Some of the state's most high-profile criminal cases have played out in the Launceston Supreme Court this year.
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Three cases in particular highlighted the first-class work of northern police and prosecutors as murderers and their lackeys were jailed for their role in the gruesome and traumatic killings.
The Examiner's court and crime reporter Sarah Aquilina looks back at three of the biggest cases in the past 12 months.
Jake Anderson-Brettner killing
A woman who led police to a body part belonging to Jake Anderson-Brettner was jailed for her role in concealing his murder.
Gemma Elizabeth Clark pleaded guilty in April to being an accessory after the fact to murder and failing to report the killing of Mr Anderson-Brettner.
It was alleged the 24-year-old victim was killed at a Riverside house on August 15 last year.
Clark, of Riverside, initially lied to police in the days after the murder, but she eventually cooperated, leading them to the place where part of Mr Anderson-Brettner's body was found.
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During Clark's sentencing, Justice Robert Pearce said she gave police further information that led to the collection of other evidence, but her admission was only after the gravity of the situation was apparent to her.
An aspiring primary school teacher, Clark was well-educated, from a good family and held many part-time jobs.
Justice Pearce said the crime was an isolated and aberrant incident committed by a person of otherwise good nature, but it was a serious departure and good character did not carry much weight for a crime of this seriousness.
Details of Clark's involvement in concealing the crime are unable to be published due to a Supreme Court suppression order, but Justice Pearce said she committed crime's of considerable gravity.
"Her conduct added greatly to the distress of the victim's mother, his partner and the rest of his family and friends, and will likely have a lasting impact," Justice Pearce said.
Clark was sentenced to five and a half years' jail, backdated to August 2018. She will be eligible for parole in August 2021.
Violent rapist turned murderer
To many Mark Rodney Jones was a loving father and a self-employed builder who was eloquent and dressed well. But behind the perceived charm is a convicted rapist and murderer.
The killer beat, waterboarded and suffocated Bradley Breward at a Newnham unit on New Year's Day in 2017.
A Launceston Supreme Court jury in June found Jones, 43, guilty of murder, but the nine men and three women had no idea about the killer's dark past.
The West Launceston father-of-two brutally raped a 17-year-old girl outside a school leavers celebration in November 1997.
The pair had danced at the party before moving to a nearby paddock to kiss. Jones undid his zipper and, despite the teenager telling him she didn't want to have sex, he pulled up her skirt and laid on top of her.
Jones put both his hands around the teenager's throat, preventing her from breathing or talking, and told her to "shut up" before raping her.
The rapist collapsed on his victim after he ejaculated and said, "I'm sorry, I can't believe I just did that".
Court documents described Jones' conduct as an exercise in power and degradation.
"The act of strangulation and physical injuries inflicted on the complainant required the sentence to be towards the upper level of the range of sentences imposed in respect of a single act of rape," the documents said.
The then 22-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of vaginal rape, two counts of anal rape and two counts of aggravated assault.
He was sentenced to four years' jail, but a successful appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions in March 1999 saw his prison term increased by a year.
In 1995, Jones faced a scarily similar rape allegation, this time against a Don College student.
He was found guilty of attempted rape and two counts of rape, but the conviction was quashed during an appeal in June 1996 because the Supreme Court justice hadn't given the jury a specific direction, according to court documents.
THE TRIAL
Fast forward to 2017 and the rapist's modus operandi of violence and strangulation peaks when he breaks in to a Newnham unit with his employee Ricky Izard and begins torturing Mr Breward over a stolen car.
In the weeks leading up to the day Mr Breward was murdered, Jones obsessively searched for his stolen Nissan Patrol, using Facebook and flyers to promote a $5000 reward for the return of the car.
A number of people told Jones that Mr Breward was responsible for the theft, so the killer put a $1000 bounty on his head.
Tina Robertson, the girlfriend of Mr Breward's friend, gave up the victim's location in return for the cash.
After entering the unit, the killer started torturing Mr Breward over the car's whereabouts.
Despite being beaten, waterboarded and having a plastic bag held over his head, Mr Breward didn't give Jones any information about the stolen car.
THE TRIAL
- DAY 4 AM: Jury visits unit where Bradley Breward allegedly killed
- DAY 4 PM: Mark Jones and two other men tried to give Bradley Breward CPR
- DAY 5 AM: Bradley Breward's injuries detailed by forensic pathologist
- DAY 5 PM: Mark Jones didn't leave unit in fear of looking like a 'goose'
- DAY 6: Prosecutor says jury can be satisfied Mark Jones guilty of murder
- DAY 7: Alternative verdict of manslaughter offered to jury
This infuriated Jones, who continued to bash and starve his victim of oxygen, even after Mr Breward said he was dying.
Jones didn't believe Mr Breward's final words, instead the murderer placed the bag over the victim's head and counted to 40.
Mr Breward couldn't be revived, despite claims from Izard and Jones that CPR was attempted.
The car has never been found.
During sentencing submissions, Director of Public Prosecutions Daryl Coates said Jones' attack on Mr Breward was lengthy and sustained, with the murder seriously aggravated by the callous disregard of his body.
Mr Breward's body was wrapped in tarpaulin and a beanbag, placed in the back of Jones' car, driven around for several hours, stripped naked, his clothing burnt, he had weights tied to his body, again wrapped in the tarpaulin and dumped in Lake Eugenana.
Jones was sentenced to 22 years behind bars. An appeal has been lodged against the sentence.
His accomplice, Izard, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, aggravated burglary and perverting the course of justice.
He was sentenced to 10 years behind bars for his role in the murder of Mr Breward.
Body in the backyard
A beloved son and brother, Tyson Clark-Robertson was callously murdered while hanging makeshift curtains with friend Ian Rosewall at their Mayfield house.
Rosewall hit Mr Clark-Robertson in the head with a hammer at least four times because he was "angry as hell" the victim called him a "paedo dog".
After the bashing, Mr Clark-Robertson convulsed on the floor briefly and then stopped moving. Rosewall selfishly chose not to call an ambulance because there was an outstanding warrant for him.
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The two men lived with Renae Lorraine Donald, who was initially Mr Clark-Robertson's girlfriend but shortly after moving into the Mitchell Street address the then 18-year-old began a relationship with Rosewall - a man more than double her age.
Rosewall took offence to Mr Clark-Robertson's comment because he thought it was a dig at the age difference between him and Donald.
Rosewall moved Mr Clark-Robertson's body into a shed in the backyard and buried him in a shallow grave only metres from the house's backdoor within days of the murder.
For the next nine months, Rosewall and Donald cruelly colluded to make it appear Mr Clark-Robertson was still alive, accessing his Facebook page and messaging his friends and family.
The pair also spent almost $17,000 of Mr Clark-Robertson's Centrelink payments, which were being deposited into Donald's bank account.
Rosewall, charged with murder, and Donald, charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder, maintained their not guilty pleas until shortly before their trials were due to commence.
In April, Crown prosecutor John Ransom told the Launceston Supreme Court the delay in admission meant the state had to prepare a complicated murder trial and brief witnesses.
Justice Robert Pearce said the guilty plea carried almost no weight because Rosewall put his own interest ahead of Mr Clark-Robertson's welfare.
Rosewall was sentenced to 22 years behind bars, backdated to his arrest on April 11, 2017. He will be eligible for parole after 12.5 years.
Donald was sentenced to six years' jail, with a non-parole period of three years.
A third man, Robert William Broad, was found guilty by a jury of failing to report the killing of Mr Clark-Robertson.
- Sexual Assault Support Service 24-hour crisis line: 1800 697 877.