A convicted killer has argued he should not be held by the "no body, no parole" law in Queensland as his victim's missing remains probably no longer existed.
Matthew Leslie Armitage was convicted, along with his father Stephen John Armitage and a third man, William Francis Dean, of the torture and manslaughter of Gold Coast man Shaun Barker and interfering with his corpse.
The three men abducted Mr Barker and kept him in a large Esky on the suspicion he had stolen an ingredient for manufacturing methamphetamine.
Sections of Mr Barker's charred remains were found in April 2014 at the Toolara State Forest about 160km north of Brisbane. Some burnt bones were found in a fire pit.
About 15 to 20 per cent of Mr Barker's remains have never been recovered, including his shin bone, and both hands and feet.
Armitage, then aged 29, was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in 2020 and required to serve 80 per cent of his sentence.
In a bid for release on parole earlier this month, Armitage argued that Queensland's no body, no parole law did not apply as unrecovered parts of Mr Barker's body would now have been completely destroyed through fire, weather effects, decomposition and animal activity.
In a judgment handed down on Friday, Justice Melanie Hindman denied the application in part due to it not being the parole board's role to speculate on the condition of Mr Barker's unrecovered body parts.
"That speculation would occur in the possible absence of any helpful information from the prisoner," Justice Hindman said.
Justice Hindman said having a prisoner provide as much information as possible to aid in the return of a body was the crucial part of "no body no parole".
"(There are) circumstances where part of the body or part of the remains of the victim will not be locatable because of a cause other than the act or omission of the prisoner," Justice Hindman said.
Justice Hindman said Armitage's parole application did not claim that he had provided full co-operation that had nevertheless failed to result in locating Mr Barker's missing remains. He had simply argued "no body, no parole" did not apply in his case.
Australian Associated Press
