12:00a.m. 11th October 2008

| By Toby Walker

Lawnton forklift driver Thomas Standish had made a drunken nuisance of himself. For that, he paid with his life.

The 47-year-old met one of his killers, then 26-year-old Damian James Frame, for the first time on June 27, 2006, when the pair embarked on a long drinking session.

They had appeared separately in court earlier that day on minor matters.

They eventually made it back to the Gailes house that Mr Frame shared with Michael John McPhee, then 39.

Mr Standish’s alcohol-fuelled antics into the evening soon started to annoy his new acquaintances.

When Mr Frame and Mr McPhee asked him to go, Mr Standish sat down on their couch, crossed his arms and refused to leave, leading the housemates to force him out of the home.

But when their unwanted visitor maintained his vigil outside the front door, the situation escalated.

Although Mr McPhee and Mr Frame later disputed each other’s versions of how Mr Standish died, it was alleged Mr McPhee ordered Mr Frame to fetch some masking tape from inside the house while he held Mr Standish and allegedly punched him in the face repeatedly.

Mr Frame returned with the tape shortly and the pair wrapped it around his head and mouth before carrying him into their garage.

It is believed Mr Standish died shortly after Mr McPhee’s alleged assault, but the cause of his death was never established.

Besser blocks were tied to Mr Standish’s body and a knife used to slit his stomach to make him sink faster when he was tossed in Goong Creek at Beachmere.

Four days later, the corpse was spotted by some children.

Yesterday there was no hint of Mr McPhee’s and Mr Frame’s past friendship as they sat at either end of the prisoners’ dock in the Queensland Supreme Court to be sentenced on charges of manslaughter and interfering with Mr Standish’s body.

Justice James Douglas described the incident as “a clumsy and ridiculous attempt to silence a man who was being a nuisance”.

He sentenced Mr McPhee to eight-and-a-half years in jail, and Mr Frame to seven-and-a-half years.

Mr McPhee will be eligible for parole in May 2011.

Mr Frame will be eligible for parole in August next year, having served almost two years in pre-sentence custody.