Jail after guilty plea to mother’s manslaughter

A GOLD Coast man who confessed to the manslaughter of his mother nine years after she disappeared has been jailed for at least four years and nine months.

Daniel Paul Heazlewood was initially charged with murder over the June 2009 death of his mother Linda Sidon but last week pleaded guilty to the downgraded charge of manslaughter at Brisbane Supreme Court.

He was sentenced yesterday to a maximum eight years behind bars for her manslaughter and a total of 11 years and six months for that and other charges, including five drug offences.

“You were the deceased’s own son. You disrespected her completely,” Judge David Boddice said in sentencing.

“That conduct involves disgraceful behaviour.”

After being arrested in 2015, Heazlewood helped police search for his mother’s body in Gold Coast bushland, but it has never been found. Police said at the time the two-day search was hampered by the length of time since her disappearance.

Ms Sidon, a New Zealand-born part-time cleaner who had a history of anxiety, anorexia and depression, was initially thought to have taken her own life. Her father reported her missing almost 18 months after she was last seen in June 2009.