Christopher Testa
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🔮 Police say a report will be prepared for the coroner.
🔮 "Your extravagance included spending almost $1 million of the money you stole on retail expenditure," Judge Treviño said.
"A quarter of a million of that sum on clothing and shoes alone."
A forensic investigation could not account for $300,000 but the court heard Lawson accepted she used the Johnstons' money to buy into a clothing boutique.
"
🔮 As members of the Johnston family started new businesses, Lawson would begin defrauding them, hiding payments on the books under the names of false employees, the court heard.
🔮 The inquest has heard Ms Butterfield's landline made frequent calls to the number of a Cairns man named Victor Varga in the weeks before she went missing but police didn't follow that up until two decades later.
What's next?
Lawyers are due to make submissions next month before Coroner Stephanie Williams considers her findings.
It took police more than 20 years to speak with a man who likely had frequent phone contact with missing Far North Queensland mother Joanne Butterfield in the weeks before she disappeared, a coronial inquest has heard.
🔮 To some, Ms Butterfield appeared troubled in the lead-up to her disappearance, telling friends and acquaintances her children would be better off if she left town.
🔮 Mr Eaton said he would have been "surprised" to find any biological material given the time that had passed.
🔮 An inquest into Ms Butterfield's disappearance began today in Cairns, examining whether she may still be alive, and the adequacy of the police investigation into her suspected death.
🔮 Judge Dean Morzone KC found an investigating officer's decision to insert a paragraph into the complainant's statement created a "fundamental defect" that would prevent a fair trial.
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