Accused killer mum Maree Crabtree inherited uncle’s valuable property

The mother accused of murdering her two adult children for money had previously inherited property from an uncle.

The mother accused of murdering her two adult children for money had previously inherited a valuable Sydney property following the death of an uncle.

Maree Crabtree inherited a property at Peakhurst in Sydney’s south from her uncle Milne ­Graham and sold it for $570,000 in 2003 after it was damaged in a fire, court documents and other records state.

Queensland detectives investigating Ms Crabtree over the ­alleged murders of her daughter Erin, 18, and son Jonathan, 26, are understood to have briefed their NSW counterparts about the death of Milne and at least one other relative.

It is understood it would be up to NSW detectives to decide whether there was merit in re-­examining the deaths and that there was no formal investigation at this stage.

The Australian has been told Ms Crabtree’s uncle lived with her for a period of time and changed his will, resulting in her inheriting the Peakhurst property.

A NSW police spokeswoman yesterday said the state’s homicide detectives “assisted the Queensland police homicide squad with investigations” late last year.

Police allege Ms Crabtree staged the overdose deaths of Erin and Jonathan, almost five years apart, to look like suicides and tortured her surviving daughter, 25, over a period of years.

She is also facing multiple fraud charges for claiming or ­attempting to claim insurance payouts of more than $900,000.

It will be alleged she kept her children dosed up on prescription medication that affected their health, and that she stood to gain from welfare payments and other disability benefits.

In an unrelated case, Ms Crabtree’s former partner Dom­inic Ziino sought a financial settlement with her in the NSW ­Supreme Court after their relationship ended.

Court records from the case state that Ms Crabtree had inherited her uncle’s property at Forest Road in Peakhurst in 1989, ­although other records put his death the following year.

A fire tore through the house on the block in January 2003.

Ms Crabtree sold it six months later, for what was essentially its land value.

Born in Paddington in Sydney’s east, Ms Crabtree had previously been married and separated from her husband in 1994, the court document states.

When she met Mr Ziino in the late 1990s, she was already living in the Peakhurst property with her three children, who were then seven, six and four.

At the time, she was receiving a carer’s pension of $385 a week and child support from husband Mark Crabtree of $212 a week.

Her elderly mother was living in a granny flat at the residence but has since died.