The property where Tiffany Wilkes and her daughter Clementine were found dead in September.<\/p>\n
The suspected murder-suicide of a mother and her daughter has raised serious questions about whether there were missed opportunities to intervene.<\/p>\n
On her daughter Clementine’s sixth birthday, Tiffany Wilkes took to social media, proclaiming her to be a “girl wonder, mini genius, star performer and future leader of the world”.<\/p>\n
“It’s hard to believe you are 6 my beautiful girl!!” she wrote in January 2023.<\/p>\n
Less than two years later, the single mum and the little girl she called Clemmie are both dead after a suspected murder-suicide.<\/p>\n
Clementine Wilkes died in September, aged eight, in a suspected murder-suicide.
Clementine Wilkes was among the smartest children in her class at Norman Park State School.(Supplied)<\/p>\n
Police found their bodies late last month in the grounds of a luxury Airbnb at Kenmore Hills, in Brisbane\u2019s west, sending shockwaves through the community.<\/p>\n
Photos posted to social media show the 54-year-old medical specialist enjoying exotic holidays, smiling with colleagues in her hospital scrubs, and as a proud mum with her daughter.<\/p>\n
But behind closed doors, everything was not as it seemed.<\/p>\n
The ABC can reveal Wilkes, a Brisbane-based anaesthetist, had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 2023.<\/p>\n
A year later, her daughter started missing more days than usual at school before she was taken out of mainstream schooling altogether this year.<\/p>\n
Behind closed doors, everything was not as it seemed.<\/p>\n
Some who knew Wilkes are now questioning why eight-year-old Clementine had not been identified as a child at risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tragedy has raised serious questions about how the pair “slipped through the cracks”.<\/p>\n
A series of believable excuses<\/p>\n
Clementine was among the smartest children in her class at Norman Park State School, in Brisbane’s south-east.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had an “exceptional academic record”, the ABC has been told.<\/p>\n
Her mother explained away her absences with believable excuses \u2014 Clemmie was ill, they had taken a holiday, or she just wanted a day at home.<\/p>\n
Clementine Wilkes, pictured with her mother Tiffany, attended Norman Park State School.(Supplied)
Clementine was enrolled into home-schooling this year.(Supplied)<\/p>\n
The little girl had no physical signs of abuse and was enrolled in the homeschooling system this year.<\/p>\n
Under the Queensland Education Department’s homeschooling requirements, participating parents must provide an education program summary every year and report annually on their child’s progress.<\/p>\n
The department does not undertake home visits for children registered to be homeschooled.<\/p>\n
But mystery surrounds where Clementine was being educated.<\/p>\n
She and her mother had never moved into a townhouse Wilkes bought in Norman Park for $1.27 million more than two-and-a-half years ago.<\/p>\n
Eight-year-old Clementine had an “exceptional academic record” before she started missing days of school in 2024.(Supplied)
Clementine was called a “mini genius” and “star performer” by her mother.(Supplied)<\/p>\n
Before Clementine’s body, and that of her mother, were found at the $1,000-a-night Airbnb, the ABC understands not one report had been made to the Queensland Child Safety Department by anyone concerned for her safety.<\/p>\n
Wilkes had sent a scheduled email to a colleague before the murder-suicide, triggering a welfare check at the Kenmore Hills property.<\/p>\n
Queensland Police would not comment on whether she was known to police for mental health reasons.<\/p>\n
Do you know more?Contact Janelle Miles (Miles.Janelle@abc.net.au) or Eden Gillespie (Gillespie.Eden@abc.net.au)Clementine ‘should have been known’ to child safety<\/p>\n
Wilkes had been working mostly at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital for more than a decade after returning from the UK, where she practised at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.<\/p>\n
She also held arts and law degrees from the University of Queensland.<\/p>\n
The 54-year-old’s public profile with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) was taken down within days of the deaths.(Supplied)<\/p>\n
“She was a hard worker, lovely person, good doctor,” one colleague said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We all knew Tiffany. She was just like the rest of us. She was a normal, bubbly, vivacious person.”<\/p>\n
Wilkes was not immune to life’s challenges. Her mum died “two or three years ago”.<\/p>\n
“As far as I know, she had no family support,” her colleague said.<\/p>\n
Tiffany Wilkes had been working mostly at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital for more than a decade.(Supplied)
Tiffany Wilkes took on big cases, working into the night sometimes.(Supplied)<\/p>\n
Wilkes took on big cases, working into the night sometimes.<\/p>\n
Anaesthetics during liver transplants was an area of interest she listed on her LinkedIn page.<\/p>\n
For about 18 months, she had not worked due to mental health issues but was still employed by the Princess Alexandra Hospital.<\/p>\n
In 2023, Wilkes received involuntary mental health treatment in hospital.<\/p>\n
“Clemmie should have been known to the Department of Child Services because Tiffany was extremely mentally unwell,” the colleague said.<\/p>\n
“Any child of someone who has had the Mental Health Act invoked should have been on the radar of child services.<\/p>\n
“But Tiffany was incredibly smart and despite her illness, managed to convince a lot of people that she was coping very well. She wasn’t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“People may have given her the benefit of the doubt because she was a medical professional.”<\/p>\n
Results could be years away<\/p>\n
Wilkes’s public profile with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) was taken down within days of the deaths.<\/p>\n
But before it was removed, it showed no conditions had been placed on her practice.<\/p>\n
If you or anyone you know needs help:<\/p>\n
The ABC understands her AHPRA record was clear, and she was registered until September 2026.<\/p>\n
If Clementine had been known to the Child Safety Department within the past year, her death would have been reviewed by Queensland’s Child Death Review Board.<\/p>\n
That cannot happen in this case.<\/p>\n
It will instead be up to the coroner to decide whether to hold an inquest into the deaths in the belief it could uncover systemic issues in the Wilkes’ story that may prevent similar cases in future.<\/p>\n
The results could be years away.<\/p>\n
Credits:<\/p>\n