Edmund Ian Riggs sentenced for 2001 manslaughter of wife Patricia Riggs

After waiting almost two decades, the family of slain Queensland mother Patricia Riggs has finally learned the fate of her killer, Ian Edmund Riggs.

A WIFE slain by her husband of 17 years died “a violent and sudden death” at his hands, a judge has found.

Edmund Ian Riggs was this morning sentenced to a total of 15 years’ jail – 13 years for the killing of his wife, Patricia Riggs, 34, at their Brisbane home on September 30, 2001, and two years for perjury.

Edmund Ian Riggs guilty of manslaughter

Riggs pleading guilty to four counts of perjury relating to statements and affidavits he provided to courts in 2002, 2004 and 2007 and at a Crime and Misconduct Commission hearing in 2002.

Riggs, 59, was last month found guilty by a jury of the woman’s manslaughter, but not guilty of her murder.

He had pleaded guilty at the start of his Supreme Court trial to interfering with a corpse, by burying her body elsewhere, after killing her in the bedroom of their Margate property.

Despite a jury finding him guilty of manslaughter, Justice Peter Flanagan today rejected the account Riggs had given of how he accidentally killed his wife 18 years ago, saying the verdict meant the jury were unable to conclude it was an intentional death, not that they believed his story.

Patricia Riggs died after hitting her head after Edmund Ian Riggs pushed her during an argument in September 2001.

“There were in my view, a number of difficulties in the jury accepting your version of events,” he said.

“I do not however accept the version of events you gave at trial.

“It is inconsistent with what you told police... in 2001...

“This stark inconsistency is relevant when assessing the credibility of the account you gave at trial.

“Your post offence conduct and lies is inconsistent with your version of events...

“The extensive steps ... you took to distance yourself to your wife’s death is out of all proposition to pushing your wife in the course of an argument... and her hitting her head.”

A sketch of Edmund Ian Riggs in court during the trial. Illustration: Richard Gosling

He later said: “I determine you are to be sentenced for manslaughter on the basis Patricia Riggs died a violent and sudden death at your hands in September 2001”.

Riggs had perjured himself by making statements that he did not know what had happened to his wife in what was described by Justice Flanagan today as a “continuing campaign” to cover up his offending.

The perjury sentence will be served cumulatively and he will be eligible for parole in September 2027.

Patricia Riggs’ father Jon Knowles said outside court the total sentence of 15 years’ today jail handed down to Riggs for the killing of his daughter was “the best we could expect”.

“No sentence is long enough, or big enough,” he said.

“You take someone’s life you shouldn’t be able to get out of prison, ever.

“He’ll get out eventually and be walking around in 10 years’ time.”

Mr Knowles said he had always been convinced Riggs killed his daughter but “getting proof and some evidence” was difficult without knowing where Patricia’s body was buried.

“Not knowing where the rest of her remains were made it (difficult), we’re not sure we’ll ever know,” he said.

“There are no guarantees he will ever cough up what he has done. I don’t believe for a moment she is where he said he’d buried her.

“What he’s really done with the body, we might never know.”

He said the family was relieved Justice Flanagan had not accepted Riggs’ version of what had happened the night his wife died.

“I was happy he had seen through his lies,” Mr Knowles said.

“It’s not in his (Riggs) nature to tell the truth.

“She was a wonderful girl and what happened should never have happened. It shouldn’t have happened to anyone. It’s not right.

“The sentence is probably what we expected but it won’t bring her back, or solve anything really, other than make sure he’s lost some of his freedom.”

Originally published as Edmund Ian Riggs sentenced for 2001 manslaughter of wife Patricia Riggs