Williams prison killing: jury out



THE jury that will decide whether gangland boss Carl Williams was deliberately murdered while in prison has retired to consider its verdict.


Matthew Charles Johnson, 38, has pleaded not guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court to murdering Williams in their shared unit at Barwon Prison last year.

He told the jury he acted in self-defence when fatally bashing Williams because their other cellmate had told him Williams planned to kill him with a sock full of pool balls.

The jury must consider whether it is beyond reasonable doubt that Johnson’s life was not in danger. If unconvinced, they can consider an alternative charge of defensive homicide.

Much of the evidence has centred on Williams’s character and what he could have gained or lost from Johnson’s death.

It has been publicly revealed for the first time that Williams was assisting police from prison, giving them statements in which he alleged he had acted as a middleman when former Victoria Police detective Paul Dale wanted to find a hitman to kill a police informer who was going to testify against him.

In return for his assistance, Williams received assurances that police would support his appeal against the 35-year minimum sentence he was serving for four murders.

The court heard Johnson was the founder of a jail gang called the Prisoners of War, which hated “dogs” — criminals who helped police.

Johnson told the jury that he did not see Williams as an informer because Williams was secretly planning to sabotage the assistance he was giving the police.

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