Brett Peter Cowan to appeal life sentence over Daniel Morcombe’s murder

THE man who killed Daniel Morcombe has begun his appeal to have his life sentence overturned for the murder of the Queensland schoolboy with lawyers arguing he ‘didn’t intend to confess’..

Brett Peter Cowan is on trial for the murder of Daniel Morcombe. He is responsible for sex attacks on up to 30 children and was previously jailed for nearly killing a young boy in a brutal frenzy.

THE man who killed Daniel Morcombe has begun his appeal to have his life sentence overturned for the murder of the Queensland schoolboy.

After being sentenced in March, lawyers for Brett Peter Cowan are arguing the killer made it clear he “didn’t intend to confess” to the 2003 murder.

Daniel Morcombe was murdered by Cowan in 2003.

Police tricked Brett Peter Cowan into confessing to Daniel Morcombe’s murder and he should be acquitted, Cowan’s lawyers say.

The serial sex offender is appealing his March conviction for murdering the Sunshine Coast schoolboy.

Central to the case was Cowan’s recorded confession to police masquerading as gangsters, and him leading police to the site of Daniel’s remains.

But Cowan’s lawyers have told the Court of Appeal in Brisbane that video footage of the confession should never have been shown to the jury.

As Daniel’s parents Bruce and Denise watched on, Cowan’s barrister Peter Davis QC argued that police unfairly tricked his client into making the “involuntary” confession.

By doing so they circumvented Cowan’s right to silence, Mr Davis said.

“They knew that he was not going to voluntarily confess to the killing of Daniel or obviously of course the abduction of Daniel,” Mr Davis told the three Court of Appeal justices.

“They trick(ed) it out of him.” Daniel’s remains were found in bushland in the Sunshine Coast hinterland in 2011, near where Cowan told undercover police they would be.

Mr Davis said that if the confession was found to be inadmissible, so was the evidence of the discovery of Daniel’s remains.

“If the confessionary statements are excluded, then so is the evidence of what was found at the location on the Sunshine Coast,” he said.

“If Mr Cowan’s successful in his challenge to the confession ... then the appropriate order the court would make would be to acquit Cowan,” he said.

Daniel was abducted in December 2003 on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast while waiting for a bus to go shopping for Christmas presents.

Daniel’s parents Bruce and Denise Morcombe returned to court today to hear the appeal of Brett Peter Cowan, who will argue he did not get a fair trial when he was convicted of the murder of the schoolboy - they have asked “the victim” be referred to only as “Daniel” throughout.

Speaking outside the court, Daniel’s father Bruce said the appeal was “a test to see if Cowan’s verdict is fair”.

“Ask Daniel if it’s fair,” he told reporters.

Denise Morcombe said the appeal was bizarre and a waste of taxpayers money.

Lawyers filed a notice of appeal against Cowan’s murder conviction in April after a jury found the 45-year-old guilty of abducting and murdering the Sunshien Coast shoolboy.

Lawyers for Cowan will argue his confession should never have been heard.

He was convicted in part because of a recorded confession he made to police masquerading as gangsters before leading them to Daniel’s burial site.

Cowan’s lawyers are today arguing his confession to undercover police is inadmissible evidence as it was “not given voluntarily”, saying it should not have been presented to a jury.

Lawyers are also expected to criticise what they say was biased media coverage of the trial.

Denise and Bruce Morcombe arrive at the Brisbane Supreme Court.