BF2S Forums Murdered for Honey

A man has been found guilty of murdering a fellow beekeeper so he could steal his honey.

Donald Robert Alcock, 34, was charged with shooting Anthony Ross Knight in the back as the beekeeper slept at his home at Woodford, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, in May 2007.

A jury took less than a day to find Alcock guilty of murder.

He will serve an automatic life sentence.

The Brisbane Supreme Court was told Alcock, who pleaded not guilty, was in serious financial trouble when he went to Mr Knight's property with the intention of stealing honey worth $40,000.

Alcock made the decision to shoot Mr Knight when he realised he could not steal the barrels and tubs of honey without waking him.

He later confessed his deed, telling police: "If Tony was home I was going to have to maim him or hurt him bad if I was going to knock off the honey".

"I was only out to hurt him, I wasn't out to kill him," Alcock told officers.

"I thought (the bullet) would go straight through him actually."

Alcock, who lived in Tenterfield at the time, loaded the largest tubs of honey onto the back of his truck and drove them to a major honey distributor, the court was told.

But he became pinned under one 1,400kg tub as he tried to unload it from the truck, prosecutors told the court.

Emergency services officers were called and Alcock was taken to hospital while police took photographs of the scene.

The photos showed special markings on the tubs that identified them as Mr Knight's property.

Alcock returned to Mr Knight's property after he was discharged from hospital later that day, and stole some remaining drums of honey.

Mr Knight's decomposed body was found on June 4.

An autopsy revealed the 41-year-old had been shot once in the back, and that a fragment of the bullet had exited from his neck, with the rest lodging in his spine.