The man who murdered Tamworth-based environmental officer Glen Turner has died in custody.
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Ian Robert Turnbull died on Monday, after being taken to a Sydney hospital earlier.
In a statement to Fairfax Media, Corrective Services NSW confirmed the 82-year-old had died in custody.
“CSNSW can confirm that an 82-year-old inmate died at Prince of Wales Hospital. He had a terminal illness,” the spokesperson said.
Turnbull was sentenced to a "de facto life sentence" of 35 years behind bars for the killing of Mr Turner, who was working as a compliance officer for the Office of Environment (OEH) near Moree in 2014.
Last year, Justice Peter Johnson sentenced Turnbull to a minimum of 24 years in jail for the "terrifying and shattering" murder of Mr Turner on a remote laneway, at Croppa Creek on July 29, 2014.
In the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney, Justice Johnson said it was a de facto life sentence for the elderly farmer, who had a life expectancy of just eight years in jail.
Turnbull was found guilty of murder in 2016 after a five-week trial where the jury heard the shooting followed years of tension over illegal land-clearing.
Turnbull pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of substantial impairment due to mental illness, but the jury rejected Turnbull's defence, after one day of deliberations.
They found him guilty of the more substantial charge of murder.
More to come.