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Albert Thorn, Jordan Bottom, Ricki Smith stand trial for brutal murder of Bradley Lyons

Hugo TimmsNCA NewsWire
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The belief that a young father was sexually assaulting his stepdaughters led to his gruesome torture and eventual execution in a shallow grave surrounded by dense bushland deep in south eastern Victoria, a Melbourne court has heard.

Bradley Lyons, 30, was killed on December 2, 2018 after he was “set upon” in the marital bedroom of the Lakes Entrance home he shared with his wife, the Victorian Supreme Court heard on the opening day of the trial for his murder.

Albert Thorn, 53 at the time of the alleged offending, and Jordan Bottom and Ricki Smith, both 20 on December 2, 2018, are charged with Mr Lyons’ murder.

All three have pleaded not guilty.

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Opening the case late on Thursday afternoon, crown prosecutor Raymond Gibson QC told a jury that a shared suspicion, encouraged by Mr Lyons’ wife, Jana Hooper, that Mr Lyons had impregnated one of his stepdaughters and was the father of another step daughter’s son, was the justification of his abduction and eventual murder.

Mr Gibson told the court that after Mr Lyons had been immobilised by duct tape, he was violently beaten in order to extract a “confession” – an ordeal that included being struck with a metal pole and having a cigarette extinguished on one of his eyes.

Mr Lyons was then placed into the boot of a white Toyota Corolla sedan and taken to a rural property near Double Bridges, where Mr Thorn lived, where he was subjected to further torture on a massage table, Mr Gibson said to the jury.

Prosecutors allege Mr Thorn told Mr Bottom, who was living on the same property in a caravan with his girlfriend, that he had a “present” for him in the car, and threw Mr Bottom the keys.

Mr Gibson said later that evening Mr Thorn, Bottom and Smith drove to Gin Creek, Double Bridges, after leaving their phones at Mr Thorn’s property, so as to avoid being tracked, with Mr Lyons in the boot.

He said Mr Lyons with shot first in the leg, and then in the back of his head.

Mr Lyons’ body was discovered in March 2019.

Originally published as Albert Thorn, Jordan Bottom, Ricki Smith stand trial for brutal murder of Bradley Lyons

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