The Murder of Allison Baden-Clay

by David Murray

  Although she didn’t mention anything to Broom that night, Jocelyn Frost noticed something too – Gerard was ignoring Allison and spending a lot of time with Toni.

  Broom felt it was important to know what was going on within his business. Thinking he was onto something about Toni avoiding Allison, he decided to test his theory. Toni was chatting to Broom’s wife, Michelle, while Broom was talking to Allison. Gradually he shifted position until Toni and Allison ended up side by side. Abruptly, Toni made her excuses and left the party. Broom was now certain she was avoiding Allison. Almost straight after Toni departed, Gerard said he had to go to the bathroom.

  He’d been gone for ten minutes when a worried Allison approached Broom, concerned that her husband appeared to be missing: ‘He’s got this allergic reaction to shellfish. He could have had some prawns,’ she said, then asked Broom to check the toilets.

  Broom told Allison he was happy to oblige, but then Gerard reappeared and was his usual self. Later, when things were all out in the open, McHugh would confide to Frost that Gerard had indeed raced out of the party to see her off. When he rushed back inside, his heart must have been pounding from the effort, but he appeared impressively unruffled.

  Back at the office in the days after the engagement party, Broom and Frost discussed the dynamics of their colleagues. ‘It’s all Michelle and I talked about on the way home,’ he told Frost.

  For the two business partners, the affair could have serious ramifications. Anything Gerard did with a staff member could impact the business. Getting to the bottom of the relationship between Gerard and Toni was vital to them.

  Conscious that he had no proof of an ongoing affair, Broom resolved to find out for sure. The first thing he did was approach Gerard directly, in his office, and ask bluntly if he was having an affair with Toni. He hit a wall of denial.

  ‘You’re accusing me of cheating on my lovely wife,’ an outraged Gerard replied.

  For the next few weeks Broom kept probing. Eventually, it was McHugh who caved, not Gerard, and admitted to the affair.

  Broom stormed back into Gerard’s office: ‘You’ve been lying to me. Toni has told us there’s something going on. You told me there wasn’t.’

  Caught out, Gerard resorted to tears, breaking down crying. ‘I’m going to end it,’ he swore to Broom. ‘It’s over. I can’t do this. I love my wife. I love my daughters.’

  Dear diary

  Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Allison was sitting outside Brookfield State School, waiting to collect her daughters, when she turned to a new page in her spiral-bound journal. It was a Friday afternoon in April 2010, two years before she would vanish from her home down the road. Seemingly convinced she could reshape her life by the sheer force of her will and some celebrity advice, she had started a gratitude journal. Allison loved self-help books and anything with a positive bent. Her journal was all about taking stock of the positive things in her own life, no matter how big or small. Under the heading ‘My gratitude list’, she wrote the things she was grateful for that day. Since taking Gerard to see her psychiatrist almost a year earlier, things had improved at home. Gerard hadn’t walked out; he’d been making an effort, and made the top of her list.

  ‘Today I am grateful for … The loving text I just received from my husband; The fact I could afford to have my hair done and buy a new top today; The school I am sitting outside where my girls attend; For the relationship we have with the teachers and principal; That we live in such a wonderful suburb – close to some wonderful after school activities; For Paula Barrett and the wonderful programme she has written that has helped my family; Being associated with Pathways at this stage of its growth; My wonderful parents and their tireless, unconditional love; My education at IGGS [Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School] and all the friends I made; [and] AYBC [Australian Youth Ballet Company] and the places it took me.’

  Allison had become involved in Pathways, a program that sought to promote resilience in children and families. Child psychologist Dr Paula Barrett designed it to help tackle the many young people who suffered in silence through anxiety and depression. For Allison, it was an issue close to her heart, and it was no surprise for it to be on her gratitude list. There were also some blasts from the past. Allison had loved Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School and hoped to send her daughters there after primary school at Brookfield. And Allison still held the AYBC of her childhood dear – her experiences still fresh in her mind, and valued, all these years later. Her eldest daughter had inherited her enthusiasm for ballet, and once a week Allison would teach dance at Brookfield State School. As a sideline, to earn extra money, she was also selling Neways health and beauty products.

  Her journal entries over the next fortnight reflected a woman doing her best to be positive. Thoughts of her daughters, parents and friends brought her happiness.

  ‘[18 April 2010] I am grateful for 1. My ballet friends and the lovely breakfast I had this morning. 2. My parents who were committed to driving me to my ballet lessons. 3. My husband for booking in until 2 pm so I could enjoy my morning and for making dinner. 4. My 3 beautiful girls who continue to amaze me. 5. The wonderful pony club and park that we enjoyed this afternoon. 6. Midi – the ‘flash’ car I was able to drive today. 7. Anne and the kindness she showed to me and hopefully to G. 8. Tallebudgera and the wonderful time we have with friends.’ The following day’s entry also listed eight points. ‘[19 April 2010] I am grateful for … 1. My husband taking the time and effort to make my morning smoothie. 2. My [eldest daughter] who tried to ‘push thru’ today and is so flexible and reasonable when she’s sick. 3. My husband only working 5 mins away from school to pick up [the girls]. 4. My gift giving parents who love giving me things from their garage sale. 5. Mum and Dad’s church – that they have found it and it has the perfect activities for them – like the garage sale. 6. The health of my Mum and Dad and that they still enjoy their little holidays together. 7. The park at Paradise Point with its lovely swing and close proximity to Mum and Dad. 8. The Health Food Shop at Para.’

  Allison’s family loyalty extended also to the Baden-Clays. ‘[Undated] I am grateful for … The beautiful weather – the sunshine; The cabins at Talle; The time I had to walk this morning; The time I had to shower this morning; G computer and technology; The fact G is a gadget person; Australia – the country I was born; My in-laws living so close; My sister-in-law for all she has done for me in the past, for her support with Neways, her support while I was sick; My friends sharing this weekend.’

  ‘[1 June 2010] I am grateful for … My ability to afford Lesley and the gym; My ability to afford to be at home with[my youngest child]; Our house and its location to BSS; Deb – the cleaner; My little helper and making the quiche; Snowy – the Prado; Marcia and the help she is giving me; My parents looking after the girls so I could have some time off.’

  Conference call

  A hush fell over the packed auditorium as Sir Bob Geldof took to the stage for the Australian Real Estate Conference of May 2010. One of the biggest events of the year on the real estate calendar, the conference was being held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour. Geldof’s keynote address, ‘Reaching Your Dream. A World Icon’s Insight on the Secret to Success’, was exactly the kind of motivational fare the industry’s leading lights had come from all around Australia to see. Lateral thinker Edward de Bono assured the assembled delegates, ‘Your Success is Determined by How You Think’.

  More than 2500 people signed up for the event, and among them were Century 21 Westside’s three partners, Gerard Baden-Clay, Phill Broom and Jocelyn Frost, who had flown in from Brisbane. Gerard pulled Frost aside to let her know in advance another staff member would soon be arriving too. He was flying Toni McHugh to Sydney.

  Frost knew McHugh wasn’t coming for the conference. Despite Gerard’s morning
smoothies for his wife, his loving text messages and his reliable school runs, he was continuing his affair with McHugh. And his infidelity went way beyond that.

  On his trip to Sydney, Gerard was taking full advantage of the time away from his family, and his Darling Harbour hotel room. Although Gerard had told Broom he would end the affair, he evidently had not. The couple spent three days together. It was time enough for Toni to imagine a normal relationship with Gerard, without constantly looking over her shoulder for Allison.

  On one of the evenings, after the conference wrapped up for the day, Gerard, Toni, Broom and Frost went for dinner at a harbourside Chinese restaurant. Over steaming plates of fried rice and stir-fries, Gerard and Toni let their guard down and behaved like a couple on a night out with friends.

  Broom had suspected for some time the affair was back on. But it was still a bold statement from Gerard and Toni. They were prepared to be together regardless of what their closest colleagues thought.

  Something else stood out to Broom that night. Another real estate agent, Jackie Crane, came along for dinner. Crane was a blonde mum, about the same age as Gerard and Toni, and worked at a real estate agency on the Sunshine Coast. She had met Gerard at a training course and they’d become close. Broom once again picked up on some odd body language: it seemed as though Crane expected to be Gerard’s special guest at dinner that night.

  None of the other guests knew it – certainly not Toni McHugh – but Gerard had been a busy man. He’d later testify in court that he was back and forth with Crane by phone and email for weeks. He admitted that when Crane arrived at the start of the conference, he had a night with her.

  The next day, Gerard coolly phoned Toni and urged her to fly down to Sydney. When Crane turned up at the Chinese restaurant for dinner, she found Gerard only had eyes for Toni McHugh.

  Meanwhile Gerard, who had now cheated on his mistress as well as his wife, stayed in his marriage and made big promises to McHugh: he was going to leave his wife and marry her. They were going to live together, his kids and her kids, in one big, happy family.

  Back in Brisbane, Frost and Broom found themselves colluding, uncomfortably, in Gerard’s affair with Toni. Gerard told Broom he was in love with Toni and was planning a future with her. Once, while they were discussing Broom’s plans to buy a new car, Gerard volunteered he’d need a bigger car to fit Toni’s children as well as his own.

  Whenever the two men went for a round of golf on the lush courses of the western suburbs, Gerard would constantly be texting. Gerard admitted some of the messages were for Toni, not Allison. Broom knew Gerard was going to Toni’s unit late at night, at first during the weeks Toni didn’t have her sons, but later Gerard would visit after she put the boys to bed.

  At a real estate conference later in 2010, around the time of Gerard and Allison’s 13th wedding anniversary in August, Broom implored his business partner to stop living a lie. Gerard said he didn’t love his wife and was over his marriage.

  Toni confided in Jocelyn Frost her plans to make a future with Gerard. Frost tried to convince Toni it wasn’t going to work, that Gerard wouldn’t leave his wife. Toni didn’t want to hear it.

  ‘I told Toni what type of man he was,’ Frost would tell the police, ‘and I would tell her to leave, however she would get angry and stop talking to me and being my friend. Toni would tell me that Gerard had promised her that he would marry her.’

  The office

  Two Century 21 Westside staff members came into the office one morning with a story to tell. They had been putting flyers in letterboxes the previous night when Gerard drove past and, realising he had been spotted, pulled over to say hello. They were around St Lucia, in Brisbane’s inner west, a long way from Gerard’s home. Gerard told the pair he was on his way to the St Lucia BP service station for fuel, but they didn’t buy his story and one of them discussed it with business partner Phill Broom. Gerard was tight with money and usually bought his fuel from Shell service stations to use the 4-cents-a-litre off vouchers from Coles supermarkets. It seemed obvious he was going to Toni’s home at St Lucia late at night.

  The slip-ups started to accumulate. A fortnight or so before Century 21 Westside salesman John Bradley’s 2010 wedding, Gerard said he would be there but that Allison wouldn’t be able to make it because she had commitments with the girls. But Allison had sent a written RSVP saying they’d both be in attendance.

  On another evening, Gerard, Broom and Frost went to the Gold Coast for a Century 21 retreat at the Crown Plaza Hotel. Broom’s wife came along too, and Frost brought her husband, but Gerard didn’t bring Allison.

  The next morning, when Broom went to the reception desk to pay the bill, he asked the staff if his business partners had been down for breakfast yet and was told Gerard had checked out around midnight. Broom thought it odd, and later concluded Gerard had returned to Brisbane to spend the night with Toni.

  ‘If there was a free breakfast Gerard would normally always be there,’ he told police.

  When Ben Bassingthwaighte found out about the affair, he was one of the last in the office to know. Bassingthwaighte joined Century 21 Westside in 2008 and had a quarter share of the property management, or rental, side of the business. Gerard, Broom and Frost held the remainder.

  One day in late 2010, Gerard pulled Bassingthwaighte aside and revealed to him that he was having a relationship with Toni. Bassingthwaighte told Gerard he needed to do the right thing and come clean to Allison.

  By that stage, Gerard and Toni had already been seeing each other for more than two years. Bassingthwaighte didn’t want any part of it and was glad he hadn’t known earlier.

  He had met Toni before he started at Century 21 when both had worked for property management firm Rental Hotline, which became Run Property. At the previous business, they worked in separate offices. They became closer friends at Westside. Bassingthwaighte would come to have numerous conversations with both Gerard and Toni about the affair. He urged Toni to move on and find someone new. The advice fell on deaf ears. Toni said it was hard, because she loved her married boss. Likewise, Gerard openly pined for McHugh, telling Bassingthwaighte he stayed with his wife for his children’s sake. In Gerard’s mind, he was the one making the sacrifice by remaining in the marriage.

  Gerard started telling others of his affair too. Since opening his own agency in 2004, Gerard had built a rapport with Century 21’s Australasian chairman and owner, Charles Tarbey. The men would catch up at regular Century 21 functions. Tarbey would recall meeting Allison at least half a dozen times at these events.

  Gerard trusted Tarbey enough by around late 2010 to share his big secret. Tarbey had flown Gerard to Shanghai with him to work with the business’s IT developers. During the trip, when talk veered to Gerard’s private life, he confided in Tarbey about his affair with Toni, but added it was over and he was trying to patch up his marriage.

  Other staff started to feel Toni was getting preferential treatment. The arrangement in Century 21 Westside, at Gerard’s insistence, was for phone calls to come through the main office number. Westside advertisements listed this landline rather than agents’ mobile numbers. Officially, it was so calls were always answered and queries followed up and the work fairly divided. Callers would be directed to agents, supposedly in equal fashion. Unofficially, it was all about control. Gerard and the partners had the ultimate say on who was assigned properties.

  Given that the call allocation system was open to abuse and the boss was locked in a steamy affair with a staff member, others started to feel they might be being short changed. Toni seemed to receive leads that the other partners were unaware of. She, of course, said the claims were nonsense. Toni was positive that she never crossed the line in the office, that she had always kept it professional. But there was growing resentment about her obviously close relationship with the boss.

  The Westside office, which once had a good social atmosphere, would start to seize up. One saleswoman walked out after less than a year
working there, after an argument involving Toni McHugh. A former staff member tells me: ‘She had a stand-up fight with Gerard – “Well, of course you’re going to support your girlfriend on this; you treat her like a princess.”’

  Happy anniversary

  Traditionally, on a 13th wedding anniversary, a husband gives his wife a gift of lace. Gerard gave Allison one of the worst days of her life. Despite her efforts in her journal to see the best in her husband, they had become virtual strangers. Gerard was having an affair but had not left his wife, let alone told her about what was going on. Instead, he chose a much more hurtful path – he had simply withdrawn from the marriage. Despite having attended a few counselling sessions together, things between the couple were getting worse, not better.

  Allison woke up that Monday 23 August 2010 and could bear no more. She steeled herself and asked Gerard a simple question: ‘What’s wrong with us?’ On this rare occasion, Gerard gave an honest response: he didn’t love her anymore.

  A distraught Allison phoned her best friend, Kerry-Anne Walker, and tearfully relayed the conversation. Walker went straight around to Allison’s place at Brookfield. Allison told her there was no explanation for Gerard’s outburst. Worse still, he had delivered it so coldly. No tears or attempt to feign sadness.

  Walker told Allison she needed to leave the relationship. No one wakes up one day and says they don’t love someone anymore, unless there’s something going on. He must be seeing someone else. Allison was adamant Gerard wasn’t having an affair. She’d asked him, and he had looked her straight in the eye and denied it. Allison didn’t think there was any way Gerard could pull off a lie like that.

  Rather than turning the blame outward, she turned it inward: perhaps she was at fault. Consequently, Allison’s first act in trying to mend her limping marriage was an attempt to fix herself.