Son admits killing mum

A GOLD COAST man has admitted unlawfully killing his mother and interfering with her corpse, nine years after she disappeared and was believed to have committed suicide.

Daniel Paul Heazlewood faced a murder charge over the June 2009 death of his mother Linda Sidon but pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday.

The court instead accepted his guilty plea to the downgraded charge of manslaughter.

Ms Sidon’s body has never been found despite Heazlewood assisting police with their search in Gold Coast bushland after his 2015 arrest.

Police said at the time the two-day search was hampered by the length of time since her disappearance.

Ms Sidon – a New Zealandborn part-time cleaner who had a history of anxiety, anorexia and depression – was reported missing by her father almost 18 months after she was last seen in June 2009.

The 46-year-old was initially thought to have taken her own life but information given to police in 2015 heightened their suspicion she had been murdered. Heazlewood, aged 28 at the time of his arrest, was detained after a two-day search of the government housing unit he and his mother had shared before her disappearance.

He will remain in custody until his sentencing on May 14.