Julie NICHOLSON
Julie NICHOLSON
A chilling letter where a man confesses to murdering his wife and dumping her remains at sea has been revealed by the parole board.
A convicted killer who bludgeoned his wife to death and dumped her remains in Gold Coast waters has lost his parole bid, with the board finding he did not do enough to help find her remains.
Clive Anthony Nicholson is serving a life sentence for the heinous murder of his wife Julie two decades ago.
Nicholson had asked to be considered for release but the Parole Board of Queensland (PBQ) on Thursday dismissed this, determining his evidence over where Julie’s remains were located was not “truthful, credible or reliable”.
“Accordingly, the board makes a no co-operation declaration about the applicant,” their published decision reads.
Nicholson used a hammer to bludgeon Julie to death at their Southport home in July 2003.
Her remains have never been found.
Nicholson was jailed for life in 2006 after a jury found him guilty of murdering the woman.
Nicholson maintained he acted in self-defence during a struggle with his wife, lying that his wife had deserted the family.
But the crown linked his guilt to letters he had sent to various people – including police – before he was arrested and charged with Julie’s murder.
In those letters, written at a time when he was apparently contemplating suicide, Nicholson admitted to killing Julie and dumping her body in The Spit – a large portion of the Gold Coast’s waterways.
In one letter, he wrote:
“My stupidity really took hold. I wrapped Julie in the sheets and doona and [hid] her in the walk-in robe, made sure [Mr Nicholson’s daughter] had gone back to sleep and dragged Julie down to the garage … I put her in the back of my ute. At some point she was still breathing. But by the time I returned to tidy her up in the ute, she had stopped …”
In 2019, he changed his story and disclosed he actually buried his wife in a shallow grave at Cedar Grove, near Jimboomba.
Searches of that particular area did not yield any results.
Under Queensland law, Nicholson is considered a no body, no parole prisoner – meaning he cannot be granted parole unless the PBQ is satisfied he has co-operated satisfactorily in locating the victim’s body.
In their published judgment, the board noted there was no direct evidence “proving or disproving” Nicholson’s account of disposing of Julie’s body in The Spit or at Cedar Grove.
They noted Nicholson had given evidence at a committal hearing and trial for a man charged with manslaughter in 2009, where he gave evidence under oath of disposing of Julie’s body in The Spit.
“It is an inescapable conclusion the applicant has either lied under oath when giving evidence in court, twice, or when swearing his affidavit on June 6, 2019,” the judgment states,
“Lies previously told by the applicant are relevant.”
“The board accepts the making of a no co-operation deal may be a powerful motivation … and a potential reason for the proffering of the Cedar Grove account.
“But that motivation is not enough in the circumstances of this application for the board to consider the Cedar Grove account to be truthful, credible or reliable.”
From the wife of a retired Japanese crime boss to the cousin of a pop singer, these notorious Queensland killers have one secret in common.
Clive Nicholson bludgeoned his wife Julie to death with a hammer at their Southport QLD home in July 2003, and was later convicted of her manslaughter.
He stuffed her body in a walk-in-wardrobe and dumped her in the Southport Seaway.
Nicholson wrote suicide letters in which he told their young daughter: “Mummy died as a result of an accident in a fight with daddy … and daddy died as a result of a broken heart”.