Rick Thorburn’s wife says she feels ‘obligated’ to stand by her man

Julene Thorburn has revealed she still visits her murderer husband Rick weekly in prison because she made a vow ‘for better or worse’ and he has “nobody else”.

Julene Thorburn says she still visits her husband, convicted murderer Rick Thorburn, in prison weekly because she made a vow “for better or worse” and had an obligation to be there for him because he had no one else.

Mrs Thorburn’s revelation came at an inquest into the death of her foster daughter Tiahleigh Palmer at the hands of Thorburn.

Mrs Thorburn attempted to distance herself from her husband when she was questioned at the inquest yesterday, saying she felt an “obligation” to be there for him.

When asked if she was still close to her husband, she said: “I wouldn’t, I don’t know if you would really call it close, I call it probably an obligation in a lot of ways because he doesn’t have anybody else.

“Yeah, I’m still married to him.”

Julene Thorburn, the foster mother of murdered 12-year-old schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, leaves the inquest after changing clothes and donning a fake red wig. Picture: Dan Peled

Mrs Thorburn said she visited her husband in prison weekly and spoke to him on the phone regularly.

“He doesn’t have anybody else and I feel you take vows over 30 years for better or for worse and he doesn’t have anybody else so I tend to feel an obligation” she said.

Mrs Thorburn told the court her husband never disclosed how he killed Tiahleigh and that she had never even asked.

It came after Thorburn stunned the inquest when he delivered a tearful recap of how he killed the girl moments before unleashing an expletive-laden tirade in which he told the court: “Go f--k yourselves.”

Thorburn, who has never before revealed how he killed the girl, sobbed as he claimed he “accidentally suffocated” Tiahleigh, 12, when he tried to stop her from leaving their home after a fight.

But moments later when questioned about the legitimacy of the “confession” and when pressed on whether he had molested Tiahleigh, Thorburn furiously unloaded, telling counsel assisting the coroner Kate McMahon: “Carry on with crap like that I’ll just f--king walk out of here, how’s that sound?”

“ … I don’t give a f--k about the time I’m doing. You can f--king try and order me to go to court and charge or whatever f--king shit you want … go f--k yourselves,” he said.

“You’re coming up with all the bulls--t, you’re trying to put seeds in my brain that aren’t there. I don’t give a f--k.”

Deputy State Coroner Jane Bentley is considering contempt charges against Thorburn, 61, who began his testimony by reading the one-page confession he says he found in his cell about a month ago.

Rick Thorburn told an inquest he “accidentally suffocated” his foster daughter Tiahleigh Palmer. Picture: Dave Hunt

Thorburn is serving a life sentence for the murder of Tiahleigh, his foster daughter.

He killed the girl after discovering his son Trent had sex with her but has never previously given an account of how he killed her or dumped her body, which was found on the bank of the Pimpana River six days after she was reported missing.

Thorburn yesterday claimed that, on the night of Tia’s death in October 2015, they were alone at home when they had an argument and she packed her bag to run away.

He claimed he followed Tiahleigh down the driveway to stop her from leaving, putting his arm around her to drag her home and put his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming.

“When we got to the veranda I let her go and she fell to the ground. I picked her up and put her on the seat she fell to the side again,” he said.

“She didn’t respond to me when I spoke to her. Her eyes were closed and I didn’t think she was breathing.

“I must have accidentally suffocated her with my hand over her mouth and my hand so tightly around her waist.”

Tiahleigh Palmer.

Thorburn sobbed as he read the statement.

“I know that I’m responsible for Tia’s death and it is something I struggle to live with,” he said.

“I know sorry can’t take away the pain it has caused a lot of people but I am truly sorry.”

Thorburn said he wrote the confession in prison four years ago at the encouragement of a psychologist.

He said he now had no independent recollection of the events of that night after suffering a breakdown, which he claims caused significant memory loss.

But Ms Bentley said none of the prison psychologists believed Thorburn had memory loss and there was no physical evidence of a brain injury that would cause memory loss.

“I don’t care,” he responded.

Cindy Palmer (centre), the biological mother of murdered 12-year-old schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, is seen outside the Coroners Court in Brisbane. Picture: Dan Peled

Mrs Thorburn recounted to the court a “nightmare” he told her he regularly had in the wake of Tiahleigh’s death which bore a striking resemblance to the “confession” he read to the court earlier in the day.

She said Thorburn told her words to the effect “what you aren’t told, you can’t repeat”.

“ … So he never told me anything around the circumstances anything on the night, he never has,” she said.

Mrs Thorburn said the family didn’t talk about Tiahleigh’s murder in the days after she disappeared.

“It was a very quiet, very sombre household so there wasn’t a lot of conversation around anything,” she said.

“I would say it was the most distant our family had ever been and we were all treading water.”

Trent Thorburn told the inquest he believed his father killed Tiahleigh to prevent anyone from finding out he had had sex with her.

“He’s my father and I believe he would do anything to protect his family,” he said.

Trent Thorburn, the foster brother of murdered 12-year-old schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, leaves the Coroners Court in Brisbane. Picture: Dan Peled

Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Knight, who ran the police investigation into Tiahleigh’s murder, expressed doubt about the credibility of Thorburn’s “confession”.

“My opinion is that, and I’m not in a position to comment on what he can and can’t recollect – I want to be clear about that – but I don’t believe the account that was provided today is consistent with the known information,” he said.

“As to how Tia actually passed away, I still truthfully don’t know.”

Sen-Sgt Knight also revealed the investigation had been hindered by government agencies refusing to release “very relevant records”, causing unnecessary delays.

He said despite legislation allowing for the release of the information requested, police needed to obtain search warrants to access documents from several departments.

The inquest continues today and the coroner is expected to make a decision on whether Thorburn will be charged with contempt.

Originally published as Rick Thorburn’s wife says she feels ‘obligated’ to stand by her man