Child murderer to stay in jail

Robin Reid being led into Murwillumbah Court by Sergeant Kevin Welsh on Wednesday, August 11, 1982.

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Murder at Kingscliff in 1982

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News in pictures - March 2010

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CONVICTED child murderer Robin Reid will remain behind bars for at least another year, according to the New South Wales parole authority.

It is understood the 61-year-old, serving a life sentence for the sexual assault, torture and murder of 13-year-old schoolboy Peter Aston at south Kingscliff in 1982, will be officially denied parole this week.

The NSW parole authority indicated their intentions to keep the former soldier locked up during a private meeting yesterday.

The convicted killer will be given a chance to ask the board for a review into their reasoning this week.

“It’s unlikely the board will grant the review,” a NSW Corrective Services spokesman said.

“At that point, a date will be set for another hearing in a year’s time.”

Reid is currently incarcerated in maximum security at Goulburn Correctional Centre near Sydney.

He, along with accomplice and fellow soldier Paul Luckman, was found guilty of the murder in November 1982.

On May 4 that year, they abducted Aston and friend Terry Ryan, 12, on the outskirts of Brisbane and drove them at gun and knifepoint over the state border.

Reid and Luckman were 34 and 17 respectively at the time.

They sexually assaulted and tortured Aston for an hour before burying him alive near Kingscliff beach.

Ryan was forced to participate.

The committal hearings were held at Tweed Heads and Murwillumbah courts in August that year before they were committed for trial in the NSW Supreme Court in Grafton.

The murder hearing was eventually transferred to the Sydney Supreme Court where both men were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

See the stories in Tweed Daily News at the time:

Tweed Daily News front page Thursday, May 6, 1982

Tweed Daily News front page Thursday, August 5, 1982

Tweed Daily news Thursday, August 12, 1982

Luckman was freed in 1999 and had a sex-change operation at the expense of the government.

Reid first attempted parole in 2006 when he became eligible.

He tried again unsuccessfully on August 15, 2008.

True crime author and radio host Paul B. Kidd yesterday told the Tweed Daily News he had included the Kingscliff case in his upcoming book, Never To Be Released.

“The case of Reid will be in there as someone who should never be released from prison.

“He should be kept in jail until he dies,” Mr Kidd said.

“It’s excellent news that he will be denied parole once again. He committed what is arguably the most barbaric crime in Australian history.”

“There wasn’t a part of the boy’s young body that wasn’t defiled.”

Mr Kidd previously researched and wrote the story for his 2002 book, Shallow Graves.

Mr Kidd said his new book would be published later this year.

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Murderer due for parole in 2010