Jake Loader met two girls who would forever change his life while he was boarding at St Paul’s College in Walla Walla near Albury, where NSW is separated from Victoria by the Murray River.
The first was Annabelle McGee, a local teen from Howlong. Loader and McGee would fall in love and later move up to his parents’ cattle station outside Normanton in far north-west Queensland.
The second was Corbie Walpole, a sporty kid from Albury who barely five years after leaving St Paul’s would set Loader on fire in her backyard when he was back in town for what became a school reunion.
Walpole claims she snapped and set Loader ablaze because he told her she should be in the kitchen baking scones rather than out drinking with the boys.
Loader bears horrific physical and mental scars from an attack which caused third-degree burns to more than half his body, and McGee is standing steadfastly with him.
Walpole is behind bars after being sentenced on Thursday to a minimum four and a half years in prison for one mindless act which has left the 25-year-old with almost no friends, expect her dog Nellie.
Loader, who spent eight days in an induced coma and underwent 10 operations, described the results of Walpole’s drunken madness in a victim’s impact statement read to the District Court in Albury.
‘There are moments that divide a life into before and after,’ the now 23-year-old said. ‘The day I was attacked by Corbie was that moment for me.
Jake Loader (above) suffered burns to 61 per cent of his body when his childhood friend Corbie Walpole (not pictured) doused him in 5 litres of petrol and set him alight after the 22-year-old made what Walpole considered a misogynist comment
‘What should have been old school friends catching up like old times turned into a traumatic event.
‘This was not a single event with a single victim. The damage reached into my future and into the lives of those who care about me.’
How Jake Loader and Corbie Walpole crossed paths
Loader’s parents Scott and Kaylene bought the 77,181 hectare Oakvale Station in South Australia in November 2016, stocking it with 3,500 ewes plus 2,000 lambs and weaners.
The Loaders – who had previously lived in the NSW Riverina region – sent their two sons to St Paul’s College, a co-ed Lutheran day and boarding school about 40km north of Albury which charges up to $25,000 a year in fees.
Walpole, whose father Bruce runs a successfully surveying company, transferred to St Paul’s from Trinity College in Albury to start Year 10 in 2016. She soon became friends with Loader and his girlfriend McGee.
The group spent some of their time outside school at Howlong, a two-pub town 28km north-west of Albury which had a population of 2,777 in 2016.
Walpole and McGee, an accomplished equestrian, both played for the Howlong Spiders in the Hume Netball Association’s competition.
Corbie Walpole set Jake Loader alight in the backyard of her home at Howlong, near Albury, on January 7 last year. She is pictured with Howlong Spiders teammates after being named the C Reserve’s most consistent player in 2022
Howlong’s most prominent feature might be its renowned golf resort, which boasts of having the largest golf club membership in Australia.
The town’s existence was reaffirmed in 1999 when By The Time I Get To Howlong appeared on Riverina rock band Spiderbait’s fourth album, Grand Slam, but the song’s destination is not even mentioned in its lyrics.
Walpole, who had worked part-time at Subway and Bunnings while studying, finished her HSC in 2018 and the following year began an apprenticeship with Engage Electrics.
Loader graduated from St Paul’s in 2019 as his parents were selling Oakvale Station, having decided to head north to raise beef in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The Loaders bought the 39,700 hectare Broadwater Station for $5.5million in late 2020 to run Brahman cattle for the live export trade. Their son and McGee joined them at the property and still live there.
Loader mustered cattle across northern Australia as he planned a career on the land like his parents. In his downtime he fished for barramundi and hunted feral pigs.
Down south, Walpole had met Riley Stone and they became a couple in 2019. She’d had boyfriends back in high school but this was her first and only serious relationship.
Corbie Walpole’s descent into drinking and drugs
The earliest public sign Walpole might have serious problems with alcohol and self control came in May 2021 when security staff tried to eject her boyfriend for being intoxicated at Beer DeLuxe in Albury.
Walpole had drunk an estimated 23 to 35 standard drinks the night she attacked Jake Loader in her backyard. She is pictured with her father Bruce the day before she was sent to prison
Walpole, who was also drunk, came to Stone’s aid and elbowed a female bouncer in the face. She pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was placed on a 12-month conditional release order without conviction.
Walpole finished her electrician’s apprenticeship nine months ahead of schedule in October 2022 and in November she and Stone paid $390,000 for a three-bedroom house near Howlong Pony Club in Russell Street.
According to a 10-page affidavit Walpole swore before she was sentenced for setting Loader on fire, her relationship with Stone had become strained and steadily deteriorated from early 2023.
Walpole began drinking heavily and taking drugs including cocaine, ecstasy, speed and ketamine. Throughout 2023 she was consuming 15 to 20 standard drinks – as well as half a gram of coke and one or two MDMA pills – each weekend.
Somehow, Walpole was still named runner-up as the Howlong Spiders C Reserve team’s best and fairest player for the 2023 season.
Walpole had no work over Christmas and while on holidays was taking cocaine and MDMA every couple of days. This was in the weeks leading up to the attack on Loader that has landed her in prison.
Loader and McGee returned to Albury in early 2024 to visit friends and family. He was with mates at Howlong Golf Resort on January 6 when Walpole and Stone arrived about 8pm.
Walpole had started drinking three hours earlier with a couple of cans of Somersby cider, then three or four glasses of homemade punch. Two slices of pizza were the only solids to pass her lips.
Loader met his long-term partner Annabelle McGee when he was boarding at St Paul’s College at Walla Walla, 40km north of Albury. He couple has been together ever since
At the club Walpole downed about five schooners of Canadian Club with dry ginger ale. ‘Jake was at the club and hung out with us,’ she said in her affidavit.
‘I had not seen him for a while and understood that he had returned to town for a bit.’
Walpole, who took cocaine at the golf club, and Loader were part of a group who went to a 21st birthday at Howlong where she had four to five cans of Hard Solo from 10pm.
Next stop was a house party where Walpole had more cocaine, then it was back to the 21st where she switched to Bacardi and cola, draining two or three schooners of that drink.
Walpole lights the flame: ‘What have I done?’
About 4am the remnants of the group made their way to Walpole’s place at Russell Street where she, Loader and two male friends went to the backyard while Stone and others tried to get some sleep.
Loader went into the house and tried to wake Stone by shaking him but was stopped by Walpole and the four remaining conscious friends sat around an outdoor table drinking.
‘He was really pushing my buttons,’ Walpole said of Loader’s behaviour, claiming he had been antagonising her throughout the evening.
Walpole sent a text message to McGee pretending to be Loader, saying his phone was flat, that he was too tired to go on, and asking ‘can you please come get me’.
Walpole was offended when Loader said she should be in the kitchen baking scones rather than drinking with boys. She set him alight in the backyard of her home at Howlong (pictured)
Sometime around 5am, Walpole completely lost it.
‘Jake kept telling me I should be in the kitchen and making scones for them,’ she said. ‘He said that I shouldn’t be out drinking with boys. He told me I was stupid.’
Walpole went to the garage and came back with a red jerry can containing 5 litres of petrol which she poured over Loader’s head.
Holding a cigarette lighter in front of her still-seated school friend, Walpole told him, ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it.’ Loader smiled and responded, ‘Go on, do it.’ And then Walpole did.
Loader was immediately engulfed in flames. He ran around the yard screaming and trying to take off his shirt, which melted onto his skin.
Walpole held her head in her hands, saying: ‘What the f*** have I done? What the f*** have I done? He was telling me to do it.’
Loader had suffered third-degree burns to 60 per cent of his body and second-degree burns to a further 6 per cent.
The injuries to his face, chest, both legs and arms were so severe he was flown to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne where he spent 74 days in the burns unit.
Loader could not work for a year after the attack and in addition to the physical and psychological harm Walpole caused him he has been devastated financially
About 3pm on the day she had set Loader alight, Walpole sent McGee a text message.
‘Hey Belle,’ she wrote. ‘I wanted to let Jake know I’m really sorry for everything that’s happened. I made a really stupid decision and I own that.
‘It was a mistake and I wish I could go back in time. I hope he is okay. I am really sorry.’
Walpole was arrested the day Loader woke from his coma and charged with one count of burn, maim, disfigure or disable a person by use of a corrosive fluid. She pleaded guilty in December.
Loader is back on Broadwater Station with McGee and was not in court when Walpole was jailed for a maximum seven years and six months on Thursday.
In sentencing, Judge Jennifer English said: ‘This is a tragic case in so many ways for the victim and his family and for the offender and her family.’
McGee told Daily Mail Australia her partner did not wish to comment on what was done to him and he had been experiencing anxiety with all renewed media attention.
‘Jake hates the spotlight and being centre of attention on his best days,’ she said. ‘We are both hoping to put all of this past us as best we can today.
Walpole is pictured with her dog Nellie on Wednesday. ‘I feel that one of my only friends these days is Nellie,’ she said. ‘She is always there for me and I know she loves me unconditionally’
‘It was not going to be great for anyone involved no matter the end decision.’
Loader could not work for a year after the attack and in addition to the physical and psychological harm Walpole caused him he has been devastated financially.
He cannot properly regulate his temperature because his sweat glands were burnt off and can longer be exposed to sunlight as he is highly susceptible to melanoma.
‘This attack didn’t only hurt me,’ Loader wrote ahead of Walpole’s sentencing.
‘My parents are emotionally wrecked, constantly worrying about my well-being. My sibling has become withdrawn and overprotective. The emotional trauma has extended into our home affecting everyday conversations.’
Walpole returned to work three days a week in late February 2024 and split with Stone several months later. Walpole kept the Russell Street house and lived there until she was jailed on Thursday.
‘After the offence I lost most of my friends,’ she said in her affidavit. ‘I understand that I am to blame for this for what I did.’
Walpole, who had realistic aspirations of a managerial role at Engage Electrics, has now been told there is no guarantee of a job when she is released.
She still has the support of her parents and sister Ava but before she was locked up mostly turned to her dog for company.
‘I feel that one of my only friends these days is Nellie,’ Loader said in her affidavit. ‘She is always there for me and I know she loves me unconditionally.’
