Couple 'backflips' and pleads guilty in brutal murder of mum
WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: The two people on trial for murdering mother of four Tia Landers have changed their pleas to guilty.
The woman's brutally bashed body was found in a shallow grave at Beerburrum Sate Forest in 2014.
On the fifth day of the murder trail in Brisbane Supreme Court, the accused Linda Eileen Appleton and John Edward Harris changed their pleas.
The pair had denied the killing for more than two years after Ms Landers' body was found, but on Friday reversed their plea.
Neither accused showed any emotion or said anything other than "guilty" when the murder charge was read out in the court, according to the Sunshine Coast Daily.
The backflip follows gruesome evidence of Tia's final moments at the couple's home.
The court had previously heard Ms Landers was so severely beaten at the couple's Brighton home she lost all her teeth and was barely recognisable because of facial swelling.
On Monday, the couple pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Landers at their Brighton home on June 16, 2014. But they pleaded guilty to interfering with her corpse and depriving two men, Ryan Morgan and Jake McKenzie, of their liberty.
On Thursday, the court played phone conversations involving the de facto couple while Appleton was behind bars on June 8 and 9.
In the recording, Appleton can be heard talking about suspected stolen jewellery and sports clothing.
"I'm going to f*** that bitch ... I'm going to f***ing smash her f***ing skull in," the jury heard Appleton tell Harris in the audio, which the crown will allege refers to the mother of four.
Mr McKenzie told the court on Wednesday he recalled hearing Ms Landers say "no" after Harris shot her in the head once, and he turned away before a second shot rang out.
The pair are due to be sentenced on Friday 21 October.
