That’s the reality for Jack and Coral Turner and their family after the murder of their only son and brother Glen at the hands of Croppa Creek farmer Ian Turnbull.

Turnbull received a 35-year jail term in June this year for the cold-blooded murder – a virtual life sentence for the 81-year-old.

The Turner family have little sympathy or empathy for Turnbull and continually struggle with aspects of the events that flowed from that day in July 2014 when the farmer gunned Glen down ‘like a feral pig’.

From humble farming stock at Telegraph Point, the Turners are a tight-knit family that look out for each other. 

Glen was part of the local community, attending the local school and Port Macquarie High School.

He played rugby league with the Sharks up to under 18s before leaving for university in Newcastle.

Glen was the glue that kept the family and the multitude of friends entertained and amused. 

An accomplished pianist, family man, traveller, touch football player, chef and a boutique home brewer, he was living out his dream on a Tamworth property with partner Alison and their two children. 

The strain of the two years since Glen’s murder is evident, particularly on his parents.

It is, they say, a trauma which they will never overcome.

The family believes the defence’s attempt to hijack the trial by linking the murder to a battle of farming rights and the native vegetation act belittled their son and his death.

“Glen fostered a really good rapport with the farming community around the district despite having several cases before the court system,” the family said.

“He loved working with ‘old-school’ farmers.

“He enjoyed nothing more than to sit down and have a cup of tea with them. He wanted to work with them and educate them.

“In his role as a compliance officer, he would more often than not advocate the farmers would not be fined if he could see they were trying to work within the rules.

“That is, unless they had no care for the law or the environment.

“Glen was often brought in on difficult cases because he was very experienced and got on well with most farmers.

“And this is one of the upsetting aspects of the murder trial when Turnbull’s barristers tried to paint him in a very different light.”

Worse, during the trial process the family says the defence spent weeks in a vicious character assassination of their son and brother. 

“We had to sit there and listen without any recourse,” the family said. 

A popular member of the wider Tamworth community, the former local man was shot while working as a compliance officer with Environment and Heritage in 2014.

The family said they did not understand the process or why the accused murderer Ian Turnbull did not plead guilty.

“The thing that really upset our family is that the murderer said he killed Glen. There was a witness,” the family said.

“If he would have pleaded guilty we would not have had to wait two years and then go through the eight week trial.

“Turnbull’s hatred for Environment and Heritage was poured out in Glen and directed at us during the trial. When the jury wasn’t sitting he would be staring us down. He did not have any empathy or care for us.

“Turnbull certainly had emotions. But not the emotions we were seeking: remorse.

“And Glen didn’t die straight away. He must have been terrified. It must have been terrible what he was thinking.”

The family reiterated that Glen did not break the law – a matter suggested by the defence – and was not on Turnbull’s property prior to his shooting murder.

“He was just doing his job,” the family said.