmases, birthdays,” she said.
“(She was) there for the birth of one of my children … She was my best friend.”
The woman said Moore regularly babysat her children and grandchildren, and that one of her granddaughters even slept at Moore’s house.
“There was an incident there a few years ago where (the woman’s granddaughter) came back and was showing signs of putting her hands around (another family member’s) throat,” she said.
“She never went back after that.”
Moore’s younger brother, Craig Moorley, said his sister caused a lot of stir within the family during their childhood.
“All my life, she’s always had like a split personality,” Moorley said.
“When she snapped, she just had this strength.”
In March 1979, Moore was babysitting Moorley and his brothers while their parents were out to dinner. Their two-year-old stepbrother, Andrew, was asleep in his cot in the bedroom he shared with Moore.
“Helen said she was going in to clean her room … She was in there for ages, like a good hour,” Moorley said.
“Then all of a sudden she screamed out. We raced into the bedroom, she ran out to the neighbour’s house. I picked (Andrew) up out of his bed and put him onto Helen’s bed, trying to get him mouth-to-mouth. I was only like 12 years old at the time … I couldn’t bring him back.”
Doctors ruled Andrew’s death as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), also known as cot death – the unexplained death of a baby under the age of one, usually while sleeping.
However, Moorley believes his stepbrother was killed by Moore.
He told A Current Affair that four days before Andrew’s death, the toddler had been rushed to hospital after their mother found him turning blue in his cot.
Doctors believed he had narrowly escaped SIDS.
Around the same period, Moore began advertising her babysitting services at the Claymore information centre in Sydney’s south-west.
In May 1979, Moore was caring for several children, including her 16-month-old cousin, Susan Louise. Susan’s parents, Bill and Pat, told A Current Affair it was their first outing since Susan was born and that their regular babysitter was unavailable.
While they were out, they received a call saying Susan had “taken ill” and had been taken to a local health clinic.
When they arrived, they were told their daughter had died of cot death.
Pat said she was convinced Moore was responsible for her daughter’s death.
Early the following year, two boys in Moore’s care were found unresponsive in their cots.
Both survived, but one was left with permanent physical injuries.
The following month, Moore was babysitting two-year-old Rachel Hay and her three older siblings.
Rachel was found dead in her cot that same night.
It was not until Moore and Moorley’s younger stepbrother, Peter, was found dead inside their Claymore home that serious concerns were raised.
“He was sitting on a bean bag watching TV. He had a broken arm because he fell down the stairs the week before,” Moorley said.
Moore was at home with Peter that morning.
“She came up behind him and just grabbed him.”
Peter was smothered to death.
After a lengthy trial, Moore was convicted of three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.
She was released from prison in 1993 and returned to live with her parents.
Moorley said his mother, Jesse Moore – who now goes by Jenny – occasionally looked after other people’s children and allowed them to stay in the same home as Moore.
A Current Affair approached Jesse Moore for comment, but she did not respond when these allegations were put to her.
Moore’s parole ended in 2005 and she was not automatically placed on the NSW Child Protection Register.
Moorley later fought to put her on the register more than a decade after her release.
He has also made allegations of historic physical and sexual abuse against his sister, which NSW Police are now investigating.
Moorley is calling for the death of his stepbrother Andrew to be re-examined.
Following her release from prison, Moore used the name Helen Keating and spent time in the Mullumbimby area near Byron Bay before relocating to the NSW Central Coast.
Images: A Current Affair
