Foster dad cries as he’s jailed for life for Tiahleigh Palmer’s murder

The foster father of 12-year-old Tiahleigh Palmer has been sentenced to life behind bars after pleading guilty to her horrific murder.

The schoolgirl was found dead on the banks of a Gold Coast river in 2015, six days after she was first reported missing. Palmer was being fostered by the Thorburn family when she went missing in October 2015.

Her foster father Rick Thorburn was accused of killing Tiahleigh after allegedly learning that his son, Trent, had had sex with her and feared that the child was pregnant. 

Now Rick Thorburn will serve a life sentence behind bars for her murder. According to 9 News, when passing sentence today, Justice David Boddice described the murder as “cold, calculating and callous”, adding: “You murdered this defenceless child who relied upon you for protection. And you did so in order to save your own son”.

He told the court that none of Thorburn’s difficult upbringing or his past battle with depression “explain your horrendous conduct”.

The Courier Mail reported that Thorburn shed tears in court as he officially pleaded guilty to murdering the girl, and to interfering with a corpse, attempting to pervert the course of justice and perjury. He will be eligible for parole in 2036.

BREAKING: Foster father Rick Thorburn is being sentenced for the murder of Logan school girl Tiahleigh Palmer. @BenBMurph #7News https://t.co/dbpWDRvW2i

— 7NEWS Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) May 25, 2018

Revealing graphic details of the murder and aftermath, the court heard that Thorburn’s wife Julene was out of the home when he killed Tiahleigh. On the next evening, Thorburn came home at around 11pm, covered in mud and dirt, and told his family “it’s done”.

Defence barrister Greg McGuire read a letter to the court, in which Thorburn said he had to take medication for depression, and apologised for the despicable crime. “Not a day goes by that I’m not haunted by what I’ve done,” the letter reportedly said.

According to the news outlet, the prosecution’s Carl Heaton QC argued that the only penalty that could be given on a charge of murder was life, with a minimum non-parole period of 20 years, and insisted that there should be no allowance for a sentence discount for Thorburn having previously pleaded guilty.

Palmer’s foster brother Trent Thorburn was released from prison in January after serving time for four charges including incest, after admitting to his mother in 2015 that he had had sex with the 12-year-old girl. He also pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert justice and perjury.

Read more: Tiahleigh Palmer’s foster dad pleads guilty to murder

Police had previously alleged that Thorburn murdered Palmer after discovering his then 19-year-old son had been sexually abu­sing her. They believed the father panicked and killed Palmer to keep her quiet to ensure his son wouldn’t be jailed for his crime.

Thorburn’s wife Julene spent six months in jail after pleading guilty in November 2017 to perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice over Tiahleigh’s death, while the girl’s other foster brother, Joshua Thorburn, was sentenced to three months in jail in July 2017 on the same charges.

Rick Thorburn was committed to stand trial for Palmer’s death in July 2017 after a lengthy police investigation. After initially indicating that he would fight murder charges, he eventually pleaded guilty to her murder in March this year.

The 12-year-old had been spending weekends with the Thorburns since September 2014, having first been put into care by her mother at the age of seven. In October 2015 her mother officially relinquished custody of her.

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