Sen Con Walsh (31) returned to her Cowra home from court duty in Parkes at approximately 2pm on Monday to discover her mother and two children dead.

She was then attacked by her 69 year-old father who allegedly struck her on the side of her head with an axe.

Seriously injured, Sen Con Walsh fled for her life to a neighbour for help.

Yesterday, work colleagues of Sen Con Walsh were still trying to come to terms with the circumstances surrounding the triple murder that could easily have claimed the life of the popular police officer.

Acting Crime Manager Steve Howard (Lachlan Local Area Command) was one of several Parkes police officers who attended the murder scene and assisted in the early investigations.

`Shelley is a well liked and respected member of the local command. She arrived in Parkes some five years ago as Crime Prevention Officer and more recently was on General Duties awaiting transfer to Cowra,’ Detective Howard said.

In a story in the Champion Post introducing her to the community in October 2003, Shelley said she had moved to Cowra with her two children to live with and look after her retired parents.

`For her to arrive home and discover her mother and two young children dead and then be attacked is beyond comprehension.

`A lot of our police officers have children of their own and they can easily relate to the pain and suffering that Sen Cons Walsh must be experiencing at this time,’ Detective Howard said.

Yesterday, Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione visited the Parkes Police Station to offer his condolences and moral support to officers and employees after earlier visiting Cowra.

Commissioner Scipione then flew to Sydney where he was expected to visit Sen Cons Walsh in Nepean Hospital.

Earlier he had described the murders and subsequent attack on Sen Cons Walsh `as the worst day in the history of the family of the NSW Police.’

---------------------------------------------

Axe victim moved to Cowra to escape ‘rage’ of Sydney

The policewoman whose young children were killed in an axe murder in Cowra on Monday was glad to have escaped the ‘rage’ of Sydney, and dreamt of writing plays and poems and playing the saxophone.

Friends, relatives and police officers from the Cowra region are keeping a vigil at the 31-year-old's hospital bedside.

She is in a stable condition after being attacked with an axe and was sitting up in bed with her hair covered by a large white bandage, talking to fellow police officers before going in for surgery yesterday afternoon.

In a 2003 article in the Champion Post, she spoke of how difficult it was to pursue her passions while being a young working mother.

‘Hopefully, as things settle down more I may be able to get involved in some of the things I really enjoy such as netball, playing the saxophone and playwriting,’ she said.

Meanwhile, the man accused of the killings was still following a routine on Saturday - standing at the front of the Kendall Street Newsagency in Cowra, flicking through a newspaper while his wife put on a bet.

‘He used to stand up the front reading the paper and his wife would pick up a Lotto and have a joke,’ the agency's owner, John Harrigan, said.

‘Nothing seemed different [on Saturday]. We were flabbergasted by the events that occurred.’

Mr Harrigan described the couple as ‘average people’ and the events of Monday afternoon came without warning or a change to their weekend habits.

----------------------------------------------

< p>‘Full support of police force’ - Scipione

All police officers involved in the Cowra tragedy – from the officer lying in Nepean Hospital, to her colleagues at Parkes and her soon to be colleagues at Cowra - have the full support of the police force, was the message driven home to the media from NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione.

‘It’s extremely hard for Cowra police and for Parkes, but there is a very strong support network going today, Mr Scipione said yesterday.

Commissioner Scipione said he did not know the officer injured in the attack personally, but that she was a respected member of the NSW force.