Gerard Baden-Clay
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Allison June Baden-Clay (''née'' Dickie; 1 July 1968 – 19 April 2012) was murdered by her husband, Gerard Baden-Clay in a premeditated act on 19 April 2012. Allison was an Australian woman, mother of three daughters aged 10 and under and business executive. Her body was discovered on 30 April 2012, ten days after she was reported
missing Missing or The Missing may refer to: Film * ''Missing'' (1918 film), an American silent drama directed by James Young * ''Missing'' (1982 film), an American historical drama directed by Costa-Gavras * ''Missing'' (2007 film) (''Vermist''), a Bel ...
by her husband, Gerard. On 13 June 2012, Gerard was charged with murder and interfering with a corpse. On 15 July 2014, he was found guilty of murder, with the other charge being dropped; Gerard was given a life sentence. Gerard appealed the conviction and, on 8 December 2015, these charges were downgraded to
manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...
. In August 2016, the
High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...
re-instated the murder conviction.


Background

On 23 August 1997, Allison Dickie had married Gerard Robert Baden-Clay, who had been born in
Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...
, England, United Kingdom on 9 September 1970. In 1971, Gerard's family had migrated from Zambia to
Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
, where they changed their family name to "Baden-Clay" to associate the family with his father's grandfather,
Lord Baden-Powell Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; (Commonly pronounced by others as ) 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the wor ...
of
Scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...
fame. In 1980, the Baden-Clay family migrated to
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. After leaving school, Gerard trained in accountancy, and then worked for
Flight Centre Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) is an Australian travel agency. It was founded in 1982, and is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia. FCTG operates under multiple names in Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South A ...
in Brisbane, where Allison was a colleague. At the time of Allison's death in 2012, the couple were on diverging financial paths. Allison had become an executive for Flight Centre, but Gerard, who had been running a successful up-market real estate franchise since 2004, was struggling following the disastrous Brisbane floods. The couple lived in a rented house in
Brookfield Brookfield may refer to: Australia *Brookfield, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Brookfield, Victoria Canada * Brookfield, Manitoba, on Manitoba Highway 11 *Brookfield, Newfoundland and Labrador *Brookfield, Nova Scotia *Brookfield, Ontario ...
, Queensland along with their three daughters aged 10 and under. In October 2011, Allison learnt of a long-standing affair her husband was having with an employee at his business. At the time of her disappearance Allison's life was insured for more than A$800,000.


Disappearance and discovery

At 7:14 am on Friday, 20 April 2012, Gerard reported Allison
missing Missing or The Missing may refer to: Film * ''Missing'' (1918 film), an American silent drama directed by James Young * ''Missing'' (1982 film), an American historical drama directed by Costa-Gavras * ''Missing'' (2007 film) (''Vermist''), a Bel ...
. He claimed she sometimes went for a walk at 5am and assumed she had done so that morning. She was always back in time for their daughters' breakfast, and he became concerned when she had not returned home. On 30 April, a woman's body was found by a canoeist at Kholo Creek, Anstead, about from the Baden-Clay home in Brookfield. The following day, the body was confirmed to be Allison. Her funeral was held in Ipswich on 11 May. The autopsy report stated that the cause of death could not be determined.


Trial and conviction

On 13 June 2012, Gerard was formally interviewed at Indooroopilly police station and charged with Allison's murder and for interfering with her corpse. He maintained his innocence and said he would "be strenuously defending the charges". Gerard's bail application was denied on 22 June because Justice David Boddice said he posed a "significant flight risk". The trial began in the Brisbane Supreme Court on 10 June 2014. Gerard pleaded not guilty to the charges. On 15 July, he was found guilty of murdering Allison. He was given a life sentence with a non-parole period of fifteen years. The charge of interfering with a corpse was dropped.


Defence appeal

On 7 August 2015, Gerard
appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
ed his conviction to the Queensland Court of Appeal. On 8 December, his conviction was downgraded to
manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...
,''R v Baden-Clay'' . on the ground that the evidence at trial was not able to exclude a reasonable hypothesis that “there was a physical confrontation between aden-Clayand his wife in which he delivered a blow which killed her (for example, by the effects of a fall hitting her head against a hard surface) without intending to cause serious harm".


Prosecution appeal

The decision of the Court of Appeal was controversial. There was a strong public reaction and a large rally was organised calling for an appeal to the
High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...
. On 18 December, a crowd estimated at around 4,000 people gathered in King George Square in the centre of Brisbane to support the proposal that the decision be appealed. Some members of the legal profession, in turn, were vocal in defending the decision handed down by the Court of Appeal. Prominent Queensland lawyer Terry O'Gorman, for example, said that, "You don't have a murder case or any other case decided by who can yell out loudest in the media" and that "those who don't like it have to cop it because that is the law." However, in an unusual move, the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions decided to appeal against the downgrade. The following year, on 31 August 2016, more than four years after Allison had died, the High Court of Australia restored the original trial murder conviction.''The Queen v Baden-Clay'' .


Later developments

In February 2017, Allison's father was appointed the executor of her estate. It was ruled that Gerard Baden-Clay was not entitled to any benefits from her death.


Legacy

The Allison Baden-Clay Foundation was launched on 31 July 2015. Its aim is to "create a Queensland community that acknowledges the prevalence of domestic and family violence". In March 2018, the first annual scholarship in Allison's memory for an aspiring ballet dancer was announced by the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, who had known Allison as a child.Gerard Baden-Clay murder conviction reinstated by High Court
ABC News, 31 Aug 2016


See also

*
Death of Maria Korp Maria Korp (born Maria Matilde; 14 January 1955 – 5 August 2005) was a Portuguese-born Australian woman reported missing for four days and later found, barely alive, in the boot of her car on 13 February 2005. She spent a short time in a com ...
* List of solved missing person cases


References


Further reading

* *


External links


The Allison Baden-Clay Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baden-Clay, Allison
Death of Allison Baden-Clay Allison June Baden-Clay (''née'' Dickie; 1 July 1968 – 19 April 2012) was murdered by her husband, Gerard Baden-Clay in a premeditated act on 19 April 2012. Allison was an Australian woman, mother of three daughters aged 10 and under and bus ...
Baden-Clay Murder in Queensland Deaths by person in Australia Formerly missing people Manslaughter in Australia Missing person cases in Australia Uxoricides