Mark Andrew Whitehouse set to apply for parole after murdering Cairns mum Leanne Mayhew

A killer who brutally stabbed a mum to death in front of her five-year-old daughter was sentenced to life in prison but could be back on the street soon, despite objections from her family.

Leanne Mayhew, victim of stabbing murder at Maytown Cl, Manoora.

A killer who brutally stabbed a mum to death in front of her five-year-old daughter was sentenced to life in prison but could be back on the street soon, despite objections from her family.

Mark Andrew Whitehouse, 26, also known as Mark Stephenson, pleaded guilty to the murder of Leanne Nicole Mayhew in her Manoora home and was sentenced to life in prison for the 2010 murder.

When police found her slain body on the bathroom floor of her Manoora unit the first thing they saw was her young daughter covered in her mother’s blood.

First officers at the scene reported seeing little footprints in blood around the body.

That little girl, now 20 years old, suffered daily nightmares for the two years it took for the case to get to trial during which time Whitehouse pleaded not guilty until the 11th hour.

Whitehouse stabbed the young mum 30 times in the head and body with a large hunting knife, while her daughter looked on in horror.

Almost 15 years since her mother’s death the daughter, who has requested anonymity, is yet to fully recover from the trauma.

Sister and mum of Leanne Mayhew, Michelle Mayhew and Sue Mayhew, outside the Cairns Supreme Court in 2012.

“It’s affected almost every aspect of my life,” she said.

“I struggle with nightmares of watching my mum die over and over in different ways.

“I have flashbacks but I don’t know what’s actually real and what my mind made up over time.

“After the attack I was terrified he’d come after me, I’d make my family bar the doors shut with a couch and lock them, I’d hide under tables when a man would walk in and would cry and scream if someone tried to get me out.”

The victim’s sister Michelle Mayhew was concerned about the pending release of her sister’s killer.

“He will be in his very early 40s when he is released, if released this time,” she said.

“He is a coward who stabbed my sister in the back of the head and neck.

“This monster doesn’t belong on our streets.”

In 2010 Senior Constable Carl Bishop co-ordinated the search for a knife which is sought by police in the investigation of Leanne Mayhew’s murder in Manoora.

The killer had binged on alcohol and drugs, including LSD, speed and cannabis for 12 hours before murdering the 24-year-old mother, who was his former housemate.

Whitehouse never offered a reason for killing his former housemate during the trial.

At the time of sentencing in 2012, life in prison meant a minimum of 15 years behind bars. Soon after the jailing of Whitehouse, the minimum term was increased to 20 years.

Immediately after the trial, Cairns Criminal Investigation Branch Detective Sergeant Brad McLeish said Whitehouse had been abusive to animals and had a fascination with knives, but those details never came out in court at the time.

“He 100 per cent killed her because he was just fascinated by the thought of killing her,” Detective Sergeant McLeish said.

Detective Inspector John Hartwell with a knife similar to the one sort by police in relation to the murder of Leanne Mayhew.

“There’s no reason to kill the people they killed, they’ve killed for the sake of killing.”

This week, the Detective Sergeant said the crime had stayed with him to this day.

“It was a brutal crime on a poor innocent woman,” he said.

“All murders are brutal but this one was one step further and it involved a young mother who left behind a child.

“It was a horrible crime.”

With the pending release of Whitehouse, the horrific trauma of the event has come flooding back for Ms Mayhew’s family, while her daughter wonders how different her life would have been if her mum was still around.

“I’m terrified of Mark’s release as it will make my family and I relive a very traumatic time of our lives,” she said.

“I’m enraged that he only got 15 years for what he’s done.

”(Mum) was only 24, only 24 years of memories and I only had five years to spend with her. “I’ll go on with my life wondering what my life would’ve been like if she was still here, and how different I would be without my PTSD.”

It’s understood Whitehouse was eligible for parole in early February however Queensland Corrective Services refused to provide any information.

“It would be inappropriate to comment on the particulars of individual parole matters,” a QCS spokeswoman said.

The Queensland Parole Board also declined to comment.

Whitehouse is currently incarcerated at Brisbane’s high security Wolston Correctional Centre.

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Originally published as Mark Andrew Whitehouse set to apply for parole after murdering Cairns mum Leanne Mayhew