A trans-identified male responsible for the sadistic rape and killing of a young woman has avoided jail after violating the conditions of his release. Mark Richard Lawrence, who now identifies as a woman named “Maryanne,” had previousl placed under a supervision order despite concerns that he poses an imminent threat to the public.
Lawrence amassed a lengthy criminal record beginning in adolescence, years before carrying out a brutal killing that would make national headlines, once admitting to police that he had harbored violent fantasies since he was 15.
Court records show Lawrence first appeared before a judge in 1978 at age 17 after being charged with the aggravated assault of a young boy, but he was released with a warning. Within months, he was back in court facing allegations involving another young victim. The Herald Sun reported that he then received a two-year probation sentence.
In 1979, Lawrence was charged with assaulting a 17-year-old girl. He avoided imprisonment again, receiving three years’ probation and being ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation. Later that year, he was charged once more with aggravated assault against a child and fined just $75 for the crime.
By 1981, Lawrence had been committed to Wolston Park Hospital, a psychiatric institution in Queensland. While detained there, he escaped and attempted to rob a man at knifepoint. He was sentenced to four months in prison before being returned to the hospital, where he reportedly described repeated fantasies involving rape and murder.
It was at Wolston Park that Lawrence met 29-year-old Julie Ann Muirhead, another patient undergoing treatment for self-harm. Investigators later alleged that Lawrence persuaded Muirhead to leave the hospital grounds before attacking and killing her.
AUSTRALIA: A sadistic killer has "come out" as transgender while serving a sentence for the horrific rape and murder of a vulnerable woman.
— REDUXX (@reduxx) January 19, 2026
Mark Richard Lawrence is "undergoing transition" behind bars and now calls himself "Maryanne."https://t.co/61JXQVxbMM
Muirhead was reported missing on December 26, 1983. Due to staffing shortages, hospital staff reportedly did not immediately conduct a full search of the grounds. Her decomposing body was discovered on January 4 beneath a tree about 50 meters from the facility. Investigators found evidence that the body had been partially burned.
Police said Muirhead had been stripped to her underwear, with her trousers pulled down around her ankles. A towel had been wrapped around her neck, and some of her clothing could not be located.
Authorities initially considered whether Muirhead’s death may have been self-inflicted. That theory was later abandoned after investigators concluded Lawrence and fellow patient Robin Joseph Sirett, then 21, had lured her away from the facility with promises of beer in an attempt to carry out one of Lawrence’s violent sexual fantasies.
Investigators alleged Lawrence sexually assaulted Muirhead before fatally slashing her throat with a broken bottle while Sirett restrained her. The pair then allegedly attempted to burn the body.
In 1985, Lawrence and Sirett were convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. Former detective Bob Munt, who investigated the case, later said he believed Lawrence posed an ongoing danger to the public and should never be released.
“I still think he is crazy,” Munt told reporters years later. “I believe he will reoffend without doubt.”
Lawrence committed another violent offense while incarcerated at Moreton Correctional Centre in 1999, when he raped his cellmate. The conviction added seven years to his sentence. An earlier escape attempt in 1991 resulted in an additional year being added, extending his expected release date to 2008.
As that date approached, Queensland authorities sought to keep Lawrence imprisoned indefinitely under the Dangerous Prisoner (Sexual Offender) Act, arguing he remained a serious threat and continued to harbor sadistic sexual fantasies. Lawrence appealed the move, and the Supreme Court eventually ruled he could be released under strict supervision conditions.
One of those conditions required Lawrence to undergo regular injections of Goserelin Acetate, a drug used in the chemical castration of high-risk sexual offenders. However, then-attorney general Jarrod Bleijie intervened in an effort to block his release, resulting in Lawrence remaining behind bars for another decade.
Lawrence was ultimately released in April 2020 under a supervision order issued pursuant to the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003. Justice Debra Bowskill ordered him to comply with any “reasonable direction” issued by corrective services officers, including restrictions on who he could contact, for a period of 20 years.
Since 2022, Lawrence has challenged the conditions of that supervision order through the courts. In December 2024, the High Court of Australia ruled in his favor.
That same month, he was admitted to Princess Alexandra Hospital following a suspected overdose of prescription medication. While there, he exposed himself to staff and was caught masturbating, despite being on medications intended to lower his sex drive. Hospital staff reported that Lawrence was exposing his genitals and whispering to female workers to come closer to him.
Lawrence was charged with four counts of committing an indecent act with intent to insult or offend, and was briefly returned to prison. It is understood that he began identifying as transgender while in custody.
In November of 2025, he faced magistrates court where those charges were dropped and replaced with a single count of wilful exposure to offend or embarrass. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served. But despite finding that Lawrence had contravened a condition of his supervision order, he has avoided jail.
On May 22, the Supreme Court opted against sending Lawrence back to prison, and instead allowed him to remain at a special facility for convicted sex offenders in Brisbane. While not a jail, the site is near several jails and the Queensland Corrective Services Academy.
However, a forensic psychiatrist testified that if Lawrence did reoffend while on release, the crime was likely to be devastating.
“Should the respondent reoffend sexually … it may take the form of planned or impulsive violent sexual assault of a vulnerable adult or child,” Dr. Andrew Aboud said. “Any such offense would likely be driven by a need for sexual gratification. Extreme violence may be employed to subdue his victim … Given his past offending history, it must be recognized that should he reoffend, there is a potential for the offense behavior to be very serious, namely the committal of a sexually sadistic murder.”
But Dr. Aboud added that if Lawrence remained on his anti-libidinal medications, the risk was “moderate to low,” the Courier reported.
According to The Noticer, Justice Scott McLeod decided the incident at the hospital did not constitute “serious sexual offending,” and the supervision order had “in effect been working as intended.”
The state government is now looking into whether it can appeal the decision, and Deputy Premier and acting Attorney General Jarrod Bleijie said the legal advice had been requested.
While Lawrence is not allowed to leave the sex offender facility unaccompanied, he is allowed to request written permission for leave.
Under the terms of his order Lawrence must get written permission from a Queensland Corrective Services officer to go to a public park, visit a shopping centre, be in a place where there is a children’s play area or child minding area, or join any club or organization in which children are involved.