James Roughan: Depraved killer who decapitated a teenage boy and used his head ‘like a puppet’ after stabbing him 133 times gets a major parole update

A murderer who performed sickening acts on his victim’s body and decapitated him will remain behind bars thanks to new laws.

James Patrick Roughan was convicted in 2005 of murdering homeless teenager Morgan Jay Shepherd and sentenced to life in prison in 2008, which would have previously made him eligible for parole after the 15 years of his sentence.

However, the Queensland Parole Board announced on Monday it had extended Roughan’s non-parole term until at least April 2027 under strict laws introduced by the state government in 2021.

The shocking details of Roughan and co-offender Christopher Clark Jones’ crime were revealed at a 2009 hearing, which detailed how they stabbed Shepherd 133 times, mutilated his body and beheaded him at a house in Sandgate, north of Brisbane.

A witness said Jones told him Roughan “put his hand up the neck of the deceased’s severed head as if it were a puppet” and placed the deceased’s head on a post in the backyard before holding it up like a “mound rolled down’. bowling ball.

The teenager was eventually found in a shallow grave in Dayboro bushland in April 2005 after an anonymous tip led police to the body.

Shepherd’s body was found mutilated. A pathologist described 51 wounds on the left leg, 68 on the right leg, 10 stab wounds on the buttocks, three on the upper back and one on the abdomen.

Police also found a wood saw, carpet and bloodstained clothing in the house where Mr Shepherd was murdered.

Although neither man admitted to killing the teen, a witness testified that Jones later bragged about his crime, which followed an argument he had with the victim.

“Chris said he stomped on him a little bit and then got a knife from the kitchen, stabbed him in the back, stabbed him a few times and then gave the knife to James and James stabbed him a few times,” the witness said to the Supreme Court. Court 2007.

‘Then James cut off the head and Chris pulled it off. James nodded… (he) had a little grin on his face. Chris was joking about the situation.”

Police also found a wood saw, carpet and bloodstained clothing in the home where Shepherd was killed

The judge presiding over the trial said the teenager’s murder was the worst case she had ever heard.

Michael Byrne KC, chairman of the Parole Board, said the decision to declare Roughan a restricted prisoner meant his 2020 application for parole under the Act was postponed and also rejected.

Mr Byrne the decisions were made in relation to the ‘nature, seriousness and circumstances of the offense for which the prisoner has been sentenced to life imprisonment’.

The board said they also took into account “the risk that the inmate may pose to the public if the inmate is released on parole,” “the likely effect that the inmate’s parole may have on an eligible person or a victim’,

Under the 2021 crackdown, Roughan is the seventh Queensland prisoner to be declared a restricted prisoner.

A person convicted of murdering a child or murdering multiple people may be barred from applying for parole for up to ten years after the date of eligibility, and this may be repeated multiple times.

Roughan’s co-offender Christopher Clark Jones (pictured left) was released on parole in 2020 but deported to Britain

In July 2020, it was reported that despite being sentenced to life in prison, Jones had been released on parole but deported back to Britain.

There he was seen living in an expensive hotel at the expense of the taxpayers, living like a free man.

Born in the northern English city of Tyneside, Jones moved to Australia as a child but never took citizenship in his adopted home.

His visa was revoked by Morrison’s Home Secretary Peter Dutton because he was “deemed not to be of good character”.