Brett Peter Cowan: Daniel Morcombe killer’s life behind bars revealed

Ten years after he was convicted of murdering Sunshine Coast schoolboy Daniel Morcombe, the reality of life in jail for Brett Peter Cowan has been revealed.

Child killer and pedophile Brett Peter Cowan has been targeted by inmates at Wolston jail near Brisbane.

Child killer and pedophile Brett Peter Cowan is hated and targeted by other prisoners, remaining scared inside jail a decade after he was convicted of murdering schoolboy Daniel Morcombe.

The Courier-Mail has been told Cowan flags criminals that he’s scared of or who do not like him so they can’t be in his same prison unit at Wolston jail near Brisbane.

It comes after the killer - a violent and serial sexual abuser of children - has been a constant target in jail by criminals who despise pedophiles.

His appearance has changed over his time in jail and he now has a slicked back ponytail, a short beard and wears glasses.

“He still can’t walk around the prison alone,” an officer told The Courier-Mail.

“He’s doing absolutely nothing (inside).

“He flags anyone that he’s scared of or think doesn’t like him. He tells intel. They flag the other crim and then they can’t be moved into that unit.”

Brett Peter Cowan, who was convicted of Daniel Morcombe's murder. Picture: File

As one of the state’s most despised criminals, a hot bucket of water was tipped over Cowan’s head in 2016, he was stabbed in the neck in 2018 and just last year he was punched in the head by another prisoner.

Cowan has been in custody since he was arrested in 2011 for the murder of Daniel Morcombe, 13, who disappeared from a Sunshine Coast bus stop in 2003.

In one of the most complex investigations in Queensland’s history, Cowan was subjected to an extensive covert police operation in which he was recruited into an organised criminal gang with police posing as its members.

Cowan would eventually confess to members about the murder and took the coverts to where he killed the schoolboy.

He was convicted in 2014 and received a life sentence with a non-parole period of 20 years. With time spent in custody since 2011, he would be eligible for parole in 2031.

Bruce and Denise Morcombe at Daniel House in Palmwoods, Queensland. Picture: Brad Fleet

Daniel’s father Bruce Morcombe told The Courier-Mail Cowan should never be released from jail and was hopeful that if he applied for parole he would be blocked from applying for an additional 10 years beyond the eligibility date, under new laws for child murderers and people who have killed multiple people.

“I’m actually pleased that he is required, all of these years later, to sleep with one eye open and that jail time is not easy for him,” Mr Morcombe said.

“I think that’s perhaps a little bit of natural justice.

“And, and I think it shows as a warning, perhaps to predators that exist on the outside that please don’t go down this path because when you are caught you will have a target on your back, even in jail.

“Lots of inmates are there because they themselves were victims of child abuse themselves and I believe that is why there is an in-built hatred of convicted pedophiles in jail.”

Sunshine Coast boy Daniel Morcombe.

Cowan has left a trail of victims and broken families after his sickening attacks on young children which began in the late 1980s.

Cowan received a two-year sentence for indecently dealing with a seven-year-old boy in Queensland when he was 18 after sexually abusing him in a toilet block.

He later received a seven year jail term in the Northern Territory after he sexually abused a six-year-old boy who was placed in intensive care after the attack in 1994, when Cowan was aged 24.

The boy had a collapsed and punctured left lung, deep cuts to the back of his head and the base of his scrotum, a bloodied nose, blackened eyes and scratch marks on his torso. The injuries involved asphyxiation, blunt force injury, sharp force injury and anal penetration.

Cowan, who is described by officers as “quite controlling”, was previously employed as a unit worker in jail but it’s understood he was dismissed from that job due to his behaviour towards others.

High profile inmate Brett Peter Cowan remains at Wolston Correctional Centre.

Prisoners have also tried to cause diversions in the jail so they could attack Cowan, over the time he has been there.

The Courier-Mail previously revealed prisoners had heated up jam in a microwave and were planning to throw it on Cowan.

“He’d get murdered if he got out,” an officer said.

Corrective Services Minister Nikki Boyd said the government made no apology for making sure the worst murderers could be locked up for longer.

“That’s why anyone in this state who kills a child or has committed multiple murders can have a restricted prisoner declaration made by the President of the independent Parole Board Queensland,” she said.

“This can stop the worst-of-the-worst from obtaining parole for a period of up to 10 years.

“We saw it happen recently. I’m sure we’ll see it happen again.”

Originally published as Brett Peter Cowan: Daniel Morcombe killer’s life behind bars revealed