The Society Murders

The Society Murders was the name given to the April 4, 2002 murders of husband and wife millionaire socialites Margaret Mary Wales-King, 69, and husband, Paul Aloysius King, 75, by their son, Matthew Wales.

On April 4, 2002 at approximately 7pm, the victims, Margaret Wales-King and Paul King arrived at the home of Margaret's son, Matthew Wales and his wife, Maritza Wales for a family dinner engagement.

During the course of the evening, Matthew Wales added a combination of Panadeine Forte and Tenormin to vegetable soup he was preparing. He had learned earlier the drugs were likely to cause drowsiness.

As his mother and stepfather were leaving at approximately 9pm, Matthew Wales followed them outside and struck them both across the head with a piece of wood, rendering them both unconscious. Wales then covered the bodies using his child's wading pool, then drove their car to Middle Park and abandoned it there.

Wales purchased supplies such as tarpaulins and ropes and hired a trailer from a nearby garage. He then loaded his parents' bodies into the trailer and covered them with household garbage and drove them on a three hour journey to bushland in Marysville where he buried them in a shallow earth grave after a locked gate prevented a water grave in a near by body of water.

The Mercedes-Benz vehicle registered to the missing persons was located abandoned in Middle Park on April 10, 2002.

On April 29, park rangers Alan Caddy and John Gwilt discovered the burial site in bushland at Marysville. Items found with the bodies were a child's wading pool, bricks, chains, ropes and shackles, a crowbar and doona covers and sheets.
On May 10, 2002, Matthew Wales confessed to police, stating

"I couldn't live with myself any more".

Matthew Wales pleaded guilty and was convicted of the murders of Margaret Wales-King and Paul King. On April 11, 2003 Matthew Wales was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 24 years.