Regina v Bruce Allan Burrell

[2006] NSWSC 581

CITATION:	Regina v Bruce Allan Burrell [2006] NSWSC 581 This decision has been amended. Please see the end of the judgment for a list of the amendments.
HEARING DATE(S):	16 March 2006 - 6 June 2006, 23 June 2006,
JUDGMENT DATE :	9 August 2006
JUDGMENT OF:	Barr J at 1
DECISION:	For the murder of Kerry Patricia Whelan the offender is sentenced to imprisonment for life. Sentence will be taken to have commenced on 23 December 2005. For the detention of Mrs Whelan with intent to hold her for advantage the offender is sentenced to imprisonment for sixteen years, commencing on 23 December 2005 and expiring on 22 December 2021 with a non-parole period of twelve years expiring on 22 December 2017.
PARTIES:	Regina, Bruce Allan Burrell
FILE NUMBER(S):	SC 2002/101
COUNSEL:	M Tedeschi QC and T Smith D Dalton and B Rigg
SOLICITORS:	S Kavanagh Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales

IN THE SUPREME COURT
OF NEW SOUTH WALES
COMMON LAW DIVISION

GRAHAM BARR J

9 AUGUST 2006

2002/101 REGINA v BRUCE ALLAN BURRELL

REMARKS ON SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: The offender, Bruce Allan Burrell, has been found guilty by the jury of the offences of detaining Mrs Kerry Patricia Whelan with intent to hold her for his advantage and of murdering her.

2 Mrs Whelan was the wife of Mr Bernard Whelan, the Managing Director in Australia of an international corporation called Crown Equipment, which had its headquarters in the United States of America and premises in various parts of Australia and in South East Asia. Mr Whelan’s office was at Crown Equipment’s premises at Smithfield, though his responsibilities took him to other parts of Australia and to South East Asia. The Whelan family were comfortably off, as any casual observer would have realised. They owned substantial property and possessions. Equally obviously, Crown Equipment was a substantial company. In 1997 Mr Whelan was approaching his sixtieth birthday and his wife, Kerry Patricia Whelan, her fortieth. They had three children, a girl fifteen years old and boys fourteen and eleven years old respectively. Their marriage was Mr Whelan’s second. He and his first wife had divorced and she had later died. Mr Trevor Whelan was an adult adopted child of that marriage.

3 The offender was born and raised in the Goulburn district. He became employed as an advertising salesman. During the 1980s he was working for a firm that did work for Crown Equipment. During the course of his work he came to know Mr Whelan. He also met the woman he would marry. During the course of his work he attended a number of social functions at which Mr and Mrs Whelan were present. So he came to know Mrs Whelan as well. He and Mr Whelan attended social functions together. They went sporting shooting together. There were tennis parties. When he and his wife married in 1985 the Whelans attended the wedding. He and his wife visited the Whelans on their farm in the…