Cab driver named as murderer

A PREDATORY taxi driver has been identified as the man who murdered young Ipswich woman Sharron Phillips more than 30 years ago.

In an end to Queensland’s most baffling cold case mystery, police say they would have charged Raymond Peter Mulvihill with killing the 20year-old in 1986 if he were alive today.

Mulvihill died in 2002, more than 15 years after Ms Phillips vanished from a Brisbane roadside when her car ran out of fuel.

Mulvihill drove a cab that was based at the back of a convenience store in Wacol, where Ms Phillips made a phone call to her boyfriend on the night of May 9, 1986.

She had made the call at the store after approaching a nearby army barracks, but soldiers turned her away when she asked for help.

Detective Inspector Damien Hansen said investigators were confident they had their man, despite earlier speculation from Ms Phillips’ own siblings their father may have been involved.

Police were led to Ms Phillips’ killer following a tip-off from a man in May 2016. It was reportedly Mulvihill’s son.

Insp Hansen said the man had known what happened “since the night Sharron was murdered” and came forward to clear his conscience.

He is not facing any charges over the cold case. The man provided a detailed location for where Ms Phillips’ remains would be. It prompted a search of council-owned industrial land at Carole Park, but soil taken from two drains failed to find evidence.

“Forensically we didn’t find anything that provided us with any date before 2001 in that drain which indicates to us the drain had been cleaned out,” he said. “There’s certainly no record of council ever having cleaned those drains, some other event has occurred.”

But Insp Hansen said police would continue to search for Ms Phillips’ remains.