EXCLUSIVE The squalid life of Pheobe's housemate revealed as shocking new images expose the disgusting conditions they were living in
Shocking footage has captured the squalid conditions inside a bus that was being lived in by one of the housemates accused of murdering Pheobe Bishop.
An ex-girlfriend of James Wood, 34, previously told Daily Mail Australia his partner Tanika Bromley, 33, had been banished to the rundown bus sitting outside their Gin Gin home, which they shared with Pheobe.
Pheobe, 17, was last seen leaving the rental, near Bundaberg in Central Queensland, on May 15 and is assumed dead following the discovery of remains in Good Night Scrub National Park on Friday afternoon.
Daily Mail Australia was granted access to the bus, which served as Bromley's room, on Tuesday.
The bright exterior of the 1979 Volvo B59 , a staple for Queensland public transport in the 1970s and 80s, was in sharp contrast to the vehicle's dingy interior.
Although Wood boasted of the converted motorhome being a 'great rig' in a Facebook Marketplace ad some six months ago, the bus has suffered more than it's share of wear and tear.
The bus' narrow entry was littered with shoes, empty bottles and a pile of clothing.
Up to 11 deceased dogs were discovered at the Gin Gin share house following Pheobe's disappearance.
Wood (left) and Bromley (right) are accused of murdering Pheobe and moving her body
Officers are believed to have found the missing teenager's remains on Friday but they will need to undergo significant forensic examination to determine her cause of death.
Good Night Scrub, some 40km south of Gin Gin, is known to be filled with wild boars and dogs.
Thin curtains were used to block sunlight directly coming into the bus, which was full of dust and water damage.
A cabinet and benchtop were littered with broken furniture, empty food packaging and clothing.
It's understood Wood and Bromley had been in a relationship since the end of last year, around the same time they moved into the Gin Gin home.
Wood and Bromley fronted Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Friday accused of Pheobe's murder, three weeks to the day after she missed a flight and vanished.
Police allege the couple moved her body more than once.
Pheobe was reported missing after failing to check in and board a flight from Bundaberg to Perth, where she planned to meet up with her boyfriend, who Daily Mail Australia has not named because of his age.
Last week during a hearing for firearm charges, a court heard Bromley cared for two children, including one with a disability, as part of a shared custody arrangement.
Pheobe's mother, Kylie Johnson, has since urged the Gin Gin community to 'respect' Bromley's family following the charges against her.
'I know Tanika has been charged. I know her family live within our community and I expect them to receive respect... those kids mean the world to us as a family,' Ms Johnson said at a vigil for Pheobe.
'They meant the world to Phoebe as a family as well. It is imperative to us, as a family, that they are supported just as much as us.
Pheobe's suspected remains were discovered in Good Night Scrub with pig prints spotted nearby
'They are hurting probably more than us, even though we have lost our child.'
Neither Wood nor Bromley appeared in person or by video link for the hearing on Friday.
Their matters will return to court on August 11.
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WHEN a single gunshot shattered a peaceful summer evening on the remote island of Orkney, the shockwaves would be felt by the close-knit rural community for decades to come. Families were dining in the island's only Indian restaurant when a masked man calmly walked in and killed 26-year-old waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood at point black range, before vanishing into the night without uttering a single word. 16 16 The extraordinary murder on June 2, 1994 sparked a manhunt that continues to fiercely divide the tiny island off the north coast of Scotland, which has a population of less than 22,000. Now an astonishing new Amazon Prime documentary, The Orkney Assassin: Murder in the Isles revisits the bizarre case which saw a local schoolboy, Michael Ross, eventually convicted of the murder. Ross, now 46 years old, never took the stand during his trial at the High Court in Glasgow and has never given any interviews or made a statement before. 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'I'd never been inside a prison before, it was just strange. 'When I initially asked Michael for an interview, he wrote straight back because he realised I knew the case quite well. "I have spent a lot of time looking at it, and the cold case review, but when I went to visit I made it clear that I was not in any way interested in campaigning for his innocence or trying to find someone else guilty. 'I had legitimate concerns about the case, and he was happy to proceed on that basis. He told me he was innocent but I wasn't going to take his word for it - he had been found guilty by a jury Ethan Flett 'He had serious concerns about the credibility of certain witnesses, and that various leads and motives had not been looked into properly because he was the prime and only suspect. 'He told me he was innocent but I wasn't going to take his word for it - he had been found guilty by a jury.' Cloud of suspicion The pair spent six months writing back and forth to each other, with Ross responding to each of Ethan's questions in great detail. During the original murder investigation, 2,736 statements were taken, and a pair of witnesses claimed they saw Ross wearing the same balaclava and dark clothing as the murderer in woodland a fortnight earlier. The 15-year-old was called in for questioning, accompanied by his father - a well respected local police officer, Eddy Ross. Ross proclaimed his innocence - claiming he was out for a bike ride that night and his route did not take him anywhere near the murder scene. It was a time before CCTV or mobile phones, and recalling the night of the murder, Ross confided to Ethan: 'I didn't know what the sirens were for at that point, and didn't think much more about it.' Despite the cloud of suspicion hanging over her son, his mother Moira added that he was "just his normal self' that night. 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Two months later, Eddy confessed that he had discovered a box of the same 9mm bullets used in the murder - in his own home. In a jaw-dropping revelation, the father-of-three claimed he had been given the box - which was still sealed - by a pal who was a former marine. But when questioned, his friend Jim Spence said he had given Eddy two boxes - one sealed and one half full. In a separate development, a mother and daughter reported they had seen a masked male acting suspiciously in nearby Papdale Woods - and named him as PC Ross' son Michael. Eddy said later: "Basically from that point in time the finger was pointing towards us." But evidence mounted against Michael when cops searched the family home. 'Death to the English' They found school books with Nazi swastikas drawn over them, scribbles saying 'Death to the English' and SS symbols. Although Mahmood had only been on the island for six weeks, and had no known enemies, his family insisted the shooting was racially motivated. 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This was the breakthrough that would lead to Ross's downfall. A new witness, local man William Grant, claimed he saw the killer coming out of a public toilet cubicle on the night of the murder, brandishing a gun. The shock revelation led to Ross's arrest. 'It was disbelief again,' he told Ethan. Hallmarks of professional hit Ross maintained his innocence, and Leah Seator, editor of The Orcadian, said many people on the island thought Ross would walk free. His lawyer argued it was unthinkable that a teenager could have carried out the killing - it had the hallmarks of a professional hit. Prosecutor Brian McConnachie said the case has had a lasting impact on the community which remains divided over his guilt. "I suspect it still does affect people. "I think there's always going to be two sides." 16 16 16 McConnachie described the high profile case as "challenging" but on 20 June 2008 the jury took just four hours to return a guilty verdict - only for the moment to be overshadowed by an audacious escape attempt. As he was about to be led away Ross dramatically knocked over a security guard, and jumped out of the dock. He yanked open a side door and ran, but was tackled by a court official. It later emerged that he had parked a rental car two miles from the court, containing a Skorpion machine pistol with 542 rounds of ammunition - which he had smuggled back from Kosovo - as well as an air rifle, hand grenade, smoke grenades, a sleeping bag, camping equipment and survival gear. McConnachie added: "If you are trying to look for things that point towards guilt, then you might look at the circumstances of the last day of the trial, and the motor vehicle that he had and the things he had in them when he tried to escape from the court - never mind trying to escape from the prison. "There's something unnerving about what was contained within the car." When Ross returned to court four months later, amid heightened security, he was sentenced to 25 years plus a further five for his bid to flee. In that time, he has made three further attempts to escape from custody in one of Scotland's highest security prisons. In 2014, he tried to break out of a security van on the way to hospital and, in 2016, he stole an angle grinder from the prison workshop, replacing it with a wooden replica. Most recently, in 2018, the former soldier tried to scale the perimeter fence of a sports field at HMP Shotts in Lanarkshire, using a rope ladder he fashioned. His jacket contained food, clothing and a toothbrush, and he was placed into solitary confinement for a week. Ross's lawyer said he knew the bid for freedom would fail but he wanted to attract attention to his appeal. His conviction was upheld by the Court of Criminal Appeal however, and in 2014, a review deemed that the soldier had not suffered a miscarriage of justice. He remains incarcerated and his earliest release date is 2035. Looking back at his meetings with Ross, Ethan added: 'I honestly don't know whether he is guilty. 'He answered all my questions openly, I've read his psychiatric reports and he seems sane. 'What I found most interesting was his justifications for his escape attempts. 'He says that he did it to garner a bit of publicity for his claims of innocence, and says that he would have surrendered to the authorities if he were successful. 'He admitted to saying racist things as a teenager, but claimed that it was immaturity that he regretted. 'He has expressed sorrow in an open letter to the victim's family but he does not think it would be appropriate to speak to them directly. 'There's still so much interest in this case from Orkney people, so the story is ongoing.' While the victim's family feel justice has been served, Ross's supporters have set up a petition to clear his name. The shadow of doubt still divides opinion in Orkney to this day. The Orkney Assassin is streaming on Prime Video now.
