Barrie John Watts: Queensland man who raped and killed Sunshine Coast schoolgirl Sian Kingi fails in parole bid

Child killer Barrie John Watts, who raped and murdered 12-year-old schoolgirl Sian Kingi more than 35 years ago in one of Queensland’s most horrific crimes, has failed in his latest bid for freedom.

Watts and his then-wife Valmae Beck were convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1990 for killing the Noosa girl on the Sunshine Coast in 1987.

Sian was cycling home from school in Noosa Heads when she was asked to help look for a supposedly lost dog.

They tied and gagged her, then drove her about 12 kilometers to the Tinbeerwah forest, where they raped and stabbed her several times.

At trial, Beck pleaded guilty to Sian’s kidnapping and rape, but not guilty to murder.

Watts pleaded not guilty.

Beck, a mother of six, changed her name to Fay Cramb and died in a north Queensland hospital in May 2008, aged 64.

Watts was first eligible for parole on December 15, 2000.

Now he has been denied parole again.

Queensland Parole Board chairman Michael Byrne issued a statement saying Watts would not be able to reapply for parole until February 2034.

“I have made this statement due to the nature, severity and circumstances of the crime for which the prisoner was sentenced to life imprisonment,” he said.

‘(Furthermore, due to) the risk that the prisoner may pose to the public if granted parole, and the possible effect that the prisoner’s release on parole may have on an eligible person or victim.

“Consequently, the prisoner’s request for parole received on October 14, 2022, which was postponed, is rejected…”

It comes after laws for the state’s worst killers were introduced in 2021, following a public call to keep Watts locked up.

The laws allow the president of the Parole Board to prevent child murderers and those who have murdered multiple people from applying for parole up to 10 years after their eligibility date.

Multiple statements can be made against a person considered a restricted inmate.

The laws could also apply to other killers in the future, such as Daniel Morcombe’s killer Brett Peter Cowan and triple murderers Max Sica and Scott Maygar.