Convicted murderer sentenced for contempt of court

Laine Clark | February 8, 2023

Almost nine years after refusing to give evidence against a co-accused, convicted murderer Jade Maree Clarke has been sentenced for contempt of court.

Clarke, 49, has been serving a life sentence since 2014 after a jury found she was a party to the murder of bikies associate Darren Britza in 2001.

Her Brisbane Supreme Court trial heard allegations she and two men went to a Gold Coast panel-beating workshop where 31-year-old Mr Britza was brutally bashed.

Mr Britza’s skeletal remains were found in 2008 after fishermen saw a pair of boots sticking out of the mud underneath Canungra Creek Bridge in the Gold Coast Hinterland.

Murder charges against two men accused of killing Mr Britza – Dean Mark Wills and Shane Anthony Eric Hansen – were dropped in 2016 after multiple juries were unable to reach a verdict. 

Two months after she was found guilty of murder, Clarke refused to give evidence against Mr Wills at a July 2014 pre-trial hearing.

Mr Wills spent seven years in custody while he stood trial three times for Mr Britza’s murder.

None of the juries in Mr Wills’ trials were able to reach a verdict.

He was released from custody after the deadlock in his third trial on December 2016.

Co-accused Mr Hansen stood trial twice and both times it was a hung jury.

Justice David Boddice said on Wednesday Clarke’s decision not to give evidence was a serious example of contempt of court.

“I am satisfied that the evidence that you were being called to give was central to the prosecution of that individual,” he told Clarke, who appeared in Brisbane Supreme Court via video link.

“Ultimately that individual was the subject of three trials, each resulted in a hung jury.”

Clarke has had to wait almost nine years for the contempt of court matter due to related trials and her own significant health issues.

“It is a little bit different to the usual type of delay because Ms Clarke is serving life in prison – it’s not like she was going anywhere,” Justice Boddice said.

Clarke is wheelchair-bound as she awaits a second hip replacement operation.

She had taken active steps to rehabilitate herself after being “scared straight” and was a model prisoner, the court heard.

However Justice Boddice said Clarke’s refusal to give evidence was “simply unacceptable”.

Clarke pleaded guilty to contempt of court and was sentenced to two years in jail, to be served concurrently with her mandatory life term.

It extends her parole eligibility date by two months to September 2028.

Clarke had to serve at least 15 years of her life sentence after the 2014 jury found she was a party to murder although there was no evidence she injured Mr Britza.

Clarke lost an appeal against her conviction in 2015.