news

"It's disgusting." Foster brother of Tiahleigh Palmer found on Tinder, & more in News in 5.

-With AAP.

1. “It’s disgusting.” Foster brother of Tiahleigh Palmer found on Tinder.

Trent Thorburn, Tiahleigh Palmer’s foster brother who was convicted of incest, has reportedly been using Tinder.

Trent, now 22, was released from prison in 2018 after being convicted of incest and other crimes and has now been identified by women using the online dating platform.

Tiahleigh’s biological mother, Cindy Palmer, was sent screenshots of his alleged profile, where Trent goes by the name TJ and lists his job as an automotive metal fabricator.

“It’s disgusting but it does hurt,” Cindy told 9News.

Tiahleigh Palmer’s body was found on the banks of the Gold Coast’s Pimpama River on November 5, 2015, six days after she went missing while in the care of the Thorburns.

tiahleigh palmer
Tiahleigh Palmer.
ADVERTISEMENT

In May 2018, Rick Thorburn pleaded guilty to murder, interfering with a corpse, attempting to pervert the course of justice, and two counts of perjury, and was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his foster daughter.

The court heard the 57-year-old had expressed fear that his son, Trent, may go to prison following revelations the teenager had been sexually abusing Tiahleigh. "We need to think this through, deal with this properly," he told his family.

Between about 8pm and 10pm on October 29, 2015, Rick Thorburn killed the schoolgirl then disposed of her body, the court heard.

Cindy said Trent's alleged Tinder profile was "a slap in the face".

"The whole family have gone on to live their lives as if nothing's happened and I’m the only one here living this sentence," she told 9News.

Trent was jailed in September 2017 for a maximum of four years after pleading guilty at the Beenleigh District Court to four charges, including incest. He was released in January 2018.

Trent was released on a suspended sentence, not parole, so he isn't under any restrictions and his use of Tinder is legal.

His older brother, Joshua, served three months of a 15-month sentence after pleading guilty to perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

ADVERTISEMENT

Their mother, Julene, spent six months behind bars after pleading guilty to the same charges in November 2017.

Tiahleigh had been in the family's care for just nine months at the time of her murder.

Tinder told news.com.au it was investigating the profile and would remove it if they could verify it belonged to Trent.

2. Cardinal George Pell makes bid for freedom in Court of Appeal.

ADVERTISEMENT

George Pell's bid for freedom is in the hands of three of Victoria's most senior judges, who have been asked to find it was "impossible" for him to have sexually abused two boys in Melbourne more than two decades ago.

A jury convicted the 77-year-old cardinal in December, accepting he sexually abused the 13-year-old choirboys at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996.

Specialist appeals barrister Bret Walker SC has argued for Pell's acquittal, saying the verdicts were "unsafe and unsatisfactory".

Pell is serving a minimum three year and eight months in prison after being found guilty of one charge of sexual penetration of a child and four of committing an indecent act with a child.

He was newly appointed Archbishop of Melbourne at the time and would have to have been alone in the sacristy for five or six minutes with the boys after a busy Sunday Mass for the incidents to have occurred as described, Mr Walker said.

But it was was common practice for Pell to greet parishioners outside the cathedral after mass.

"If he was at the western door, then the law of physics tells us this is literally, logically impossible for the offending to have occurred according to the complainant's account, and there is no other account," Mr Walker said.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Anne Ferguson, Court of Appeal President Chris Maxwell and Justice Mark Weinberg are hearing the case.

ADVERTISEMENT

Pell appeared in court in all black and once again wore the clerical collar he removed for sentencing.

In written submissions the defence had argued the verdicts couldn't be supported on the word of a single complainant in the face of "exculpatory evidence" from 20 prosecution witnesses.

"This evidence constituted a catalogue of at least 13 solid obstacles in the path of a conviction," the submissions said.

Mr Walker said in court that those prosecution witnesses gave "strong, credible and undispelled" alibi evidence in Pell's favour.

The jury should also have considered in Pell's favour the "forensic disadvantage" presented by the significant passage of time between 1996, the complainant's police report in 2014 and the 2018 trial.

Justices Maxwell and Weinberg appeared unpersuaded by junior defence barrister Ruth Shann's argument for the second ground of appeal, that County Court Judge Peter Kidd was wrong to exclude a video from the defence closing statements at trial.

She said the clip, showing various individuals moving around the cathedral after mass, was designed to help a 21st century "technology obsessed" jury who were "12 people from ordinary lives who spend all day, ever day in their tables, on their phones".

Justice Weinberg bluntly told her "I just don't see the point of it", while Justice Maxwell didn't see that having heard a thorough final address from trial barrister Robert Richter QC that they were "short-changed in any relevant sense".

ADVERTISEMENT

Mr Walker earlier described that appeal ground and a third about an inconsistency Pell was arraigned as "fallback" options should the main first ground fail.

Prosecutors will get to put forward their arguments on Thursday, but said in written submissions the jury was "entitled to accept the complainant as a reliable and credible witness".

"The events described by various witnesses ... established that there was more than ample opportunity and circumstances for the offending, described by the complainant, to have occurred," the submissions say.

Pell was jailed for a maximum of six years.

3. State of Origin players from both sides remained silent during the national anthem in protest.

ADVERTISEMENT

Players from both teams have taken part in a much-discussed boycott of Australia's national anthem before Wednesday's State of Origin opener.

Indigenous players Cody Walker, Josh Addo-Carr and Will Chambers had all spoken in the build-up to the match at Suncorp Stadium that they would not be singing Advance Australia Fair.

Of the 34 players to take the field for Queensland and NSW, 11 players appeared not to sing during the pre-match ceremony.

Walker and Addo-Carr were joined in silence by NSW teammates Payne Haas and Latrell Mitchell while for Queensland Chambers, Josh Papalii, Dane Gagai, Dylan Napa, Kalyn Ponga and debutants Joe Ofahengaue and David Fifita appeared not to be singing.

A number of those players are of New Zealand or Pacific Island heritage.

Walker brought the issue to light last week, saying he did not believe the anthem represented him or his family.

Chambers and Addo-Carr both echoed those statements while former Queensland great Johnathan Thurston said it was time for a referendum on the issue.

"Australia needs to be educated about its history," said Thurston, who read a Welcome to Country before the anthem was sung.

"We have come a long way from where we were but we have a long way to go."

ADVERTISEMENT

4. The search for missing Qld toddler on a crocodile-infested property enters third day.

The parents of a toddler have second anxious night ahead after a search for their toddler missing on an isolated property in crocodile-infested far north Queensland was suspended.

Two-year-old Ruben was last seen near the Koolatah Station homestead, 270 kilometres north of Karumba on the western side of Cape York Peninsula, about 5pm on Tuesday.

It's a race against time to find the toddler, who recently turned two, as the homestead sits on the back of a lagoon that's a known crocodile habitat

ADVERTISEMENT

Emergency crews, including cattle station crews and graziers with private helicopters, spent Wednesday searching the rugged terrain for the child.

However they suspended their rescue operation on the 170,000-hectare property at dusk after failing to find any trace of the boy.

They will recommence at first light on Thursday, a police spokesman told AAP.

His mum, Natasha Scott, says her son is the "greatest person ever".

"Life's complete with you and your smile," she wrote on Facebook alongside a picture of the smiling little boy in July.

His aunt Cherese Scott implored anyone with any information to contact police.

"We want our Ruby home safe and sound," she added on Facebook on Wednesday.

Family, station employees and workers from neighbouring stations began looking for the little boy on Tuesday afternoon.

Police were called around nightfall when they couldn't find him.

The family and friends continued searching for the boy through the night.

They were joined on Wednesday by State Emergency Services personnel, rangers and workers from a construction site in Kowanyama.

Two helicopters from neighbouring stations were also involved.

ADVERTISEMENT

The homestead sits on the back of a lagoon and is surrounded by a fenced-off yard, big shady trees and nearby cattle yards.

The area is a known crocodile habitat.

5. Scott Morrison has met with the Queen ahead of D-Day commemorations.

The Queen's meeting with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny has run over time as they chatted about horseracing and the drought.

The 93-year-old regent met with Mr Morrison and his wife at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday ahead of D-Day commemorations in Portsmouth on Wednesday.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Queen wore a yellow and navy print dress, Mrs Morrison wore a flowing, floral pastel blue and orange calf-length Ginger and Smart dress and her husband wore a black suit with a sky blue tie.

After an initial bow and curtsey, the Queen was surprised to hear that Mr Morrison had arrived from the Solomon Islands.

"Oh really, oh," she chuckled with confusion.

After the prime minister clarified he had visited the Solomon's new prime minister "on the way" to the UK, the Queen understood.

The Morrisons gave her a gift of Andrew Rule's book Winx: The Authorised Biography, which had been signed by the champion racehorse's trainers and owners.

The Queen, who has a keen interest in racing, then spoke with the couple about the subject.

She then asked Mr Morrison about the drought in Australia, which has been one of her longstanding concerns.

The conversation, which also covered the action being taken to support drought-stricken regional areas, was so involved that the meeting ran for nearly twice the amount of time it had been scheduled to run.

The audience was originally set to be 20 minutes but it stretched close to 35 minutes.

Both the Queen and Mr Morrison will be in each other's company again at the commemorations in Portsmouth on Wednesday.