A woman who allegedly began paying to have her "prominent Canberran" parents murdered is behind bars after UK-based journalists foiled the apparent plot by alerting authorities.
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Police have charged the 26-year-old woman, who cannot be named, with six offences including two counts each of attempted murder and inciting others to commit murder.
Detective Acting Sergeant Beth McMullen said on Tuesday that the journalists, who were conducting research on the dark web, had stumbled upon the woman's alleged attempts to find a hitman.
They emailed ACT Policing in October to report a user who had offered money for contract killings, provided "details as to how to target the victims" and made an online payment.
Investigators who looked into the allegations allegedly found that the woman had agreed to pay $20,000 for the murders, and transferred about $6000 of that sum to an unknown recipient.
"We obtained a lot of evidence that assisted us to arrest the woman yesterday," Detective Acting Sergeant McMullen said.
"A lot of that involved tracking her online activity and forensically examining her bank records."
Detective Acting Sergeant McMullen said the woman appeared to have been motivated by "financial gain", and that the 26-year-old's parents had been unaware there was a price on their heads.
"When police spoke to the victims, they were named as targets on the [dark web] site," she said.
"They were very shocked and understandably concerned about the information that police had obtained.
"They cooperated with us fully, and we took a number of steps to ensure their safety."
Detective Acting Sergeant McMullen said police were still investigating the origins of the dark web site in question, as well as the identity of whoever had received the $6000 alleged down payment through the site in September.
She said, however, that the website appeared to have been "fraudulent" and that it seemed to have been taken offline.
This, the detective said, had led police to believe there was no ongoing threat to the safety of the woman's parents.
"This is not a matter that has cropped up in the ACT previously but we do have experience in investigating online crime, and certainly we have specialists in that realm," she said.
After police arrested the woman and seized computer equipment from a home in Fadden on Monday, the 26-year-old briefly appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning.
She was formally charged with attempting to murder her parents on September 24, and inciting "unknown persons" to commit murder on the same date.
The woman was further charged with the theft of $15,000 from her parents' home in O'Malley during an alleged burglary three days earlier.
It is not clear whether she is alleged to have used this money to make the down payment for the planned murders of her parents.
The 26-year-old did not enter pleas or apply for bail on Tuesday, but her Legal Aid lawyer Chris Brown told the court that the woman might seek bail in a fortnight.
Special Magistrate Margaret Hunter formally refused bail, and granted prosecutor Anthony Williamson's application to have the identities of the woman and her parents suppressed amid ongoing police investigations.
Mr Williamson told the court the woman's parents were "prominent Canberrans" and their identification in connection with this case would cause them "considerable humiliation".
The woman, who was marked as a prisoner at risk because of her history of mental health issues, is due back in court on December 22.
Police have urged anyone with information about the matter to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via the Crime Stoppers ACT website.
Information can be provided anonymously, quoting reference number 6658661.
