The mother of a former police officer who allegedly murdered Luke Davies and Jesse Baird two years ago has been charged after allegedly attempting to influence a key witness to change their evidence in her son’s trial.
New South Wales police said Coleen Lamarre, 63, was arrested in Balmain and charged with perverting the course of justice, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
Coleen, who is a former employee of NSW police, was refused bail and will appear before the bail division court on Thursday.
Her son, Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, was charged with double murder in February 2024 after police found the bodies of former TV presenter Baird, 26, who the officer had a prior casual relationship with, and Baird’s partner, Davies, a 29-year-old Qantas flight attendant.
Lamarre-Condon, who is in custody, is alleged to have shot the couple with his police pistol at Baird’s inner-city home before allegedly attempting to dispose of the bodies. The couple’s bodies were found on 27 February inside surfboard bags at the fence line of a rural property in Bungonia, near Goulburn, about 200km south-west of Sydney.
He is due to face trial in September, with it expected to go for two to three months.
In November 2024, Lamarre-Condon’s high-profile defence lawyer, John Walford, was replaced by Legal Aid representation. Legal Aid later withdrew, and his lawyer is now solicitor Ben Archbold.
Lamarre-Condon was sacked by the NSW police force a few weeks after the alleged murders.
He joined the force in 2019 and previously ran a celebrity blog, posing in photos with dozens of A-listers including Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Harry Styles.
The alleged murder, which occurred in the lead-up to Mardi Gras, sparked a request by the Mardi Gras board for the police to not march in the parade. The police went ahead but were in plainclothes.
Former police commissioner Karen Webb also came under fire for comments made about the alleged murder after described the case as a “crime of passion”. She later apologised after the comments drew fierce criticism, saying they were intended to distinguish the case from a gay hate crime.
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