A former boyfriend of 28‑year‑old childcare worker Molly Ticehurst has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for her murder, with a non‑parole period of 20 years imposed by Justice Natalie Adams in the NSW Supreme Court in Orange. The sentence was handed down on Friday morning, and the defendant stood calm and expressionless as the judge delivered the verdict.
Ticehurst was found dead in her pyjamas at her home in Forbes, central west New South Wales, on the early hours of 22 April 2024. The killer, Daniel Billings, broke into her bedroom and stabbed her 15 times with a hunting knife in an attack that lasted less than a minute. Billings had repeatedly threatened to kill her after their on‑and‑off relationship ended in December 2023, and he had been charged with sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, intimidation and the killing of her dachshund puppy.
Billings pleaded guilty to murder after more than 500 days of legal negotiations, which led to the sexual assault charges being dropped in November 2025. He was previously released on bail after spending a night in police custody, and his release was followed by a series of videos in which he expressed anger and a belief that he had been wrongfully accused of rape. The judge described the murder as a brutal act of retribution, extreme hatred and a serious public justice offence because it removed the only witness to a potential rape trial.
The case has intensified a national campaign against domestic and gendered violence and prompted changes to NSW laws, including the removal of bail‑granting power from registrars, stricter thresholds for domestic‑violence bail applications and the introduction of electronic monitoring for accused individuals. Billings will be eligible for parole in April 2044.
