Maureen Boyce murder: Thomas Lang convicted for second time

Thomas Lang has been jailed for life after being convicted a second time of the murder of Brisbane socialite Maureen Boyce.

Maureen Boyce’s son Zachary and husband Graham Boyce leave Brisbane Supreme Court after Thomas Lang’s conviction today. Picture: Sarah Marshall/NCA NewsWire

Retired American doctor Thomas Chris Lang has been sentenced to life in prison for the “vicious” murder of beloved Brisbane mother, wife and socialite Maureen Boyce.

Justice Ann Lyons was scathing of Lang’s conduct, saying society denounced his slaying of the “defenceless woman” and the lies that he told after her death, including claiming she had committed suicide.

She said Lang had deprived Ms Boyce’s family of her vibrancy and love and had robbed her of the chance to meet her grandchildren.

“By their verdict (the jury) were satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you killed Maureen Boyce by stabbing her with a large kitchen knife,” Justice Lyons said.

“They were satisfied that some time on the evening of (October 21, 2015) or early in the morning of (October 22) you killed a defenceless woman who was most likely fast asleep in her own bedroom.”

Thomas Lang has been convicted a second time

Lang insistently tried to claim Ms Boyce had committed suicide after becoming upset that her multimillion-dollar Kangaroo Point penthouse had failed to sell to prospective buyers.

His denials continued even after the jury delivered the verdict today, telling the court, “I didn’t do it.”

“We don’t know the full extent of the circumstances of that murder because you lied about those critical events,” Justice Lyons told Lang.

“You clearly then lied further when you rang triple-0, and when you met police in the unit that morning and in your formal records of interview when you gave elaborate and evolving explanations involving that she suicided.

“We do know there were four or five thrusts with the knife which severed her liver… those thrusts were so deep they resulted in three exit wounds which pierced the sheet she was lying on.”

Justice Lyons said the evidence heard during the two-week Supreme Court trial showed the blade had been almost fully withdrawn after the first two thrusts before being rotated between 90 and 180 degrees and thrust into her chest cavity.

“Those wounds caused a haemorrhage and she bled profusely into her abdomen, she would have then gradually lost consciousness,” she said.

“Just reciting those facts indicates the viciousness of that attack.

“The jury were clearly satisfied unanimously that she had not committed suicide as you had alleged.”

Maureen Boyce was a Brisbane socialite and model.

Ms Boyce’s children and husband Graham gave heartbreaking testimony during the trial, saying the former model had been thrilled to learn she was about to become a grandmother but was killed before the arrival of her first grandchild.

“The circumstances surrounding her death is clearly a cause of great distress and continuing distress to her family,” Justice Lyons said.

“They have been deprived of her vibrancy and her love.

“They clearly all miss her deeply, that was obvious in their evidence to the court. And it’s the cause of great sadness that she did not get to meet her grandchildren.”

Lang and Ms Boyce had a tumultuous relationship which first began 30 years ago when they met in the US.

Ms Boyce ended their relationship and returned to Australia pregnant with his child.

Lang did not learn of his son’s existence until 2013 when the pair rekindled their relationship.

During his closing address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller said Lang had been “driven to the edge” when he stabbed Ms Boyce to death after reading her messages which revealed she was communicating with another man.

“This man here who was driven to the edge by her duplicity,” Mr Fuller said.

“When I say history repeating itself, he was being betrayed by her for the second time, not the first.”

Lang, who is now 68, was sentenced to life imprisonment and will be eligible for parole after he has served 20 years behind bars.

He has already served five years in prison since Ms Boyce’s death in 2015.

It is the second time Lang has been convicted of Ms Boyce’s murder, after a jury first found him guilty of the crime in 2017.

Last December that conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal after it found there was a “real possibility that irrelevant but misleading evidence was used to convict the defendant” in the first trial.

Lang now has about 15 years to serve in prison before he becomes eligible to apply for parole.