Qld men bashed women 'without challenge'

Three Queensland men linked to an unsolved double murder of two Sydney nurses are to face court. Source: AAP

A GANG of men linked to the murders of two nurses 40 years ago used to bash and abduct women in Toowoomba's main street without being challenged, a court has heard.

The second inquest into the murders of Lorraine Wilson, 20, and Wendy Evans, 18, has been told key suspects Ungie Laurie, his nephew Allan John "Shorty" Laurie, and Wayne "Boogie" Hilton and their associates were never challenged by police over their behaviour.

Former friend Darryl Sutton told Toowoomba Magistrates Court that Hilton and his friends used to grab women in the street at night by their hair, "throw them around" and punch them.

"They would try to run but no one, including police, ever intervened," he said.

"Who was going to stand up to those boys in those days?"

Ms Wilson and Ms Evans disappeared while hitchhiking in Queensland in October 1974.

The inquest also heard that another person of interest, Donald "Donnie" Laurie, had let slip incriminating details about the victims' last moments.

Donald Laurie's former housemate, Betty Staib, said via a phone link he had told her the women had been tied to a tree for two or three days and he had tried to give them water.

Ms Staib said he had quickly denied he was involved in any wrongdoing.

While Donald Laurie, Shorty Laurie and Hilton have all since died, Ungie Laurie, 63, and another person of interest, Terrence O'Neill, faced an open court in relation to the murders for the first time.

Both denied involvement in the killings and played down their former association with each other and other suspects, although other witnesses have described a close-knit group.

O'Neill's apology to the Sydney nurses' families on Wednesday was dismissed as an insult and a "pack of lies" by Ms Wilson's brother.

Eric Wilson believes his sister Ms Evans was killed by a "gang of mongrels" who terrorised the Toowoomba community in the 1970s.

"We heard people put their hands on the Bible and swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and all we got is a pack of lies as far as I'm concerned," he told reporters outside the court.

"I can only imagine the fear those poor girls must have gone through after I heard the evidence from all those people."

Earlier, O'Neill, 62, addressed the public gallery where Mr Wilson and other relatives of the slain women were sitting.

"I never had nothing to do with the death of your sisters or friends or whatever they were," he said from the witness stand.

"If my mates were involved in that, then I hope to Christ that it brings you closure and that the court system ... disgraces them.

"I'm very, very sorry for your loss."

Mr Wilson said the apology was "highly insulting".

The skeletal remains of the two women were found in 1976 in bushland, at Murphys Creek, at the foot of the Toowoomba Range.

An inquest in 1985 did not result in any arrests.

The current inquest continues.

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