Gerard Baden-Clay sobs as prison life hits home

WIFE-KILLER Gerard Baden-Clay has broken down in prison as the enormity of his life sentence ­finally hits home.

• BADEN-CLAY: Feeling smug before High Court decision
• BADEN-CLAY: High Court decision is murder

WIFE-KILLER Gerard Baden-Clay has broken down in prison as the enormity of his life sentence ­finally hits home.

The 46-year-old was working in the Wolston Correctional Centre metal shop when he broke down and started “sobbing uncontrollably”, 7News reported.

The day after last month’s High Court ruling, which reinstated Baden-Clay’s conviction for murdering wife Allison, The Courier-Mail revealed the former real estate agent took the news hard.

There had been earlier reports that he had been feeling smug that the decision would go his way.

But sources told 7News that he has since become overwhelmed, telling prison staff he was “not coping” with his life sentence as the “full reality of his murder conviction” finally dawned on him.

Unable to stop the flood of tears, Baden-Clay had to be helped back to his cell.

The Courier-Mail has previously revealed the convicted killer still wore his wedding ring, and sources quoted last night said he had several photos of Allison and him on his cell wall – including a wedding picture of the couple.

Baden-Clay was convicted of his wife’s 2012 murder by a jury before the conviction was downgraded to manslaughter when Queensland’s Court of Appeal judges found he may have accidentally killed her during an argument.

The High Court emphatically reinstated the murder conviction on August 31 this year, finding the decision to downgrade the charge “was not based on evidence”.

Baden-Clay, who was reportedly “overconfident” in the lead-up to the High Court’s decision, has never admitted wrongdoing.