Why Magistrate 'Rod Rocketman' Higgins will NEVER appear in court again after shacking up with clerk 45 years his junior and claiming her $180,000 death payout - as he suffers another crushing blow
- Law clerk Ashleigh Petrie, 23, died when she jumped in front of a car in 2019
- Relationship with magistrate Rodney Higgins, then 68, had been made public
- Mr Higgins received $180,000 super and life insurance payout after her death
- Former law man is now officially retired from his high paying gig on the bench
- His retirement is final and he will not be seen again in any official capacity
- Mr Higgins had hoped to obtain a lucrative post-retirement job on the bench
The magistrate who shacked up with a law clerk 45 years his junior and outraged Australia with a cash grab after her death is officially retired and won't return to the bench with a lucrative part-time job as he hoped.
Rodney Higgins, now 70, 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.
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
Pictured: The 68-year-old magistrate and 23-year-old court clerk (pictured) after getting engaged
Mr Higgins is now retired and will not return to the bench in Victoria as intended
Mr Higgins, who once went by the title 'Rocketman Rod' on social media, later received the entire $180,000 superannuation and life insurance payout intended for Ms Petrie's struggling mum, sparking national outrage.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal Mr Higgins is now officially retired from his short-lived position casting judgement on Victorians as a magistrate.
Under the laws of Australia, the maximum age for Justices of the High Court and any court created by Parliament is 70 years.
Sources have further revealed Mr Higgins will not return to a Victorian magistrate's court as a magistrate ever again.
'He won't be coming back,' the source said.
Daily Mail Australia revealed in June Mr Higgins stood to earn the same amount as his super grab each and every year upon retirement while acting as a reserve judge.
Like many judges and magistrates, Mr Higgins had indicated his desire to continue working as a reserve magistrate, earning $1,380 a shift.
Retired magistrates continue working for years, covering weekend and fill-in positions for as long as they are physically able.
Over the course of a year, a reserve magistrate could earn more than $180,000.
On Monday, Mr Higgins claimed authorities believed he was entitled to his dead lover's super payout.
'They think I deserve 100 per cent of it,' Mr Higgins told the program.
'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.'
Pictured: Ashleigh Petrie and Rod Higgins at the local pub. She often shared selfies with the magistrate on social media
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
Share this article
In the months following Ms Petrie’s death, Mr Higgins returned to Shepparton in country Victoria and reunited with his ex-wife Lurline Le Neuf.
Mr Higgins claimed 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.'
A spokeswoman for the Magistrates' Court of Victoria on Tuesday refused to comment on Mr Higgins' claims.
While Mr Higgins agreed the death benefit should have been shared 'in some proportion', he claimed he had been frozen out by Ms Petrie’s family.
'I don't like the intimidating and threatening manner that Ashleigh's mother's solicitor has taken,' Mr Higgins told A Current Affair.
'I wish things were different.
'I wish they hadn't have gone the way they have and I wish we had conciliation way back then and worked out a proper distribution.'
He also claimed that his former fiancé had access to his bank account and had, unbeknownst to him, been giving her mother money.
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
'Ashleigh Petrie had full license to use my bank account to take whatever she wanted. I did not know that she was giving her mother money,' he said.
The now-retired magistrate also took aim at his young lover's grieving mother and her family, claiming they 'froze him out' because they did not approve of their relationship.
'I'd asked for the ashes and I didn't get them,' he said.
'I'd asked for the death certificate, I didn't get that.
'So I just thought – "well I'm being frozen out here".'
Just three months after Ms Petrie died, Mr Higgins moved back in with his former partner sparking even more anger from the community.
When asked about the situation he told the Channel Nine program: 'Strange things happen don't they.'
The legal dispute over Ms Petrie's Rest Superannuation pay out is now being reviewed by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
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.
An ombudsman panel is set to convene before the end of August with a ruling likely to be finalised in September.
Lawyers representing Ms Petrie's mother's have already flagged they intend to lodge an appeal in the Federal Court if the decision does not go their way.
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
Rocketman Rod in happier times with Ashleigh Petrie
