Neighbour reveals key evidence in Mount Isa triple murder inquest
A man charged with the murders of three people in 1978 at a remote creek near Mount Isa has admitted to an inquest that he lied about where he found a motorbike belonging to one of the trio.
A man charged with the murders of three people in 1978 at a remote creek near Mount Isa has admitted to an inquest that he lied about where he found a motorbike belonging to one of the trio.
The inquest also heard evidence the man stopped at the same Outback hotel only hours before the three people had a rest break there.
Coroner David O’Connell is hearing evidence into the fate of Karen Edwards, 23, Gordon Twaddle and Timothy Thomson, 32, who were found dead from bullet wounds to their heads at Spear Creek on October 24, 1978.
Bruce John Preston, now 70, was initially charged with their murders but all charges were dropped in 2023.
An inquest in 1980 was unable to determine the trio’s cause of death or who had killed them.
Mr Preston, who was taken into Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday in a wheelchair, was warned multiple times by coroner David O’Connell that he faced perjury charges if he lied.
Under questioning, Mr Preston admitted he had told police he found Mr Twaddle’s distinctive red BMW motorbike and sidecar at an open-air cinema on the outskirts of Mount Isa, near where the trio was last seen alive on October 4.
He then confessed that was a lie and that he had actually found it at an indoor cinema in the city centre several kilometres away.
The inquest heard Mr Peston told police nobody was present when he saw the motorbike but that he later said two people were there.
In one of his police statements, he stated that he thought the two people were trying to steal the bike.
But sensationally and for the first time, Mr Preston told the inquest on Tuesday that the pair actually told him they could not find the keys.
Mr O’Connell asked him multiple times about when he left Alice Springs, on a journey to his family home in Mount Isa.
At first Mr Preston told the inquest he left after checking out in the morning of October 4.
The hotel publican testified that he saw a man fitting Mr Preston’s description, with a similar motorbike, about midday that day. The hotel is several hours drive from Alice Springs.
But Mr Preston at first told the inquest he might have stayed for two more days in Alice Springs after checking out of a caravan park.
When asked what he did and who he was with, he claimed he was drinking with some people he had met at the Todd River.
That was despite evidence given to the inquest that he had told a family on October 2 how he was in a hurry to get home to Mount Isa.
Mr O’Connell also asked Mr Preston why he would buy people drinks and hang around if he had stated that by then he had only $30 left.
Mr Preston’s brother Ian was also repeatedly warned by Mr O’Connell about perjury while giving evidence on Tuesday.
Both he and Bruce Preston asked for, and were granted, indemnity so they could give evidence without incriminating themselves.
Mr O’Connell warned Ian Preston about “watering down” his evidence.
Ian Preston was repeatedly asked why he went to police the day after his brother was charged, telling them Bruce had bought a red BMW motorcycle in Adelaide and was having it transported to Mount Isa.
A distinctive bike fitting that description, which belonged to Mr Twaddle, was found in the Preston family’s shed.
Counsel assisting the coroner, John Aberdeen, put it to Ian Preston that his father had rung and ordered him to go to police and tell them that story.
He said multiple times that he could not recall the conversation with his father or his statement to police.
Neighbour Merril Anderson recounted the moment she realised Mr Twaddle’s motorbike was in her neighbour’s shed.
She told the inquest she remembered Bruce Preston riding the red BMW around Mount Isa every day until police found the bodies of the trio.
After that he began riding another road bike and put the BMW in the shed, she told the court, telling his mother Yvonne that it “needed parts”.
Mr Twaddle had a sidecar attached to it and his dog was travelling in it.
But when Mr Preston was driving it around Mount Isa there was no sidecar, Ms Anderson said.
The inquest heard that after a newspaper report revealed police were looking for it, she entered the shed with Bruce Preston’s stepmother Yvonne and saw markings where something had been attached.
“I said ‘you know what, I think this is the motorbike police are looking for’,” Ms Anderson said in a video link on Tuesday.
She said Mr Preston stopped riding the bike “within a day or so” of the newspaper report.
“I thought it did seem a bit odd,” she said.
Ms Anderson said Mr Preston’s father Arthur contacted police after she and his wife Yvonne found the bike.
The inquest heard Bruce Preston became depressed after being interviewed by police and refused to come out of his room.
Ms Anderson told the court that when it emerged that police were looking for a bike, Arthur Preston approached police with a theory that it could have been dumped at Lake Moondarra.
He was a ranger who patrolled the rugged lake and knew it well, Ms Anderson said.
He led police around it for several days but they found nothing.
Ms Anderson said she thought Arthur Preston might have been “running interference”.
“I thought it was strange when he had a motorbike matching the description (police issued) in his shed,” she said.
She also told the inquest she went out to Spear Creek with a group of people during the period that police were conducting investigations.
She recalled the group might have included Bruce Preston.
At one point they found several bullets, which appeared to be old, but also noticed what looked to her like a bullet hole in the bark of a tree. A neighbour of the man once charged with the murder of three people at Mount Isa in 1978 has told an inquest she thought the man’s father was “running interference” with the police investigation.
Merril Anderson also recounted the moment she realised a distinctive motorbike belonging to one of the victims was in her neighbour’s shed.
She told the inquest she remembered Bruce Preston riding the red BMW around Mount Isa every day until police found the bodies of Karen Edwards, 23, Timothy Thomson, 31, and Gordon Twaddle at Spear Creek.
After that he began riding another road bike and put the BMW in the shed, she told the court, telling his mother Yvonne that it “needed parts”.
Police discontinued charges against Bruce Preston in 2023. A 1980 inquest failed to determine how the trio died or who was responsible.
They were found on October 24, 1978, with .22 rifle bullet wounds to their heads at the dry creek bed, popular with locals for shooting, motorbike riding and recreation.
They were last seen getting in to a brown and white Toyota LandCruiser at Moondarra Caravan Park on October 4 during a long motorbike holiday.
The inquest in Brisbane Magistrates Court kicked off last week after cold case investigators and Mount Isa CIB resumed inquiries in 2019.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Amelia Hughes, said the BMW was very unusual, possibly one of only three in Australia.
Mr Twaddle had a sidecar attached to it and his dog was travelling in it.
But when Mr Preston was driving it around Mount Isa there was no sidecar.
The inquest heard that after a newspaper report revealed police were looking for it she entered the shed and saw markings where something had been attached.
“I said ‘you know what, I think this is the motorbike police are looking for’,” Ms Anderson said in a video link on Tuesday.
She said Mr Preston stopped riding the bike “within a day or so” of the newspaper report.
“I thought it did seem a bit odd,” she said.
Ms Anderson said Mr Preston’s father Arthur contacted police after she and his wife Yvonne found the bike.
The inquest heard Bruce Preston became depressed after being interviewed by police and refused to come out of his room.
Ms Anderson told the court that when it emerged that police were looking for a bike, Arthur Preston approached police with a theory that it could have been dumped at Lake Moondarra.
He was a ranger who patrolled the rugged lake and knew it well, she said.
He led police around it for several days but they found nothing.
Ms Anderson said she thought Arthur Preston might have been “running interference”.
“I thought it was strange when he had a motorbike matching the description (police issued) in his shed,” she said.
She also told the inquest she went out to Spear Creek with a group of people during the period that police were conducting investigations.
She recalled the group might have included Bruce Preston.
At one point they found several bullets, which appeared to be old, but also noticed what looked like a bullet hole in the bark of a tree.
Bruce Preston will give evidence later on Tuesday, as will his brother Ian, 76.
Both men have claimed privilege.
