Bradley Bell ‘scared, confused’ when interviewed by police, jury hears in Kelly Wilkinson murder trial

The man who drove Brian Johnston to Kelly Wilkinson’s house on the morning of her murder claims he was “confused and scared” when he told police he knew of Johnston’s intentions.

Bradley Bell has faced trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court this week accused of murdering Kelly Wilkinson

The man who drove Brian Johnston to Kelly Wilkinson’s house on the morning of her murder was simply a “scared stoned kid” who made “very very stupid decisions”, his defence barrister has claimed.

Bradley Bell, 29, has faced trial in Brisbane’s Supreme Court this week charged with murder.

The Crown allege that Bell knew Brian Earl Johnston intended to kill his estranged wife Kelly Wilkinson when Bell dropped him at her home on the morning of April 20, 2021.

Johnston stabbed and burned Ms Wilkinson to death after dousing her with petrol purchased by Bell during the “most awkward” car ride to Ms Wilkinson’s house, the jury was told throughout the trial.

Bell had given varying accounts of events during his three interviews with police in the months following Ms Wilkinson’s death, the court heard.

In Bell’s third interview, on the date he was arrested for murder, Bell made claims that Johnston had told him multiple times that he wanted to kill his wife and that he “knew (Johnston’s) intentions the entire time”.

But after pleading not guilty to the murder on Monday, Bell told the jury that these had been lies designed to improve his standing with police.

“If I had sort of helped the detectives convict Brian, I wouldn’t be in trouble, they wouldn’t need me,” Bell explained his thinking to the court.

“I was confused and scared … I didn’t know I was confessing for a murder.”

Kelly Wilkinson was killed in her Arundel backyard on the Gold Coast in April 2021.

Defence barrister Ed Whitton told the jury during his closing submissions on Wednesday that his client was an “innocent man”.

“He’s not a cold blooded killer indifferent to a woman’s life,” he said.

“He’s a scared stoned kid who finds himself in an unimaginable position and makes some very very stupid decisions about lying to the police.”

Mr Whitton accepted that on the face of it, Bell’s third interview with police was a “confession to murder”, but said his client’s claims in that interview were “simply not true”.

Mr Whitton said the defence did not deny that the “cornerstone” of the Crown case – the fact that his client had lied repeatedly to police.

But he argued that it was “pretty illogical” for the Crown to ask the jury to accept that his client had lied in his first and second interviews, along with his testimony in court, while also asking them to accept that what Bell said in his third interview was the truth.

Mr Whitton argued that if his client had known Johnston’s intentions he wouldn’t have bought the petrol for him, knowing his face would be captured on CCTV.

He noted that Bell claimed in his third interview that Johnston had talked repeatedly about wanting to kill Ms Wilkinson, and said their other co-workers were aware of this also, but pointed out no such conversations were ever identified in the CCTV footage from their workplace.

Mr Whitton also noted evidence from “murderer” Brian Johnston had supported his client’s claims, along with co-workers telling the jury in their evidence that Johnston had never told them about wanting to kill Ms Wilkinson.

Johnston had given evidence on Wednesday, saying he never told his co-accused Bell that he had intended to kill Ms Wilkinson.

Brian Johnston (pictured) was called to give evidence on Wednesday in the trial against his co-accused Bradley Bell

Mr Whitton urged the jury to consider the high burden of proof when it comes to convicting someone “beyond reasonable doubt”.

“We don’t convict people on a maybe or a possibility that he knew about Mr Johnston’s murderous intentions,“ Mr Whitton said.

“Bradley Bell’s many lies are stupid but they are understandable.”

Crown prosecutor David Nardone suggested the jury should reject the “feeble support given by the evidence of a murderer (Johnston)”.

He claimed Bell was a “self-interested manipulator of information” who told a “fanciful story” in the witness box on Wednesday.

“He’s a liar and a manipulator … He clutched at every excuse he could find,“ Mr Nardone said.

In particular, Mr Nardone noted that Bell had claimed that his marijuana consumption had affected what he had said to the police in the third interview.

“That’s an excuse,” he said.

Family and friends of slain woman Kelly Wilkinson outside Brisbane Supreme Court during the trial of Bradley Bell. Picture: NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

Mr Nardone emphasised that Bell had driven Johnston at 3.37am to the home of his wife, who he knew Johnston was angry with over rape allegations, and had dropped him off with a jerry can of fuel without any objection or resistance.

“All the ingredients are there for the murder to be carried out … It’s a farce to suggest that he didn’t genuinely know or expect that Mr Johnston was going to carry out the murder of Ms Wilkinson.”

“He either knew Mr Johnston was going to do it, or he just chose to not care what Mr Johnston was going to do.”

The jury was expected to begin deliberating after Justice Michael Copley delivered his summing up of the case on Thursday afternoon.