Murderers lose bid to appeal

FOUR convicted murderers from Gatton have had an application for leave to appeal their life prison sentences turned down.

FOUR convicted murderers from Gatton have had an application for leave to appeal their life prison sentences turned down.

Michael Crothers, 49, Colin Robert Rogers, 49, David Robert Heathcote, 25 and Yvonne Jean Heathcote, 43, were found guilty of murdering John Frank Hoghes, 38.

Mr Hoghes was shot up to eight times in the chest with a shot gun on his property at Tara, west of Toowoomba, while trying to protect his 19-year-old son Matthew from a revenge attack in May, 2007.

During the trial in 2009, the Queensland Supreme Court heard it was Crothers who fired the shotgun into Mr Hoghes’ chest, however each of the other three co-offenders played a role, with Yvonne Heathcote the instigator of the violence.

After Mr Hoghes was killed, his sons were handcuffed and ordered to load his body into the boot of a car. David Heathcote then dumped the car in bushland.

All four offenders were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life terms.

After failing in a previous appeal to the Queensland Court of Appeal last year, the four asked for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia.

The High Court refused all four applications.

Originally published as Murderers lose bid to appeal