Remember when: Tweed Heads sex bookshop owner Kevin John Mannix was murdered back in 1984

A SEX bookshop owner found murdered at the back of a block of Palm Beach units had been stabbed in the chest and his throat slashed.

Flashback: Macabre sex shop killing

Gold Coast Bulletin, Saturday June 23, 1984

A SEX bookshop owner found murdered at the back of a block of Palm Beach units had been stabbed in the chest and his throat slashed.

He had also been bound, gagged and blindfolded.

The body of Tweed Heads businessman Kevin John Mannix was found by his 18-year-old son Barry.

But Barry Mannix said he knew of no reason why his father should have been the victim of the gangland-style torture-killing

And he denied there could be any link between the murder and his father’s sex bookshop.

“It’s a legal business, there’s no association at all with prostitution and criminals,” he said.

Mannix was left lying at the bottom of an outside staircase at the back of the units about 8am the previous morning.

“He was bound, gagged and blindfolded,” his son said.

“There was blood around his neck and he was dead.”

Gold Coast Bulletin 1984, June 23. Front page.

Barry said he was “shattered” when he found his father’s body.

“I didn’t think too much about him not being home when I got back from the bookshop about 12.15am,” he said.

Barry Mannix was later taken into custody by police and allegedly confessed to the crime.

He was later released after four other men were charged with the crime.

He alleged that police put him under significant pressure to take the rap.

As a result of the Mannix’s treatment, the introduction of videotaping of police interviews with suspects was made in 1989