Suspect’s son to appear as Sharron Phillips inquest re-opens

An inquest into the 1986 disappearance of Sharron Phillips will reopen in March, with evidence from a man who says his father made a deathbed confession.

An inquest into the 1986 disappearance of Sharron Phillips, 20, will be reopened in March and will hear from a man who says his father made a deathbed confession.

Ms Phillips disappeared in the early hours of May 9, 1986, after her car ran out of petrol on Ipswich Rd, Wacol, and she has never been found.

A Homicide Cold Case Unit investigation began in 2016, after Ian Seeley said his father, Raymond Mulvihill, made a deathbed confession implicating himself in Ms Phillip’s disappearance.

Raymond Mulvihill had been an Ascot Taxis driver at the time Ms Phillips went missing.

Sharron Phillips disappeared from Brisbane’s south-west in 1986.

Investigators believe prime suspect Mr Mulvihill played a significant part in Sharron’s disappearance and the inquest will focus on that, with 10 witnesses, including Mr Seeley, the Coroners Court heard.

In 2017, homicide police said Mulvihill was the man who abducted and murdered Sharron Phillips and if he had been alive they would have arrested him.

No-one has ever been charged over the disappearance.

The 1988 inquest found a strong possibility that Sharron’s disappearance was not voluntary and was under suspicious circumstances.

On the night she went missing Mr Seeley said he went to pick up his father from Station Rd, Wacol, after Mr Mulvihill had finished his taxi driving shift, the court heard.

Counsel assisting the Coroner, Rhiannon Helsen, said when he arrived, Mr Mulvihill is said to have told his son to wait in the street while he reversed Mr Seeley’s Holden down a laneway.

Ms Helsen said Mr Seeley claimed he heard his father say: “Get in there, get in the f---ing boot or I will kill you”.

Mr Seeley did not see what was happening, but he did hear noises that suggested the boots of his car and the taxi were both open.

Ms Helsen said Mr Seeley claims while they were driving home he heard banging from inside the boot, but his father told him not to worry.

She said after they arrived home Mr Mulvihill took the car and did not arrive home until 4am the next day.

Mr Seeley said he later found a black handbag and black shoes in the Holden and after he placed the shoes on a rack at home, his father exploded in rage and removed them.

Ms Helsen said after years of being estranged from his father, Mr Seeley re-established contact.

She said on the night before he died Mr Mulvihill allegedly said: “I’ve been too weak; you have to tell them about the girls, it’s time to give the girls back”.

Mr Mulvihill indicated that Sharron was buried under the sand in an area known as Cascades, in Carole Park, halfway along a drain, an area where Mr Seeley played as a child, the court heard.

In May, 2016, the Carole Park area, including two concrete culvert drains, were excavated, but no human remains were found, the court heard.

The inquest will hear from retired homicide detective Bob Dallow, who in 2016 told The Courier Mail of a conversation with Mr Seeley.

Ms Hensen said Mr Seeley allegedly described seeing Sharron tied up and gagged with tape in the boot of the taxi and being walked by his father to the boot of the Holden.

Mr Seeley allegedly told Mr Dallow that he drove his father home in the Holden and got out before his father drove away.

Ms Hensen said Mr Dallow said Mr Seeley said his father later told him that he left Sharron’s body in a stormwater drain at Carole Park.

Mr Mulvihill’s daughter, Shelley Rob, has made a statement that Mr Seeley told her in 2015 that he thought his father was responsible for Sharron’s death.

Owen and Dale Lockett will give evidence about seeing a taxi parked near dense bushland at Forestdale and seeing a man matching Mr Mulvihill’s description coming out of the bush with a shovel, between 10.40pm and 12am, around the time of Sharron’s disappearance.

A sister of Mulvihill’s ex-wife will give evidence of Mr Mulvihill allegedly telling her in 1992 of his abduction of Sharron and Mr Seeley’s involvement in her disappearance.

In 2017, the Attorney-General directed that the previous inquest in 1988 be reopened and today State Coroner Terry Ryan ordered it to be reopened on March 22 for a three-day hearing.

It will explore whether Sharron Phillips is dead and if so, how, when and where she died and the cause of her death.

It also will examine the circumstances of Sharron’s disappearance and whether the actions or omissions of any person caused her disappearance.