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Daniel Morcombe’s killer sentenced to life, with no parole for 20 years Daniel Morcombe’s killer sentenced to life, with no parole for 20 years
(about 2 hours later)
Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe’s killer has been sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole for 20 years for murder. Serial paedophile Brett Peter Cowan has been sentenced to life in prison, with a non-parole period of 20 years, for murdering Sunshine Coast schoolboy Daniel Morcombe.
Brett Peter Cowan, 44, was sentenced in the supreme court in Brisbane on Friday for indecently treating and murdering Daniel, 13, and interfering with his corpse. The 44-year-old father of three was also sentenced on Friday for indecently dealing with Daniel, 13, and interfering with his corpse in December 2003.
Justice Roslyn Atkinson said Cowan had tragically and pointlessly snuffed out a young life. Supreme court justice Roslyn Atkinson was required to sentence Cowan to a non-parole period of at least 15 years, but said she felt Cowan’s crimes warranted a harsher penalty.
“Everything about what you did to that child was horrific and disgraceful,” she told the Brisbane courtroom in the absence of the Morcombe family. “Everything about what you did to that child was horrific and disgraceful,” she told Cowan in the Brisbane courtroom.
“This is not just a murder, but a terrible murder. It has had widespread and shocking impacts.”“This is not just a murder, but a terrible murder. It has had widespread and shocking impacts.”
Atkinson said Cowan had been jailed twice before for molesting young boys in circumstances eerily similar to Daniel’s disappearance.
“Whenever anyone is considering the prospect of granting you parole in the future they should mark my words that you are a convincing, plausible and adaptable liar, and prepared to lie to advance your own interests,” she said.
The justice said Cowan had never shown any remorse for what he did, apart from feeling sorry for himself.
She added that his opportunistic offending in broad daylight drove “fear into the hearts” of everyone in the community.
Daniel’s parents, Bruce and Denise Morcombe, now child safety campaigners, were not in court, choosing to attend a fundraiser instead.
Cowan was also sentenced to three-and-a-half years’ jail for indecently dealing with Daniel and two years for interfering with his corpse, to be served concurrently with his murder sentence.
The former tow truck driver has already spent two-and-a-half years in prison since his arrest in August 2011.
Child protection advocate Hetty Johnston said Queensland laws needed to be changed to make it easier for judges to sentence paedophiles to even harsher sentences.
“This man should never, ever see the light of day again and whatever happened today should have made sure that sealed it,” she told reporters outside court.
“I would have liked to have seen him just [get] life [for] life – you know, 50 years, 100 years no parole, just never let him out.”
Daniel vanished while waiting for a bus at Woombye on the Sunshine Coast on 7 December, 2003.
His remains were found in bushland at the Glass House Mountains in the Sunshine Coast hinterland in August and September, 2011.
Cowan had previously been jailed for sex crimes against young boys in Brisbane and Darwin in 1987 and 1993, and had a history of molesting children dating back to his teen years.