Jackson Watson jailed after weeks on run following Warwick drive-by shooting

A Warwick father who spent weeks on the run following a shocking daylight shooting that left another man fighting for life is behind bars, despite the charge against him being dropped.

A Warwick father who was the subject of a massive police hunt after a man was gunned down in the street in broad daylight has been jailed, despite the shooting charge against him being dropped.

Jackson Bruce Watson spent weeks on the run after a manhunt was launched over the shooting of Jason Martin, who was critically injured in a drive-by shooting on February 15 last year.

Mr Martin suffered a life-threatening wound to his abdomen and was flown to the Princess Alexandra Hospital, where he underwent surgery and spent days in intensive care.

He has since recovered.

Police put out a public appeal for help to find Watson in the days following the shooting, with the now 28-year-old found by police at a Toowoomba motel in early March.

Police made a public appeal for information and launched a massive manhunt for Jackson Watson in February 2022, following a shocking daylight shooting on the streets of Warwick.

Watson, who was on parole at the time, has since been in custody for 399 days and missed the birth of his child while behind bars.

He was initially charged with grievous bodily harm over the shooting of 37-year-old Mr Martin, but the charge was later dropped when the victim declined to make a statement police.

Watson fronted Warwick Magistrates Court this week via videolink from jail, where he pleaded guilty to 20 charges related to the days between the shooting and Watson’s capture. A total of 14 other charges were dropped by police.

The court was told that between February 16 and March 3 last year, Watson committed offences including six counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, aggravated dangerous driving, two counts of evading police, three disqualified driving, and possessing dangerous drugs, utensils and a telescopic baton.

He also pleaded guilty to receiving two sets of stolen number plates, which were placed on stolen cars Watson was spotted travelling in around Toowoomba.
At one point Watson, who has never held a licence, was seen by police while travelling in a stolen Audi at an alarming 210km/h in a 100 zone.

He was also spotted driving stolen BMW, Isuzu, Toyota Camry and Volkswagen vehicles in Warwick, Texas, St George and Toowoomba.

Watson crashed a Hertz rental car, which the court was told was taken by an “associate” Watson’s, into another car in Hodgson Vale on March 1 last year, before moving into a Hyundai Kona he was “in a convoy with” before the collision.

When the Warwick man was located in a Toowoomba motel just days later, he was found with a restricted extendable baton, a stolen credit card, 450g of marijuana and a bong. He was taken into custody without incident.

Defence lawyer Kirstyn Nicholson asked for 12 months to be added to the sentence her client was now serving behind bars for another three-week stint on the run from police in 2018, with two years still remaining on that term.

Police say that spree involved Watson ransacking and breaking into homes, stealing cars and leading police on high-speed pursuits, ending in wild scenes with police injured and the near-destroyed stolen vehicle Watson was driving stopped with police road spikes.

Police used road spikes to stop a car driven by Warwick man Jackson Bruce Watson in 2018, after the now 28-year-old spent three weeks on the run.

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess told Watson she didn’t believe that to be sufficient, noting remarkable similarities between his two crime sprees.

“These dangerous operations offences are very serious – one involved you crashing into another car and speeding and swerving over the road and the first one involved excessive speed,” Ms Sturgess said.

“The police recorded the stolen vehicle travelling at over 200km/h at one point and it was short bursts it was obviously continued then to drive at speed through suburban areas.”

Ms Nicholson said although the charges were similar, the 2018 offences were “much more serious” and ended with police injured.

She also asked the court to take into account her client had spent more than a year in custody after his arrest and said “rehabilitation is not lost” on the father.

Ms Sturgess said it was clear drugs had played a role in Watson racking up such a list of serious offending.

“You clearly have got a significant drug problem, which has contributed to your offending,” she said.

“If you have a drug problem, then it is a problem you need to address, it isn't an excuse for driving around in stolen cars and for making victims out of other people

Watson had 18 months’ added to his existing sentence, with immediate parole eligibility.

He was also disqualified from driving for three years.