Robin Reid (criminal)
Encyclopedia
Robin Reid is an Australia
n criminal currently serving a life sentence
at Goulburn Correctional Centre
for the sexual assault
, torture
and murder
of 13-year-old Brisbane
schoolboy, Peter Aston in 1982.
Reid and his accomplice, fellow Australian military personnel, Paul Luckman (now known as Nicole Louise Pearce), kidnapped
School boys Peter Aston and Terry Ryan on the Gold Coast, QLD
on the 4 May 1982. Reid and Luckman then drove the boys at gun and knife point to Kingscliff NSW
, where they were beaten and tortured, and Peter Aston was ultimately murdered.
, England
, and migrated to Australia with his family in 1961, where they settled in Queensland
. He worked in laboring and sales, and at some point developed an interest with various knives, bows and arrows. Reid joined the Army in 1972, and was stationed at Enoggera
, where he met his future accomplice, 17 year old Paul Luckman. The two became close, sharing interests in weapons, violence
, sexual torture fantasies, Satanism
and homosexuality
; Reid was given the army base nickname "Head-job Bob".
to his hometown of Melbourne
to join his brother. Peter's school friend, Terry Ryan, agreed to keep him company until he reached the Gold Coast, and then planned to go back home.
The two caught the train to Beenleigh
and bought some clothes, then proceeded to hitchhike south, down the gold coast highway. After a short while they came across a yellow 4WD Daihatsu and its occupants Reid and Luckman, who offered to give the boys a lift down the coast.
Not long on the road, the two boys were threatened at knife and gunpoint by the two men, who then drove the car over the Queensland/New South Wales
border, into the beach-side town of Kingscliff, where they forced the two boys out of the car and down a secluded beach track.
Reid and Luckman then bound, sexually assaulted and savagely beat the two boys. Terry was also forced by the two men to bash and assault his friend Peter. Peter Aston was stabbed
, tortured and eventually buried alive
. By this point, Terry Ryan had reasoned with his attackers and they agreed to drive him home.
Terry later told police - "They got everything they had, put it in the car and drove off, and me too, and they drove me back home. While we were driving they told me that they were Satan worshippers and they had to do it [kill Peter Aston] for the sacrifice
."
to report the horrendous kidnapping, and murder of his friend. Robin Reid and Paul Luckman attempted to escape in a car they stole from a fellow army private at the Enoggera army base. The two were apprehended on the New England Highway
. Further evidence and weapons were found in the pair's stolen car.
At the army base, a search was conducted of the room that Robin Reid shared with Paul Luckman. Police took possession of several of Reid’s sword
s, spear
s and counted 37 knives of different shapes and sizes. Further search among various books of gay literature and Satanism in Reid and Luckman's room revealed a photograph album containing clusters of men’s pubic hair
taped onto each page. Police also found a notebook,in which one of them had handwritten essays about leading a boy down a bush track at knife point and then holding him in a headlock with a knife at his throat while he undressed him.
Robin Reid and Paul Luckman were formally charged with the murder of Peter Aston, and Reid was also charged with threatening to inflict bodily harm
on Terry Ryan. They were refused bail
and taken into custody.
Robin Reid was taken by police on a tour of the murder scene, where he explained in intricate detail exactly what happened on the night of the murder. Police reported he boasted proudly of sick exploits, and seemed to be immensely enjoying his “15 minutes of fame”.
Reid and Luckman's committal hearing was held at Tweed Heads Court
on 4 August. At the time of the hearing there was massive public outrage, media coverage and death threats aimed at the two child murderers. The case was transferred to the Sydney
Supreme Court with a jury of three women and nine men. The trial began on 8 November 1982. Paul Luckman pleaded 'not guilty' and Robin Reid pleaded 'not guilty by reason of insanity
'.
Although they were partners in the horrific murder, Reid and Luckman tried franticly to blame each other for the slaying. Despite both men’s attempts to lay blame on the other, Reid and Luckman were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
to Nicole Louise Pearce, grew long hair and commenced daily hormone treatment to grow breasts but did not undergo sex-change operation surgery at that time. Consequently, in the early nineties, he was confined at Cooma near the Snowy Mountains in Southern New South Wales, in a jail for male sex offenders. While there, she was known by the name Pearce and treated as a woman but still had a penis at that time and was granted a degree of privacy during shower time. On 26 October 1999, she was released from the Kirkconnell Correctional Centre
, a minimum security male-only facility in inland New South Wales. If surgery was ever carried out, it was done after her confinement at Cooma, probably after confinement at Kirkconnell.
Since imprisonment, Robin Reid has been kept in protective custody
for his own safety. Reid applied for a re-determination of his sentence on 26 November 1998, and was re-sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 24 years, meaning that he would be eligible for parole
in 2006. In March 2010, Reid had his third parole application rejected.
episode "Buried Alive: Luckman and Reid"
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n criminal currently serving a life sentence
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
at Goulburn Correctional Centre
Goulburn Correctional Centre
The Goulburn Correctional Centre is an Australian maximum and 'Super Maximum' security male prison located in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia....
for the sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of 13-year-old Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
schoolboy, Peter Aston in 1982.
Reid and his accomplice, fellow Australian military personnel, Paul Luckman (now known as Nicole Louise Pearce), kidnapped
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
School boys Peter Aston and Terry Ryan on the Gold Coast, QLD
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
on the 4 May 1982. Reid and Luckman then drove the boys at gun and knife point to Kingscliff NSW
Kingscliff, New South Wales
Kingscliff is a coastal town just south of Tweed Heads in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, and is part of Tweed Shire. At the 2006 census, Kingscliff had a population of 6,016 people....
, where they were beaten and tortured, and Peter Aston was ultimately murdered.
Early life
Robin Reid was born in HampshireHampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and migrated to Australia with his family in 1961, where they settled in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. He worked in laboring and sales, and at some point developed an interest with various knives, bows and arrows. Reid joined the Army in 1972, and was stationed at Enoggera
Enoggera Barracks
Enoggera Barracks is an Australian Army base in the northwestern Brisbane suburb of Enoggera in Queensland.-History:...
, where he met his future accomplice, 17 year old Paul Luckman. The two became close, sharing interests in weapons, violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
, sexual torture fantasies, Satanism
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
and homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
; Reid was given the army base nickname "Head-job Bob".
The kidnapping of Peter Aston and Terry Ryan
On the morning of 4 May 1982, Brisbane schoolboy Peter Aston decided to hitchhikeHitchhiking
Hitchhiking is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle to travel a distance that may either be short or long...
to his hometown of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
to join his brother. Peter's school friend, Terry Ryan, agreed to keep him company until he reached the Gold Coast, and then planned to go back home.
The two caught the train to Beenleigh
Beenleigh, Queensland
Beenleigh is a suburb in the Logan City area of Queensland, Australia. Beenleigh and adjoining suburbs are located near the confluence of the Logan and Albert rivers...
and bought some clothes, then proceeded to hitchhike south, down the gold coast highway. After a short while they came across a yellow 4WD Daihatsu and its occupants Reid and Luckman, who offered to give the boys a lift down the coast.
Not long on the road, the two boys were threatened at knife and gunpoint by the two men, who then drove the car over the Queensland/New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
border, into the beach-side town of Kingscliff, where they forced the two boys out of the car and down a secluded beach track.
Reid and Luckman then bound, sexually assaulted and savagely beat the two boys. Terry was also forced by the two men to bash and assault his friend Peter. Peter Aston was stabbed
Stabbing
A stabbing is penetration with a sharp or pointed object at close range. Stab connotes purposeful action, as by an assassin or murderer, but it is also possible to accidentally stab oneself or others.Stabbing differs from slashing or cutting in that the motion of the object used in a stabbing...
, tortured and eventually buried alive
Premature burial
Premature burial, also known as live burial, burial alive, or vivisepulture, means to be buried while still alive. Animals or humans may be buried alive accidentally or intentionally...
. By this point, Terry Ryan had reasoned with his attackers and they agreed to drive him home.
Terry later told police - "They got everything they had, put it in the car and drove off, and me too, and they drove me back home. While we were driving they told me that they were Satan worshippers and they had to do it [kill Peter Aston] for the sacrifice
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...
."
Arrest and Trial
Terry Ryan immediately told his mother, who drove him to the police stationPolice station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
to report the horrendous kidnapping, and murder of his friend. Robin Reid and Paul Luckman attempted to escape in a car they stole from a fellow army private at the Enoggera army base. The two were apprehended on the New England Highway
New England Highway
The New England Highway is a highway in Australia running from Hexham near Newcastle at its southern end to Yarraman near Toowoomba at its northern end. At its southern end it connects to the Pacific Highway and at its northern end it connects to the D'Aguilar Highway. It traverses the Hunter...
. Further evidence and weapons were found in the pair's stolen car.
At the army base, a search was conducted of the room that Robin Reid shared with Paul Luckman. Police took possession of several of Reid’s sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s, spear
Spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...
s and counted 37 knives of different shapes and sizes. Further search among various books of gay literature and Satanism in Reid and Luckman's room revealed a photograph album containing clusters of men’s pubic hair
Pubic hair
Pubic hair is hair in the frontal genital area, the crotch, and sometimes at the top of the inside of the legs; these areas form the pubic region....
taped onto each page. Police also found a notebook,in which one of them had handwritten essays about leading a boy down a bush track at knife point and then holding him in a headlock with a knife at his throat while he undressed him.
Robin Reid and Paul Luckman were formally charged with the murder of Peter Aston, and Reid was also charged with threatening to inflict bodily harm
Bodily harm
Bodily harm is a legal term of art used in the definition of both statutory and common law offences in Australia, Canada, England and Wales and other common law jurisdictions. It is a synonym for injury or bodily injury and similar expressions, though it may be used with a precise and limited...
on Terry Ryan. They were refused bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
and taken into custody.
Robin Reid was taken by police on a tour of the murder scene, where he explained in intricate detail exactly what happened on the night of the murder. Police reported he boasted proudly of sick exploits, and seemed to be immensely enjoying his “15 minutes of fame”.
Reid and Luckman's committal hearing was held at Tweed Heads Court
Tweed Heads, New South Wales
Tweed Heads is a town located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia in Tweed Shire. Tweed Heads is located next to the border with Queensland, adjacent to the "Twin Town" of Coolangatta, a suburb of the Gold Coast...
on 4 August. At the time of the hearing there was massive public outrage, media coverage and death threats aimed at the two child murderers. The case was transferred to the Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
Supreme Court with a jury of three women and nine men. The trial began on 8 November 1982. Paul Luckman pleaded 'not guilty' and Robin Reid pleaded 'not guilty by reason of insanity
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
'.
Although they were partners in the horrific murder, Reid and Luckman tried franticly to blame each other for the slaying. Despite both men’s attempts to lay blame on the other, Reid and Luckman were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Aftermath
In 1990, Paul Luckman, who considered himself to be female, changed his name by deed pollDeed poll
A deed poll is a legal document binding only to a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an active intention...
to Nicole Louise Pearce, grew long hair and commenced daily hormone treatment to grow breasts but did not undergo sex-change operation surgery at that time. Consequently, in the early nineties, he was confined at Cooma near the Snowy Mountains in Southern New South Wales, in a jail for male sex offenders. While there, she was known by the name Pearce and treated as a woman but still had a penis at that time and was granted a degree of privacy during shower time. On 26 October 1999, she was released from the Kirkconnell Correctional Centre
Kirkconnell Correctional Centre
Kirkconnell Correctional Centre is a minimum security Australian male prison located 30 km east of Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia.It is located in the Sunny Corner State Forest and has a fully trained bushfire fighting team comprising both prison staff and inmates.-References:...
, a minimum security male-only facility in inland New South Wales. If surgery was ever carried out, it was done after her confinement at Cooma, probably after confinement at Kirkconnell.
Since imprisonment, Robin Reid has been kept in protective custody
Protective custody
Protective custody is a type of imprisonment to protect a prisoner from harm, either from outside sources or other prisoners. Many administrators believe the level of violence, or the underlying threat of violence within prisoners, is a chief factor causing the need for PC units...
for his own safety. Reid applied for a re-determination of his sentence on 26 November 1998, and was re-sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 24 years, meaning that he would be eligible for parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
in 2006. In March 2010, Reid had his third parole application rejected.
Media
The murder of Peter Aston was depicted in the Crime Investigation AustraliaCrime Investigation Australia
Crime Investigation Australia is an Australian true-crime series that first premiered on Foxtel's Crime & Investigation Network in August 2005. The series is also rebroadcast on the Nine Network, and made its debut there on 14 August 2007. The host of the series is Steve Liebmann.-Production:The...
episode "Buried Alive: Luckman and Reid"