‘Close to perjury’: key witness warned at inquest
Robyn Wuth |
The only person charged over an outback triple murder has been warned he is close to perjury after an inquest heard claims his father believed “the little bastard done it”.
Bruce John Preston faced intense questioning when he took the stand in a wheelchair in the reopened inquest into the 1978 murders of Karen Edwards, 23, Tim Thomson, 31, and Gordon Twaddle, 21, in outback Queensland.
The three friends were on a motorbike adventure, on their way home to Melbourne for the Christmas holidays.
The trio’s decomposing bodies were discovered in bushland at Spear Creek, 12km north of Mount Isa, in October 1978.
All three had been shot in the head.
For almost five decades, the crime has remained unsolved, but a new probe by Queensland coroner David O’Connell hopes to finally solve the mystery.
Mr Preston has been linked to the investigation since being caught in possession of Mr Thomson’s missing red BMW motorbike a month after the murders.
He claimed he bought the bike second-hand, but later pleaded guilty to stealing the BMW and copped a $300 fine.
Cold-case detectives charged Mr Preston with three counts of murder in 2019, only to drop the case in 2023.
Despite being in ill health, Mr Preston was ordered to give evidence on Tuesday.
After answering questions about his travels, Mr Preston claimed privilege when asked about his arrival at Alice Springs.
At that point, the coroner granted the privilege and guaranteed the evidence Mr Preston gave to the inquest could not lead to criminal charges – provided he told the truth.
He was repeatedly warned by the coroner that he was “very close” to potential charges of perjury.
“Your honour, I’m trying to remember back 47 years,” Mr Preston said.
He was asked about his previous statements, including evidence regarding date, times, locations and where he found the BMW he stole.
“My head was in a whirl. It’s like this, I done a stupid thing,” he said.
“I took something that didn’t belong to me and I kept it, not imagining for one second the gravity or what had happened.
“When they started telling me that it was a motorcycle that was involved in a triple homicide that hit me like a ton of bricks.”
Mr Preston was accused of fabricating new evidence, lying under oath and giving blatant untruths throughout the investigation during the intense questioning.
He is due to continue giving evidence on Wednesday, with the coroner urging him to consider his position.
“I think you need to have a very good think about your evidence overnight, come back in the morning and answer things with a lot more conviction as to what is truthful,” the coroner said.
Earlier, his older brother told the court Mr Preston was a member of the Black Uhlans outlaw bikie gang at the time of the murders.
Ian Preston said he had discussed the case with his family.
But he denied evidence his father, who has since died, admitted Bruce Preston was the killer.
“The little bastard done it, but he’s a tough little bastard – they can’t break him,” the inquest was told father Arthur Preston had claimed.
Ian Preston conceded the entire family were hunters and very familiar with guns, describing his brother as a crack shot.
The last known sighting of the three friends was at the Moondarra Caravan Park in Mount Isa on October 5 in the company of a man driving a brown and white Toyota LandCruiser.
Autopsies revealed all three had been executed with a bullet to the head fired from a .22 calibre weapon.
AAP
