REMEMBERING THE SOCIETY MURDERS
TWENTY YEARS ON, THE INTRIGUE OF THE SOCIETY MURDERS CONTINUES TO GRIP AUSTRALIA
The 2002 killings of Melbourne millionaire socialite Margaret Wales-king and her husband, Paul King, by her son Matthew Wales was labelled ‘The Society Murders’ for the way revenge tore the prestigious family apart and resulted in tragedy.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the shocking case, in which a son unleashed a ferocious attack on his mother, who he claimed dominated his life, and stepfather, who he blamed for breaking up their family.
What made the case so bizarre was that Wales lied repeatedly about his crime, yet left a trail of obvious clues that police followed – which led to him being charged with the double homicide.
The case became so infamous, it resulted in the book, The Society Murders, and a 2006 Logie-winning telemovie starring Georgie Parker and Matthew Le Nevez.
Greg Haddrick was coscriptwriter of the telemovie and believes the case is well remembered for its insight behind the facade of a seemingly happy family.
“The general public had a voyeuristic fascination with this case,” Greg tells New Idea.
“The questions of ‘how’ and ‘why’ were particularly intriguing when the family involved were good people. In those circumstances, I think many Australians wondered if it could happen to them.”
Wales was the youngest of Margaret’s five children with her first husband, Brian Wales. He resented what he claimed was his mother’s domineering personality and financial control of him. He also resented the break-up of his parents’ marriage years before, and her subsequent relationship with Paul King.
But there were also financial tensions in the family, which reached boiling point in late 2001 when Margaret announced changes to a property deal.
Margaret’s estate was reportedly worth $5 million.
Recognising just how financially dependent on his mother he still was at age 34 – especially after he had married Chilean-born Maritza only a few years earlier and became father to a son, Domenik – proved to be Wales’ breaking point.
On Thursday April 4, Wales invited Margaret and Paul to dinner, and proceeded to drug their soup. At 9.45pm, the drowsy older couple announced they were going home, and as they walked across a courtyard, Wales beat them repeatedly with a piece of timber.
Maritza later claimed she had been upstairs at the time and when she looked outside, saw her in-laws’ bodies lying on the ground.
Wales then dragged their bodies inside the garage and wrapped them in doona covers. He hired a trailer, and purchased cords, chains, a mattock and bricks from a hardware store. He next bought a map and drove to Marysville in outer Melbourne, where he buried them in bushland. To complete his revenge, he buried Margaret under
‘THE QUESTIONS OF HOW AND WHY WERE INTRIGUING’
Paul, in an attempt to subvert what he saw as her dominating presence.
Four days later, his siblings reported the couple missing, but Wales failed to reveal Margaret and Paul had dinner at his home the night they disappeared. Police soon noticed Wales’
erratic behaviour, especially his reluctance to assist with the investigation.
Weeks later, park rangers discovered the bodies buried in a Marysville forest. Maritza finally revealed to lawyers what happened, and the next day Wales confessed to the murders.
Autopsies on the bodies, however, revealed the couple had been strangled and their injuries were not restricted to blunt force trauma.
These details contradicted Wales’ account of the killings, and his siblings wanted to challenge his version of events.
“His account was selfserving, and based on selfish opportunity and selfish greed. We believe we have a right to the full facts,” the family said in an official statement.
Greg Haddrick believes their questions added to the intrigue. “It is difficult to ever know the complete truth,” he says. “A very good police investigation arrived at the correct answer, but the telemovie and that investigation also say the closer you look into exactly who said what, when and why, the harder it is to be absolutely definitive about every detail.”
On April 11, 2003, Wales was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment for the murders, without chance of parole until 2027. Maritza was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and received a twoyear suspended sentence.
Justice John Coldrey said Wales felt no remorse for the killings and had told a psychiatrist his actions were morally justified. The family continued to question Wales and Maritza’s accounts, and wanted a further inquest.
“It’s more important to reflect on and learn from what the reaction to the case said about us as a community and our instinctive desire to put others under the microscope, than to focus on the people and family involved,” Greg adds.