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Rick Thorburn MORE than two years after Tiahleigh Palmer was killed and left on the banks of the Pimpama River, her foster father Rick Thorburn has been sentenced. Thorburn will spend the rest of his life in prison for murdering the 12-year-old. He will need to serve 20 years in prison before being eligible for parole on September 12, 2036. In sentencing Thorburn, Justice David Boddice told the court the foster dad’s actions were “cold, calculating and callous” and his conduct had been “truly appalling”. “You murdered this defenceless child who relied on you for protection,” he said. Prominent child safety advocate Hetty Johnston said the prospect of Thorburn ever leaving jail was incomprehensible and upsetting. Ms Johnston, the founder of Bravehearts, has criticised the 20-year non-parole period as too lenient when it came to the murder of children, calling on the state government to legislate a minimum life sentence. “I’m really quite upset that parole could ever be a possibility for this man,” she told the ABC. “There is no way a man who could knowingly, cold-blooded, calculatingly kill a little girl and leave a body to rot on the river bank should ever, ever be able to re-enter society. “It’s incomprehensible. Anyone who kills an innocent child should never have any expectation they should see the outside of a jail ever again. “We need to fix it so it’s really clear.” At the beginning of his sentencing hearing, Thorburn wiped away tears as the judge asked him what plea he would be entering. The pale, visibly thinner 57-year-old entered a formal guilty plea to murdering Tiahleigh, interfering with a corpse, attempting to pervert the course of justice and perjury.
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