The family of a Queensland woman killed by her husband 18 years ago fear the rest of her remains will never be returned to them.
Edmund Ian Riggs has been handed a 15-year sentence after being convicted of the manslaughter of Patricia Riggs in September 2001.
He killed Ms Riggs in the bedroom of their home in Redcliffe, north of Brisbane, claiming she hit her head on a bed post after he pushed her when she spat in his face.
He then buried her in a shallow grave on the outskirts of Caboolture in the dead of night before digging the remains up years later.
He re-buried them at the home before they were found by a new owner in 2016.
Riggs was acquitted of murder after his Brisbane Supreme Court trial last month, and instead found guilty of the lesser charge.
While the sentence on Thursday has brought some closure to Ms Riggs' family, they are still desperate to know where the rest of her remains are buried.
"There's no guarantees whether he will ever cough it up," her father Jon Knowles said outside court.
"What he done with them, they might not be retrievable.
"What he really did with the body, we might never know."
In sentencing, Justice Peter Flanagan doubted Riggs' claim her death was accident, noting his cover-up efforts indicated more serious offending.
"The extent of steps you took to distance yourself from your wife's death is out of all proportion to you pushing your wife during the course of an argument and her hitting her head on a bedpost," Justice Flanagan said.
Mr Knowles welcomed the judge's comments.
"It was pleasing to hear that the judge had seen through his lies," he said.
"It's just not in his nature to tell the truth."
With time already served, Riggs will be eligible for parole in September 2027.
Australian Associated Press
