Paul Ross Charlton: Appeal over Joanne Howell’s cold-case killing dismissed

A karaoke businessman who tried to pin his girlfriend’s murder on an unknown intruder has had his hopes for freedom dashed in court.

A former karaoke businessman jailed over the brutal murder of his girlfriend almost two decades ago has had his hopes for freedom dashed in Victoria’s highest court.

Paul Ross Charlton, now 70, had appeal against conviction dismissed in the Court of Appeal on Tuesday morning after arguing earlier this month the jury in his trial had gotten it wrong.

Charlton was warned he would likely spend the rest of his life behind bars in late 2023 as he was handed a 24-year sentence over the cold case slaying of Joanne Howell, 51, 16 years earlier.

Paul Charlton has maintained his innocence. Picture: NewsWire / Aaron Francis

Ms Howell, a singer who had preformed pop music show Countdown in the 1970s, was found bashed over the head and strangled at the bottom of the stairs in her Hughesdale home shortly before midnight on April 21, 2007.

Handing down his sentence, Justice James Elliot found she had been murdered hours earlier, with Charlton damaging the garage door and taking their dog for a walk in an effort to deflect suspicion towards an unknown intruder.

“If I’d been there, she’d still be alive,” he claimed after calling triple-0.

The court was told they’d begun dating the year prior but the relationship had broken down in the weeks before her murder, with Ms Howell telling friends it was over and she wanted Charlton out of her life.

Ms Howell was found dead in her Poath Rd home in Hughesdale. Picture: Supplied

Ms Howell’s murder was described as a “extreme act” of domestic violence. Picture: Supplied

Despite police treating Charlton as a suspect, no charges were laid until the investigation was reopened in 2020.

Charlton, who collapsed in the dock and was rushed to hospital as the jury found him guilty, sought to appeal the sentence arguing there had been a “substantial miscarriage of justice”.

His lawyers also argued the verdict was unreasonable, claiming the prosecution case had failed to disprove alternative hypotheses put forward by defence – that Ms Howell was killed by her estranged brother, former partner or an unknown home invader.

In their judgment, Justices Phillip Priest, Kristen Walker and Christopher Boyce rejected the appeal on both grounds.

They found it was open for the jury to reject the alternative hypotheses on the evidence, noting the facts of the case “point convincingly to the applicant as being her killer”.

During the trial, Charlton was supported in court by his long term partner. Picture: NewsWire / Aaron Francis

“Having carried out an independent assessment of the whole of the evidence, we are of the view that it was open to the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the applicant was guilty of Ms Howell’s murder,” the justices wrote.

“The applicant has failed to persuade us that the jury’s verdict is unreasonable or cannot be supported having regard to the evidence.

“We do not entertain a reasonable doubt about the applicant’s guilt, and do not consider that the jury should have done so.”

Charlton, who suffers from significant health issues, will be eligible for parole in early 2042 after serving 19 years.

Originally published as Paul Ross Charlton: Appeal over Joanne Howell’s cold-case killing dismissed