"We need to look at every piece of information and, to put it bluntly, there are probably people out there in the community that are deciding which side to take, so to speak, in this investigation. Inspector Mark Thompson addressing the media in Camp Hill only a few hours after the murder-suicide on Wednesday. Credit:AAP "Is this an issue of a woman suffering significant domestic violence and her and her children perishing at the hands of the husband, or is this an instance of a husband being driven too far by issues that he’s suffered by certain circumstances into committing acts of this form? "That's why I want people to come and speak to us, if we are going to build a complete picture as to what has occurred, then we need to need to speak to everyone." Inspector Thompson was later asked by a journalist what he meant by "driven too far" and whether something between Mr Baxter and Ms Clarke may have been a motive for Mr Baxter.

Loading "Absolutely not, I’m not leaning towards that at all. What I was trying to illustrate by my comments was that ... people will make those allegations," Inspector Thompson said. "Maybe they are scorned members of the community themselves that have had dealings with domestic violence in the past and that’s the sort of things that they say in response to an incident like this. "What I was trying to illustrate is that if there are people out there making the comments, such as I have just described, then please come forward and substantiate those claims; help us with the information we need to build that picture for the coroner."

Red Rose Foundation chief executive Betty Taylor said there was only one way to describe the comments: "victim-blaming at its worst". "I do understand the job police have, they have a really difficult job with domestic violence, but we’re now talking about not investigating domestic violence – it’s actually murder-suicide,'' Ms Taylor said. "Nothing the victim does should end her life tragically. Women have a right to walk away from a relationship of any description." Commissioner Katarina Carroll publicly apologised for Inspector Thompson's comments during an on-air interview with ABC Radio Brisbane on Friday morning. Later, she released a statement in which she repeated the apology on behalf of the Queensland Police Service.

Loading "Our officers are committed to addressing the scourge of domestic and family violence, and particularly focused on supporting victims," she said. "To ensure public confidence, I have asked Detective Inspector Thompson to step aside from the investigation." In a further press conference, Ms Carroll said she had phoned the "distraught and gutted" detective on Friday morning, who had volunteered to remove himself from the investigation. "We want to remove the noise and concentrate on the issue ... there was a mother and three children who have been murdered," she said.

Queensland Police Commissioned Officers Union president Mark Reid described Inspector Thompson as a "committed, devoted and caring husband and father", with a "very strong personal stance against the crime of domestic and family violence". Ms Carroll hoped the "brilliant" investigator would not see any long-term damage to his career over the incident and said the relationship with domestic and family violence services would also stand firm. "We have the same ... view about this. We want to stop it and stop it as soon as possible," she said. "Our challenge is that it's not happening. Our challenge is, in fact, that I think it's under-reported." The Police Commissioner met with the Clarke family on Friday afternoon to offer her condolences and apologies as the investigation continued into "every person and every agency" involved in their lives before the murder.