Notorious black widow Patricia Byers seeks parole, but SA Police says her murder confession is all lies
Notorious killer Patricia Byers wants parole – but her belated murder confession is all lies police say, designed to thwart SA’s ‘no body, no parole’ law.
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Convicted killer Patricia Byers – Australia’s most notorious black widow – has failed in her audacious bid to be released from jail on parole.
The 74-year-old will remain in Adelaide Women’s Prison after the SA Parole Board rejected her bid for freedom because police do not believe her belated murder confession.
Byers, who transferred to Adelaide from a Queensland prison in 2009 to be closer to her son, Alan Byers, had unsuccessfully applied for parole three times before her transfer.
For more than a decade, she had maintained she was innocent of the murder of her former partner, Carl Gottgens, but suddenly confessed in 2016 following the introduction of “no body, no parole’’ legislation in SA.
Under the law, convicted killers who deliberately withhold information about the whereabouts of their victim’s body are refused parole.
In a move investigating police believe was solely aimed at securing her parole, Byers told detectives she had struck Mr Gottgens on the back of the head with a machete at Queensland’s Logan River in July 1990. She claimed his body had fallen into the river and vanished.
However, her plan was thwarted when police failed to find any evidence to support her claim and disprove forensic evidence – Mr Gottgen’s blood – which was found in the bedroom of his former luxury home at Yatala, just south of Brisbane.
Detectives believe Byers killed Mr Gottgens at his home and then disposed of his body at an unknown location with the help of another person. Parole Board chairwoman Frances Nelson, QC, said Byers’ application was refused after considering information provided by Police Commissioner Grant Stevens.
“Under the legislation, we are obliged to have regard to information from the Police Commissioner relating to whether or not she has co-operated,” she said.
“Under the act, the board must be satisfied the prisoner has satisfactorily co-operated in the investigation of the offence, the extent of that, its timeliness, truthfulness and reliability of any information provided.
“A report from the Police Commissioner said her confession was not truthful and not reliable and it was incompatible with the evidence.”
Ms Nelson said despite extensive submissions put before the board by Byers’ lawyer, it was not their role to “re-try the issue”.
“We were faced with a report from the police that her version was untruthful and incompatible with the evidence at trial, so we could not be satisfied that she had co-operated,’’ she said.
Byers is serving a life sentence with a 25-year non-parole period after being convicted in 1999 of Mr Gottgens’ murder. She has been in custody since her arrest in late 1994.
Bizarrely, Mr Gottgens’ murder was only discovered after Byers was charged with the attempted murder of another partner in 1993. John Asquith was shot in the head at close range by Byers while he slept. He survived and gave evidence at her trial.
The court heard evidence Byers had forged his signature on five life insurance policies to gain $270,000.
In a recent interview, Mr Asquith described Byers as “the most manipulating, lying, conniving woman you could ever meet’’.
He urged the Parole Board to keep her in prison, stating her lack of remorse and contrition meant she was still dangerous.
“She is a clever, convincing con artist who is capable of anything and I’d be looking over my shoulder if she got out,’’ he said in a letter to the board.
It was during Byers’ trial for attempting to murder Mr Asquith that Mr Gottgen’s family alerted police to his disappearance three years earlier and his close links to her.
The subsequent homicide investigation found Byers had forged Mr Gottgen’s signatures on documents transferring ownership of his luxury Yatala home and 18m boat to her.
Police also discovered his bank account had been accessed following his disappearance and that he had purchased a plane ticket to Thailand but had failed to board the flight.
Investigations established Byers had cancelled the plane ticket and received a credit on the cost of the flight. Detectives also established he was last seen when his employer dropped him off at his home several days before and, crucially, forensic examiners found his blood on the walls of his bedroom.
Even though the blood spatter was found four years after police believe Byers killed Mr Gottgens, DNA obtained from it was conclusively matched with that of his two daughters.
Police also established she had bought a new mattress shortly after he vanished, disposing of the old one to conceal evidence.
Giving evidence during her trial, Byers claimed Mr Gottgens had run off with another woman and she was unaware of his whereabouts.
Despite Mr Gottgens’ body not being recovered, Byers was convicted of his murder.
Mr Gottgens’ daughters subsequently took Supreme Court action that resulted in all of his assets being stripped from Byers and returned to his estate.
Under the Act, Byers can reapply for release on parole in 12 months.
However, if she does it is more than likely she will again be knocked back unless she decides to tell police the truth about just how she killed Mr Gottgens and where she disposed of his body.