A Brisbane couple have been sentenced to life in prison for murdering mother of four Tia Landers in their home, while forcing her two friends to watch on and clean up.

Harris, who had already been in jail for a separate manslaughter in the 1990s, will not be able to apply for parole for 27 years and Appleton for 23 years.

Ms Landers' body was found in a shallow grave in Beerburrum State Forest at the Glass House Mountains in June 2014.

She had been hacked with a machete and shot twice in the head with a pistol.

The court heard Ms Landers visited Harris and Appleton in their Brighton home with her two friends Jake McKenzie, 23, and Ryan Morgan, 20, on June 16, 2014, to discuss the sale of drugs.

But during the visit, Appleton accused Ms Landers of stealing jewellery off her while she was in prison.

Prosecutors said Appleton and Harris then subjected Ms Landers to up to six hours of torture, where they inflicted a number of injuries including hacking her ankles with a machete to immobilise her.

The ordeal was witnessed by Mr McKenzie and Mr Morgan — who had been tied up and forced to watch on before being ordered at gunpoint to clean up the blood.

Ms Landers was then taken to another room in the house where she was shot in the head by Harris.

The offenders released the witnesses, before driving the victim's body to Beerburrum State Forest to dump it.

The court was told Harris and Appleton both have violent criminal histories.

In 1999, Harris was sentenced to 10 years' jail for manslaughter after shooting his housemate, wrapping his body in a sheet and dumping it in Beerburrum State Forest.

Prosecutors said his previous crime had similarities with Ms Landers' murder.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-21/tia-landers-murder-couple-sentenced-to-lif...

what is wrong with the courts that they continuously get it so wrong? they let this psychopath out and as a result another woman is tortured and killed.

Isn't it time judges faced manslaughter charges for these ridiculous decisions?

Gordon wrote on Oct 21^st, 2016 at 5:04pm:



but you don't... he's long since retired from law ...

age and senility are catching up to him.