A Queensland man has been found guilty of murdering a fellow beekeeper so he could steal his honey.
Donald Robert Alcock, 34, was charged with shooting Anthony Ross Knight in the back as the beekeeper slept at his home at Woodford, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, in May 2007.
A jury took less than a day to find Alcock guilty of murder.
He will serve an automatic life sentence.
The Queensland Supreme Court in Brisbane this week heard Alcock’s wife had threatened to leave him if he did not sort out his beekeeping business.
The court was told he drove to Knight’s property with the intention of stealing several drums of honey, which he could sell for thousands of dollars to a honey buyer.
Prosecutors alleged that Alcock, using a hunting rifle he had owned for 15 years, shot Knight as he slept and then spent several hours at the property loading his truck with containers of honey.