The South Australian man killed his fiancee and his mother was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for helping cover up her son`s crime.
In August 2015, Neil Archer murdered his fiancee, and his mother, Margaret Archer, was convicted for helping to cover up the crime by aiding the murder.
After a party in his home town of Mannum east of Adelaide, Mr. Archer quarreled with his fiancee, Jody Meyers, and strangled Jody Meyers with a cord from his hooded jumper.
A month after her disappearance, Jody Meyers`s body was found under a concrete slab in Ms. Archer`s backyard shed.
Judge Paul Muscat sentenced Ms. Archer to six and a half years` imprisonment without parole for four years. "not only did you allow your son to bury Jody Meyer`s body under your garden shed, you also used Jody`s own money to buy cement to bury her," he said. "you texted Jody Meyer`s mother to think her daughter was alive and safe, and in fact you knew your son had killed her, and her body was buried under your shed."
Judge Muscat revealed today that while covering up the crime, Ms. Archer involved two other children, asking them to buy more concrete, destroy the evidence and lie to the police. He described the crime as systematic, shocking and deliberate, and found it to be at the highest end of the spectrum.
He points out that Ms. Meyers and Neil Archer`s two-year-old son, who was taken care of by Margaret Archer at the time, certainly wanted to know where his mother was. Judge Muscat said that Ms. Meyers`s family had every right to be angry with Ms. Archer. "you gave Jody Meyers`s family false hope that she was alive and you lied to them in the most cruel way," he said.
Fearing that his family was trying to break them up, there was a debate in which Mr. Archer killed Ms. Meyers. Neil Archer was sentenced to life in prison for murder and is now serving a 22-year non-parole sentence.
