The former partner of Queensland woman Meaghan Louise Rose has been arrested almost 30 years after her body was found at the foot of a cliff. 

Keith Lees, 72, was arrested at a home on Kenthurst Road, in Dural in Sydney‘s northwest, at 8am on Thursday. 

He was taken into custody on a warrant for an alleged murder in Queensland in 1997, NSW Police said. 

Lees has been on the run from police since the warrant was issued in July 2023. 

Police took him to Hornsby Police Station on Thursday where he was charged with the outstanding warrant.

NSW Police also laid fresh charges against him as they allege he tried to bite an officer while in custody.

Lees was charged with assault police officer in execution of duty without aggravated bodily harm, deal with identity information to commit etc indictable offence, and possess identity information to commit etc indictable offence.

He was refused bail and was due to appear in Parramatta Local Court on Friday. 

Lees cannot be charged with the murder of Ms Rose in NSW however Queensland Police are expected to apply for his extradition to charge him with the offence there.

The arrest comes 27 years after the body of Meaghan Louise Rose, 25, was found at the foot of a Point Cartwright cliff at Mooloolaba in southern Queensland in July, 1997.

Her death was initially deemed non-suspicious and no inquest was held.

But the case was reopened in 2009 amid revelations that Lees had taken out a life insurance policy in Ms Rose’s name before she died. 

Homicide detectives visited a home in Victoria in June 2023 to speak with Lees, then aged 70, in relation to their investigation.

A day later he had disappeared, with his car found abandoned at Portland.

In July 2023, police issued an arrest warrant for Lees and continued to search for him. He was spotted on CCTV around Victoria in the ensuing days.

Authorities said at the time Lees may have been seeking casual work in the farming and fruit picking industries. The public was warned not to approach him.

Lees previously served 18 years in jail for the 2001 murder of Barry Waters, whose headless body he dumped in bushland in Reefton, Victoria.

He had been a friend of Mr Waters and started a romantic affair with the man’s wife.