Coroner Terry Ryan has handed down the long-awaited report from the inquest into the disappearance of 13-year-old Daniel from a Sunshine Coast bus stop in 2003.

He found that Cowan, who was found guilty in 2014 of the teen's abduction and murder, committed the crime well before the Morcombe family approached police.

Mr Ryan said the initial police response didn't go far enough, with officers treating the case as a runaway despite the Morcombe’s objections.

Mr Ryan added the initial response was within police guidelines at the time, which he acknowledged had been significantly changed in the years since in large part because of the Morcombe case.

Outside court Daniel's parents said the release of the report put a final end to the ordeal of losing their son.

“The findings were very powerful in considering a couple of areas where the Morcombe family considered the Queensland Police in hindsight could have done better,” Bruce Morcombe said

“Fifteen years and four months is a long time, but this step, this chapter is finally over.”

Mr Ryan acknowledged the fortitude of Bruce and Denise Morcombe along with the rest of their family in the wake of Daniel’s disappearance.

“The Morcombes displayed incredible resilience … instead of giving in, they strengthened their resolve,” he said.

He made two findings off the back of the inquest: for missing person cases and suspected murder cases to be automatically reviewed after 12 months, and for the Queensland government to change the criminal code to ensure the victim’s remains are released to their family more quickly.

“We had to wait many, many months after Daniel’s remains were found, the coroner recommends this be changed to make it a lot quicker and a lot easier for any families after us,” Denise Morombe said outside court.

“It’s a relief for the family, we won’t have Daniel back, but we hope in the future other families don’t have to wait so long to get some answers.

The Morcombes promised to continue the work of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, which advocates for child safety measures.

Queensland police issued a brief statement on Friday ackowledging the coroner's findings and expressing their condolences to the Morcombe family.

"The QPS will thoroughly consider all aspects of the findings delivered today," the statement said.

ABDUCTION AND MURDER

The coroner confirmed based on the evidence available that Cowan acted alone when he abducted Daniel Morcombe from a Sunshine Coast bus stop on Sunday, December 7, 2003.

Daniel had planned to walk the 1.3 kilometres from his home to the bus stop on Nambour Connection Road, and would have taken the bus to a local shopping centre to buy Christmas presents.

Instead, he was lured into a white four-wheel-drive driven by Cowan and driven to an abandoned property where Cowan attempted to sexually assault the teen, and strangled him when he tried to escape.

He then hid the body in thick bushland near a disused sandmine, later throwing the teen’s clothes from a bridge into Coochin Creek.

“It is clear that Daniel was killed within one hour of his abduction, well before his parents reported him missing on the evening of 7 December 2003,” Mr Ryan said in his report.

THE INITIAL POLICE RESPONSE

Bruce Morcombe first raised the alarm when Daniel was not waiting to be picked up at the bus stop on Nambour Connection Road later that afternoon.

The Morcombes went to the Maroochydore police station around 7:30 pm and spoke to Sergeant Robbie Munn, who was manning the front desk that evening.

The Morcombes stressed the Sergeant Munn that Daniel’s disappearance was out of the ordinary, but he reassured them their son was probably at a friend’s house and sent them home.

It was only after a number of phone calls from Sergeant Munn to the Morcombes over the next few hours when Daniel had not returned home that the family received a call from an officer from the Palmwoods police station advising them to come in the following morning to file a formal missing persons report.

“In hindsight, Sergeant Munn should not have treated Daniel’s disappearance as that of a teenage boy who had either stayed too long at Sunshine Plaza or who had run away,” Mr Ryan wrote in his report.

“However Sergeant Mun’s response was not inappropriate in the context of QPS procedure and policy in 2003.”

Mr Ryan said he considered it a “missed opportunity” that police didn’t immediately follow up with local bus company Sunbus.

Subsequent investigations revealed a Sunbus driver who reported seeing Daniel waiting at the bus stop on the day he disappeared with an unknown man.

THE SUBSEQUENT MAJOR INVESTIGATION

The Morcombes went to Palmwoods police station on the morning of December 8, 2003, and the police response dramatically increased from that point forward, eventually becoming the largest criminal investigation in Queensland’s history.

A Major Incident Room was established and at various points there were over 100 officers solely assigned to the case, and the eventual police report was over 10,000 pages long.

A list of over 30 persons of interest was rapidly drawn up; Brett Peter Cowan was on that list but was not considered a prime suspect at that early stage.

There were 84 different eyewitness accounts of either Daniel, persons of interest or vehicles of interest, including a blue car mentioned by a number of people, which formed a point of focus for police going forward.

"I agree with the submissions from family and counsel assisting that more could have been done to focus on Mr Cowan in the early stages of the investigation," Mr Ryan said.

FOCUS ON COWAN

Brett Peter Cowan was interviewed by police in late December 2003 and freely admitted he had driven down Nambour Connection Road twice on the day Daniel disappeared, but claimed no knowledge of what had happened to the boy.

The officers who questioned Cowan initially, Kenneth King and Dennis Martyn, immediately formed the view that he was a prime suspect and told officers in charge of the investigation of their suspicions.

However, Cowan was not immediately brought in for further questioning and no further surveillance was done.

The Morcombe family has subsequently criticised police for not doing more to investigate Cowan at the early stage, especially given his previous history of child sex offences, and a 45-minute gap in his given alibi which he later tried to plug by changing his story to say he had been at his drug dealer’s house buying weed.

They also said the police at the time were “blinkered” by their focus on the blue car mentioned by numerous eyewitnesses in the case, which turned out to be unrelated to the investigation.

Mr Ryan said he agreed that it was subsequently clear that Cowan should have been investigated more fully, but said that was with the benefit of hindsight.

“It is also important to note that while a greater focus on Mr Cowan may have produced useful intelligence, it is not certain that it would have provided any cogent evidence or led to Mr Cowan’s earlier arrest,” Mr Ryan said.

THE STING

An initial inquest into Daniel’s death and the subsequent police investigation was begun in 2010, which heard from more than 60 witnesses.

Among those called to give evidence was Brett Peter Cowan, who denied having anything to do with Daniel’s disappearance.

The inquest was subsequently adjourned, and an elaborate sting operation was put together to try to get Cowan to admit to killing Daniel.

Thirty-six undercover police officers were involved in the elaborate ruse that involved convincing Cowan he was joining a gang, and eventually in 2011 got Cowan to admit to killing Daniel and dumping his body.

Along with police posing as gang members, Cowan returned to the site and showed them where he had dumped the body and the clothes.

He then was immediately arrested and a subsequent search of the area found both the clothes and skeletal remains which were later determined through DNA tests to be Daniel’s.

DELAYED RETURN OF REMAINS

Daniel’s remains were not given back to the Morcombe family until November 2012 after being found in late 2011.

This was due to legal proceedings being drawn out with Cowan’s initial charging and trial, with the remains being held for DNA testing.

Mr Ryan said the delay was unnecessary, and made a recommendation for the Queensland government to change the law regarding the release of remains to victims’ families.

“I agree that it is unsatisfactory that families should be required to wait until criminal proceedings are finalised before being able to bury their loved ones,” Mr King wrote.

“Particularly where DNA evidence can establish the identity of a deceased person with a high degree of certainty.”

COWAN CONVICTION AND AFTERMATH

Cowan was found guilty of murdering Daniel in 2014 and sentenced to life in prison.

He has been attacked and injured at least twice by other prisoners while behind bars, suffering significant burns when boiling water was poured over him in 2016, and was hospitalised again in 2018 when he was stabbed in the ear and neck.

He exhausted all legal avenues of appeal in 2016 and will remain in jail until at least 2031, having been sentenced to a minimum non-parole period of 20 years

The inquest into Daniel’s death resumed in 2016 and was finalised on Friday with Mr Ryan handing down his report.

“I extend my condolences to Mr and Mrs Morcombe, Daniel’s brothers and his extended family,” he said.

“I close the inquest”