THE CHERMSIDE TOMAHAWK MURDER (1959)
In 1983, Brisbane residents were shocked to read of a campaign to release a forgotten murderer from behind the bars of Boggo Road Jail. Wife killer, Jack Foy 66, was at the time Queensland’s longest serving prisoner. His savage crime, his first and only offense shocked the people of Chermside 24 years earlier.
Left: Jack Foy 1959
Right:Jack Foy 1983
Out on the “back track” of Number 2 Division at Boggo Road Gaol, a lonely lifer weeded and swept. This elderly figure caused no trouble and longed to hear the sound of birds once again. When asked by a new prison officer what he was in for, Jack Foy would reply ‘I got life because his wife nagged me’.
Though now a frail crippled old man, on the 18th of June 1959 Jack Foy was a fit, hardworking labourer, well-liked by his neighbours and friends, but also an alcoholic.
The 42 year-old council worker and local handy-man was addicted to drink. He and his wife Lola 41, lived in Kingsmill Street Chermside. Jack was an epileptic and should not have been drinking; a fact Lola reminded him of daily. It seems that her nagging resulted in Jack picking up a tomahawk and striking her in the head. The Foy’s neighbour Mrs Jarvis was horrified when Jack walked over to the fence and handed over his little daughter saying ‘I’ve killed Lola, could you look after the kids and call the Police?’
Foy seemed like an unlikely killer in late 1983 after 25 years in Prison, Jack Foy was released to die as a free man.
When does “life” imprisonment mean for life?
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THE HUSBAND WHO DROWNED HIS WIFE (1961)
The public interest in and media coverage of the trial of Gerard Baden Clay mirrors that of half a century ago when Dutchman Hank Plomp claimed his pregnant wife vanished at night after a swim. When 30 year-old Brisbane City Council bus driver Hendrikus Plomp staggered out of the surf at Southport 53 years ago to report his wife Fay missing, something didn’t add up. The saga of Plomp would carry on for years in Queensland’s courts and newspapers, and inside the walls of Boggo Road Gaol where Plomp was to serve his time. Like the case of Baden Clay, no one saw what actually happened.
Hank Plomp and his wife Fay, lived in Petrel Street Inala, Brisbane. They had two young children, Faye was pregnant with a third, at the time of the tragedy.
On February 24, 1961 Plomp took his wife to the Gold Coast on a day trip. At 6.30pm they drove to Southport. Fay, a good swimmer wanted to have one last dip at Main Beach, they entered the water leaving their son in their car.
What happened next depended on who’s version you believe. Police maintained that Plomp told them that waves knocked he and his wife over twice and that Fay was dragged under. Plomp grabbed the shoulder strap of her swim suit, but it broke and she disappeared underwater. Plomp then raised the alarm at a nearby shop ; Police were called. This version of events relayed by Plomp was later denied by him. Detectives claimed that when her body was found later that night her shoulder straps were intact.
Fay’s family and friends suspicions of murder were confirmed 45 minutes before her funeral when Hank claimed his wife’s insurance. Plomp it seemed had been living a sordid lie. After his wife’s death, he was put on trial for rape of another woman and it was revealed he had a mistress, who he had promised to marry. It seemed he had taken the advice of a work colleague ‘If you want to get rid of your wife, the easiest way is to take her swimming and hold her under. Then feel sorry and start to cry.’
The council bus driver had thought his plan to be cunningly simple. Ultimately a jury convicted him of murder after just 90 minutes. After many years Plomp was released from Boggo Road Gaol after a series of appeals against his conviction… He returned to Holland taking his family with him.
The question remains: was the shoulder strap broken or intact?
Listen to True Crimes – every Thursday at 9.30pm on Radio 4BC for this and more crime stories. Next THE CHERMSIDE TOMAHAWK MURDER (1959)