Toni Leanne Peacock pleads guilty to manslaughter, Cooper Lindsay Millard pleads guilty to murder

New details about the chilling lengths a woman and her “infatuated” lover went to while trying to make the slaying of her ex look like a suicide can be revealed after the final court chapter came to a close.

Toni Peacock has been sentenced for the manslaughter of her former partner.

A Queensland “femme fatale” whose leading role in a love triangle resulted in the death of her ex-boyfriend at the hands of her new lover has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
Days after her partner Cooper Millard, 45, was sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to the murder of Pacific Haven personal trainer and volunteer firefighter Mark Carson, 58, at his Pacific Haven home, Toni Peacock faced Brisbane Supreme Court to be sentenced for the lesser charge stemming from her role in the killing.

During Mr Millard’s sentencing last week Crown prosecutor Chris Cook told of how the two had attended Mr Carson’s home on April 3, 2021, with the intent of doing him harm.

Peacock, 43, entered the home first and had a cup of coffee with her former boyfriend.

About 40 minutes later, Millard entered and an altercation ensued, during which Mr Carson was stabbed by Peacock with a screwdriver.

Millard had then fatally wounded Mr Carson by stabbing him in the throat, Mr Cook said.

Toni Peacock (pictured with Cooper Millard) has been sentenced for the manslaughter of her former partner.

In the aftermath of his death, the two had plotted how to make it appear Mr Carson had self-harmed, telling emergency services he had inflicted the wound himself.

But over the next six weeks, as officers investigated the killing, their story would come unstuck, resulting in both Peacock and Millard being arrested.

Last week both were arraigned in front of a jury after they both pleaded not guilty to murder.

But on the second day of their trial, Millard pleaded guilty to murder and Peacock to manslaughter.

Her plea to the lesser charge was accepted by the prosecution.

The court heard both Peacock, a mother of four, and Millard were both using meth heavily at the time of the killing.

Barrister Kim Bryson, appearing for Peacock, said her client had known she and Millard were going to Mr Carson’s home to cause serious harm, but had not expected it to go as far as it had.

Peacock’s parents were in court supporting her, Ms Bryson said.

Ms Bryson said Peacock did feel remorse for the killing of Mr Carson.

In his remarks during Peacock’s sentencing on Tuesday, Justice Peter Davis said she had written a letter to Mr Carson’s mother and stepfather in which she claimed to have loved him and said she never wanted to cause him pain.

But Mr Davis said it was difficult to take the letter as a genuine statement of remorse.

Toni Peacock has been sentenced for the manslaughter of her former partner.

He said Peacock had acted ambiguously in her relationships with both Mr Carson and Millard.

Mr Davis said for some time prior to the killing, she had expressed the view that Mr Carson ought to be killed or at least seriously injured.

After the killing, Peacock and Millard had invented stories that Mr Carson committed suicide and told lies attempting to perpetuate that story, Mr Davis said.

“The truth is that you planned to hurt Mr Carson, you lied, you took steps to avoid being caught, but you were,” he said.

“You now no doubt regret your actions, but that is hardly genuine remorse.”

After her relationship with the father of her children broke down in 2017, Peacock had become involved with Mr Carson and had lived with him for about a year.

She had complained of him being physically violent with her, Mr Davis said.

After their relationship ended, Mr Carson’s mental health was impacted and he received psychological counselling up until the time of his death.

Toni Peacock has been sentenced for the manslaughter of her former partner.

Peacock continued to have contact with Mr Carson, reigniting her relationship with him on occasions.

She had then been in a relationship with another man, Nicholas Jewell, and had told him in regards to Mr Carson “I just want him dead”, Mr Davis said.

“Mr Jewell refused, sensibly, to ‘sort out’, Mr Carson,” he said.

But there had been a physical fight between the two in September 2020 after which Peacock resumed her relationship with Mr Carson.

In November 2020, Peacock met Millard while she was still in a relationship with Mr Carson.

“However, your new relationship with Mr Millard progressed quickly,” Mr Davis said.

“Millard was infatuated with you.

“He was possessive and felt threatened by Mr Carson in the sense that Mr Carson had very recently held your affections.”

In late 2020 Mr Carson broke into Peacock’s home and found her and Millard naked asleep in bed together, taking a photograph which he then sent to her, causing tension, Mr Davis said.

In the lead up to Mr Carson’s death, Millard and Peacock had spoken about wanting Mr Carson hurt or dead, the court heard.

In one bizarre instance prior to Mr Carson’s death, a voice message had been left by Peacock to a pig farmer, which said they had killed Mr Carson, and asked if they could borrow his pig pen because they needed “the hungry piggy-os”.

Millard, obviously jealous of Mr Carson, rose the subject more often than Peacock, but the discussions included a plan to kill Mr Carson and make it look like suicide, Mr Davis said.

But she had also maintained contact with Mr Carson at times, angering Millard.

Mr Davis said it seemed to him Peacock had been in the role of the “femme fatale”, holding the affection of two men.

In the wake of the killing of Mr Carson, Mr Davis said the two had remained in his home for several hours.

Toni Leanne Peacock and Cooper Lindsay Millard.

Plans were made to lie about the circumstances of Mr Carson’s death, Mr Davis said.

Millard attempted to strangle Peacock to leave marks around her neck and later used Mr Carson’s nun chucks to “punch” her on the buttocks, which police were to believe occurred in an altercation with her former partner, after which he had slit his own throat.

“All this of course was a pack of lies,” Mr Davis said.

In the weeks after the killing, police placed a listening device in both her car and the shed of the home where they were residing.

During recorded conversations, police heard how Millard had to fabricate injuries by choking her and punching her to the buttocks with the nun chucks.

Mr Davis spoke of the victim impact statements that were read out loud by Mr Carson’s family while Millard was sentenced as they confronted their son and brother’s killers.

Peacock’s mental health had suffered during her time in custody, the court heard, including exhibiting PTSD and dissociative symptoms and episodes of depression.

“You were assessed as experiencing acute stress in the lead up to sentencing and you were placed on medication,” Mr Davis said.

Peacock’s brother and parents had submitted references on her behalf, speaking highly of her and saying she had been a good mother to her children.

Mr Davis said it was a serious example of manslaughter.

While Peacock did not inflict the fatal blows and while she did not intend for Mr Carson to die, she must be considered as the reason the plan was hatched, he said.

“Mr Carson was your former partner,” he said.

“Millard had no interest in him whatsoever apart from that fact.”

Peacock was sentenced to 10 years in prison and declared the sentence a serious violent offence, meaning she must serve eight years before she is eligible for parole.

The time in presentence custody she had already spent in prison was declared as time served.

Originally published as Toni Leanne Peacock pleads guilty to manslaughter, Cooper Lindsay Millard pleads guilty to murder