John Bowie was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 1982 for the murder of his wife Roxlyn
Clarke, who is deceased, told police in 1988 that she finally turned Bowie down after he arrived on her doorstep in late June 1982, saying “his wife had left him”.
“I have no doubts that the perpetrator was motivated to kill his wife in order to have a serious and unconditional relationship with Ms. Clarke,” Yehia said.
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“The fact that Mrs. Clarke did not want a relationship with the abuser does not diminish his feelings for her.”
The judge said without the remains discovered, no valid conclusions could be drawn about the nature of the act that caused Roxlyn’s death, but she was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Bowie acted with intent to kill and there was a degree to it planning and intent.
She said Bowie took no responsibility for his actions. “The perpetrator is completely unrepentant,” the judge said.
Yehia was unconvinced that court evidence showed Bowie disposed of his wife’s body by feeding her to pigs, adding that “there is no forensic evidence to support this theory”.
However, she was convinced that he had disposed of her body in a way that eluded detection in order to protect himself from law enforcement and prevent the body from being available for forensic examination.
In a victim statement read to her father in court earlier this month, Brenda Boyd said she and her now-deceased brother Warren “never stopped looking for answers”.
“We’ve been back to Walgett a few times looking for our mother, and even took shovels to dig areas suggested to us over the years,” Boyd said.
She begged her father to reveal “the truth” about her mother’s death and allow her to graduate.
“Tell me where her body is,” Boyd said.
Boyd sat in the front row of the public gallery on Friday, flanked by his family, including Bowie’s sister Christine Maddox and detectives Russell Oxford and Brett Mason.
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The judge said Boyd “not only lost her mother when she was a child, but also lived a life wondering what happened to her, the circumstances of her death and the whereabouts of her body.”
Bowie has been in custody since his extradition from Queensland in 2019. He will first be eligible for parole in October 2037.
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https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/john-bowie-jailed-for-24-years-for-murder-of-wife-roxlyn-in-1982-20230315-p5csa6.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_national_nsw John Bowie was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 1982 for the murder of his wife Roxlyn
