Paul Charlton likely to die ‘behind bars’ for murder of Hughesdale singer Joanne Howell
The sister of slain singer Joanne Howell hopes her sibling’s killer suffers for the rest of his life in jail after he was found guilty of her brutal murder 16 years on.
Police & Courts
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The sister of slain TV singer Joanne Howell, who for years campaigned for justice says she hopes her killer suffers for the rest of his life.
Paul Charlton, 68, is likely to die behind bars after he was last month found guilty of bashing and strangling Ms Howell - an accomplished singer who starred on Countdown - to death inside her Hughesdale home in Melbourne’s southeast after she threatened to leave him.
The killer stared straight ahead and showed little emotion as he came face-to-face with Ms Howell’s devastated family at a pre-sentence hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Speaking outside court after the hearing, Ms Howell’s sister Lisa Hennessy, who spent years on the “Justice for Jo” campaign, said she was shocked to learn Charlton had applied for victims’ compensation after her 2007 murder.
“That’s what murderers do,” she said.
“They lie and that’s how he got away with it for 16 goddamn years.”
She added it was Charlton’s own fault that he was likely to die behind bars.
“I hope he dies in prison, I really do,” she said.
“I hope he suffers for the rest of his life.”
Earlier in court, Ms Hennessy said every year that passed without answers about her sister’s death felt like a lifetime.
“I wish I could have a moment with Jo to tell her I love her, but I have this moment to say ‘I have justice for Jo’,” she said.
Ms Hennessy looked Charlton in the eye as she stepped away from the bench, with the killer showing little emotion as he sat in the dock.
Ms Howell’s adopted daughter Tanya Stevenson, who was 18 when her mother was killed, fought back tears as she described how she was left to fend for herself.
“I actually don’t know what my life would look like if my mother was still alive, and that crushes me in ways words cannot describe,” she told the court.
“I was left alone in the dust and scarred.
“The moment my mother died I lost a part of myself.”
Charlton told police he took his dog, Bundy, for a two-hour walk after having an argument with Ms Howell, 51, on the evening of April 21, 2007.
He said he came home to find Ms Howell’s battered body at the bottom of a staircase, with his lawyers suggesting a stranger or an ex-boyfriend was responsible.
But it took jurors just one day of deliberations to reject his lies, finding him guilty of murdering Ms Howell by bludgeoning her to the back of the head before strangling her with a cord.
Prosecutor Patrick Bourke KC told Tuesday’s hearing Charlton’s sentence needed to reflect the “abhorrent nature” of domestic violence and to deter other would-be offenders.
“An outbursts of homicidal rage in such context is totally unacceptable,” he said.
He added Charlton had shown no remorse for Ms Howell’s murder and had taken steps to alter the crime scene, such as breaking the garage door and disposing of weapons.
The court heard Charlton, who moved to Australia from the UK as a child, would likely be deported or held in an immigration detention centre if he lived to see the end of his sentence.
Charlton, who collapsed in court last month when the jury returned its verdict, will be sentenced at a later date.
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