Couple plead not guilty to Tia Landers murder
A WOMAN arrested over the murder of Tia Landers told a covert cop that “we carved her up ... we chopped her up with a machete” before later gesturing two gunshots to her head, a court has heard.
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A WOMAN arrested over the murder of Tia Landers confessed to a covert police officer that “we carved her up...we chopped her up with a machete” before later gesturing two gunshots to her head, a court has heard.
Linda Eileen Appleton and John Edward Harris both pleaded not guilty to murdering Landers at Brighton on June 16, 2014, when their trial opened in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Monday.
They pleaded guilty to interfering with Ms Landers’ corpse and the deprivation of liberty of Jake McKenzie and Ryan Morgan.
Ms Landers’ body was found wrapped in a blanket in a shallow grave in Beerburrum forest in July 2014.
She had two bullet wounds to her head, 30 wounds to her body, and her throat was covered in green tape, the court heard.
A piece of pink chewing gum allegedly containing Harris’ DNA was found metres from the grave.
The court heard Ms Landers’ two friends had been bound and forced to watch her being tortured with a machete at Appleton and Harris’ house before she was taken into another room and shot.
After she was killed, the men were given gloves and ordered to help clean up the crime scene before the accused murderers drove them home, with Ms Landers’ body in the boot, the court heard.
In his opening address, Crown prosecutor Philip McCarthy said Appleton confessed during a “cell-block” conversation with an undercover police officer following her arrest.
“She told the officer, “we carved her up, we chopped her up, we chopped her up with a machete,” he said.
“Linda Appleton would later inform that same undercover police officer, ‘we chopped her up with a machete [and] then...’ gestured two bullet wounds to the head”.
The court heard Appleton was enraged she’d had jewellery stolen while she was in prison, and blamed Ms Landers.
Mr McCarthy said Appleton’s partner and co-accused, Harris, also told another prisoner how, “over hours,” he bashed Ms Landers, cut her with a knife, and then shot her twice.
He told the inmate he’d had an affair with Landers while his partner, Appleton, was in jail, and that it had been “his decision” to kill the mother-of-four, the court was told.
He said they then drove the two witnesses home with Ms Landers body in the boot.
The trial before Justice Jean Dalton continues.’
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