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The magistrate who shacked up with a law clerk 45 years his junior has broken his silence about the relationship insisting he deserves to pocket her death benefit.

Rodney Higgins, now 71, was engulfed by controversy in 2019 after his relationship with Ashleigh Petrie, 23, became public two years ago.

The couple lived together in Victoria's Gippsland region for several months before Ms Petrie was killed when hit by a car weeks later.

Mr Higgins later received the entire $180,000 superannuation and life insurance payout intended for Ms Petrie's struggling mum, sparking national outrage.

Rodney Higgins, pictured enjoying retirement on the golf course in June, has broken his silence over the relationship he had with a law clerk 45 years his junior 

The recently retired magistrate, who goes by 'Rocketman Rod' on social media,  claimed authorities believed he was entitled to the payout in an interview to be aired by A Current Affair on Monday night.

'They think I deserve 100 per cent of it,' Mr Higgins told the program, the Age reported.

'I just am sorry that a lot of people have been hurt out of this.'

Mr Higgins defended his relationship with Ms Petrie but conceded it was unusual for a man of his age to 'be with a young girl of Ashleigh's age'.

'The impression, if you like, was Ashleigh worked with me in court, and that I had some sort of hold on her,' he said.

'That's completely untrue, we never, ever worked together.'

In the months following Ms Petrie’s death, Mr Higgins returned to Shepparton in country Victoria and got back together with his ex-wife Lurline Le Neuf.

Mr Higgins claims he was advised by colleagues to contact Ms Petrie's  superannuation company after her death.

'I did that, they said, "what's your relationship to her?" I said, 'I'm her fiancé, we live together,' he recalled.

'They said, "we will send you paperwork, fill it out and send it back". And that was it.'

Ashleigh Petrie (left) and Rodney Higgins (right) were engaged and lived together for several months until Ms Petrie died shortly after their relationship made headlines

He agreed the death benefit should have been shared 'in some proportion' but claims he been frozen out by Ms Petrie’s family.

Mr Higgins' interview will be aired on Monday night, just weeks after the tradie who ran over Ms Petrie said was haunted by her, even though he never saw her alive.

Moments after Daniel Macklin's brand new Toyota RAV4 ploughed into Ms Petrie on Metung Road in eastern Victoria at 1am on October 9, 2019, he got out of the car and immediately tripped on her body.

'A girl popped out of the middle of nowhere. Not just popped out, she ran,' he recently told The Age in his first-ever interview.

The 33-year-old called an ambulance and waited, trying desperately to quell growing fears that the body beneath the vehicle was his girlfriend as they were wearing similar clothes.

He spotted her handbag sitting on the opposite side of the road, dived into it and retrieved a phone - the screen lit up with a photo of the woman with an older man, neither of whom he recognised.

That man was Mr Higgins, who Ms Petrie had been dating and living with for four months after he left his wife for her, and was recently engaged.

Mr Higgins received a $180,000 super and life insurance payout following the death of his young fiancee Ashleigh Petrie (pictured) 

Miss Petrie is pictured with Mr Higgins, who proposed to her in September 2019 after a whirlwind romance

Mr Macklin later cleared a police drug and alcohol test, before a detective told him there was nothing he could have done to avoid her, and added: 'I don't want you watching the news. This girl's well known.'

Ms Petrie, who worked as a clerk, had been in the headlines for weeks over her affair with Victorian magistrate Mr Higgins, who was married and 68 years old at the time. 

Their relationship sparked a media frenzy due to the 45-year age gap, and potential power imbalances between high-ranking officials and staffers within the judicial system.

Ms Petrie never framed her relationship with Higgins as abusive in any way.

The media attention reached boiling point when Higgins popped the question to Ms Petrie on a holiday in Fiji.

Hours later, she gushed on Instagram about her husband-to-be, flashing her newly bedazzled finger to all her followers with the caption: 'I said yes.'

About a month later, she launched herself in front of Mr Macklin's car and changed his life forever.

'There are not many days that I don't think about her,' he told The Age.

'I never knew her, but I feel like she's like a little sister. I'll always be connected with her.'

Mr Higgins proposed in 2019 during a romantic holiday in Fiji. Pictured: The couple on holiday 

Magistrate Rodney Higgins proposed to his girlfriend Ashleigh Petrie, 23, in September. She is pictured right and left with her ring

He knows Ms Petrie's death was not his fault, but still feels responsible. 

After her death, reports about her mental health began to emerge.

Ms Petrie was diagnosed as bipolar at 19, struggled with alcoholism, had a history of dating men who were significantly older than her, and made several attempts on her own life.

Given her mental health situation - which the coroner said affected her until her death - Mr Macklin said he felt deeply sorry for Ms Petrie and is still puzzled by a typed note he received from Higgins, handed to him via the police.

It read along the lines of: 'Mate, she had mental-health problems, it was not your fault.'

He thought it cold and lacked emotion, given that his young fiance had died so suddenly.

 Pictured: The 68-year-old magistrate and 23-year-old court clerk (pictured) after getting engaged

Mr Higgins previously told the ABC's Media Watch that Ms Petrie told him she was going for a walk to clear her head on the night of her death.

He said she sent him four or five texts and voice messages saying she couldn't cope with the media coverage, and that she loved him but that he would be better off without her.

Mr Higgins said he waited for her to return before he went looking, and stumbled upon the scene of the accident.

About 24 hours later, he was accused of asking about the young woman's $180,000 superannuation death benefit.

The cash was allocated to her distraught mother, but was eventually paid to the wealthy judge because he claimed she was his dependent. 

Senior judicial figures were furious that Mr Higgins fought Ms Petrie's mother for her $180,000 super payout. Pictured: The couple at the beach

Her mother, who earns a modest wage working in accounts compared with Mr Higgins' $324,000 salary, has been fighting the ruling for about 16 months.

Outraged members of the public set up a Go Fund Me campaign to help her mother pay for her legal fees, and claim the money her daughter designated for her. 

Higgins also refused to let the mother listen to her daughter's final voice messages, and reportedly made an ill-fitting speech at her funeral in Werribee, west Melbourne - describing her as 'externally as attractive as a woman could possibly be'.

He went on describe Ms Petrie's 'zest for life', before the language changed. Higgins publicly pointed to Ms Petrie's 'problems of anxiety and depression', before revealing she was on medication for a chemical imbalance in her brain.

When he also revealed her battles with depression had intensified her 'shortcomings', and that she constantly needed reassurance, her angry mother intervened.

'I think that's enough,' Ms Petrie's mother said loudly, causing Mr Higgins to quickly sit down and end his 'tribute'. 

 Pictured: Ashleigh Petrie and Rod Higgins at the local pub. She often shared selfies with the magistrate on social media