Sharron Phillips: Sister of missing woman says father's alibi is flawed

BY: Josh Bavas

The sister of missing Brisbane woman Sharron Phillips says there are flaws in her father’s alibi which she alerted police to months before he died.

Donna Anderson (nee Phillips) is urging cold case detectives to begin searching bush land near their old family home at Riverview, Ipswich.

Ms Anderson was 24-years-old when her younger sister vanished after running out of petrol in Wacol, about 10 kilometres from home on May 8, 1986.

While her body was never found, her belongings were located close to her abandoned car.

Her father Bob Phillips recovered the car from the site and had also been to her Archerfield apartment before police searched them for evidence.

But on the night his daughter disappeared he had told police he was interstate, picking up a truck.

Ms Anderson said she only realised there were flaws in her father’s story 10 years ago, after hearing his alibi story for the first time.

“I had been estranged from the family for around 17 years at that time, quite happily I might add,” she said.

“Yes my father told everyone he owned a truck and had a driver, this was a lie he told to cover the fact he was always home as he had been on the pension since the late 70s.

“Yes he did odd jobs on the side all while on the pension but I had never heard his alibi before.

“I had honestly thought the reason Sharron hadn’t called dad [after running out of petrol] was because he would have berated her, for want of a better word.

“He would rant and rave like a madman and was violent to his sons and could have been with Sharron.”

Ms Anderson said she contacted police on several occasions prior to her father’s death in 2015.

“If one of them 30 years ago had asked us about dad’s alibi, I wouldn’t be having to do all this,” she said.

“They let my family down.

“Dad said he was protecting us, I now believe he was protecting himself.

“I was naive but not stupid and as I had younger brothers and sisters I thought it was a reasonable thing to ask.

“I thought the police were doing their job and if they had needed to question me they would have come to my home and done so.”

On Friday, police seized the diaries of Sharron’s mother, Dawn Phillips, from retired detective inspector Bob Dallow.

In a statement, a Queensland police spokeswoman said the 30-year-old cold case was “progressing”.

During an inquest into his daughter’s disappearance, Mr Phillips, who died last August, was scathing of the police investigation and appealed to the public for information on several occasions.

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This post originally appeared on ABC News.