Kelly Wilkinson death: Estranged husband Brian Earl Johnston sentenced after pleading guilty to murder
As Kelly Wilkinson’s estranged husband was sentenced to life for her brutal killing it was revealed he is facing charges for allegedly raping the young mum.
Police & Courts
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As Kelly Wilkinson’s estranged husband was sentenced to life imprisonment for her “planned, premeditated and brutal” killing it was revealed he is facing charges for allegedly raping the young mum.
Brian Earl Johnston received the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, which carries a minimum non-parole period of 20 years.
The former marine has already been on remand for 1057 days which was declared as time served, meaning he will be eligible for parole in April 2041.
The court heard that in the weeks before the murder Johnston was charged with the alleged raped of Ms Wilkinson.
The court heard those charges were currently still before the Southport Magistrates Court and that Johnston would ultimately plead not guilty to the charges at a future trial.
Justice Peter Applegarth stressed that while those sexual allegations formed part of the factual background of the murder, it did not mean the charges were proven or that Johnston was guilty of those crimes.
“Their relevance is you were acutely aware and concerned that she had made those allegations against you,” he said.
Justice Applegarth said the murder was a crime of “extreme domestic violence”.
“Kelly Wilkinson was estranged and separated from you, at the time you were living elsewhere,” he said.
“Your murder of her was not a verbal argument that escalated.
“There was planning and premeditation – turning up at her home with a 20 litre can of petrol with items in a camouflage bag, dressed in black and with a black mask on your head.”
Justice Applegarth said days before the murder, Johnston told a friend that if something happened to him, he hoped they would tell people “I’m a good person”.
He said that comment was consistent with Johnston having a plan to kill himself and Ms Wilkinson.
Justice Applegarth said Johnston “obviously wanted to silence her from being a witness in the impending (rape) proceedings”.
“I infer that you wanted to kill her because you lost control of her and had lost her as some kind of possession that you knew you would never regain,” he said.
Justice Applegarth said despite Johnston’s “deluded” thinking, Ms Wilkinson was “not yours to control”.
“You ignored her dignity and her autonomy,” he said.
“You violated her security in breach of a court order for her protection.
“You brutally killed her in a sustained attack with knives and burnt her to death.”
The 27-year-old mother of three had ended her relationship Johnston, but he continued to contact her and her family.
Johnston’s sentence hearing came after he pleaded guilty in February to her murder, just one month before he was due to face trial.
On the morning of April 20, 2021, neighbours in the ordinarily quiet Arundel suburb where Ms Wilkinson lived woke to the sounds of an argument, screaming and a woman yelling “please stop”.
Those who went to investigate found a horror scene.
Johnston was dousing himself in petrol and told those who inquired that he was okay.
Moments later, there was an explosion.
Johnston had ambushed Ms Wilkinson as she stepped outside for a cigarette.
Crown Prosecutor Philip McCarthy KC said first responders discovered Johnston had inflicted multiple sharp force stab wounds, doused her in petrol and set her on fire.
items including a hangman’s noose, zip ties, a crow bar, knives and duct tape were also found at the heavily blood spattered scene.
During the hearing it was revealed that Ms Wilkinson had warned her family that she was so fearful of her estranged husband that she organised a code to alert them if she was in trouble.
If she wrote “I’m considering moving back to Ohio” in their family group chat, it was a warning that something was dreadfully wrong.
A severely burned Johnston jumped in the family’s pool to save himself before fleeing the scene.
He was tracked down by a police dog who found him with severe burns, ligature marks to his neck and lacerations to his wrists.
Justice Applegarth said he was likely to conclude that Johnston went to the home to kill Ms Wilkinson and then himself.
The court heard there had been two court orders in place designed to protect Ms Wilkinson from her killer.
“She had given clear indications to the defendant that she no longer wished to be associated with him,” Mr McCarthy said.
“Despite all that, he attended at her home intent on killing her.”
Mr McCarthy said the couple first met online and in December 2011, Ms Wilkinson travelled to the United States to meet Johnston.
The pair married the following month and had two children.
In April 2017, Ms Wilkinson and the children moved back to Australia with plans for Johnston to follow in July.
But before he left America, Ms Wilkinson ended their relationship.
Mr McCarthy said there was text message evidence that Johnston reacted poorly to the breakdown of relationship, burning items belonging to Kelly and the children.
He sent a message to one of her family members saying he “got hammered” and burnt boxes of clothing, including Ms Wilkinson’s wedding dress.
“I enjoy destroying s**t when I’m pissed off,” he wrote.
In July that year, Johnston travelled to Queensland with an intention of surprising Ms Wilkinson.
Mr McCarthy said Ms Wilkinson did not want to continue the relationship but Johnston said he had sold all his belongings in the United States and had nowhere else to go.
They ultimately reconciled and had a third child.
In 2021, Ms Wilkinson again ended the relationship following the death of her mother.
“Kelly claimed that you were abusive and controlling towards her, something you dispute,” Justice Applegarth said.
Johnston moved out of the home as requested by Ms Wilkinson and in March 2021, she made disclosures to her sisters about alleged acts of abuse by Johnston.
On March 31 that year, a temporary protection order was made in the Southport Magistrates Court which Johnston later breached by going to the home to kill her.
At the start of Wednesday’s proceedings, he pleaded guilty to contravening the domestic violence order and was sentenced to a concurrent three year prison term – the maximum penalty for that offence.
The court heard Johnston had previously also pleaded guilty to breaching the bail conditions imposed for the rape charges by going to Ms Wilkinson’s home on the day of the murder.
Justice Applegarth said on the night before the attack, Johnston was recorded on CCTV cameras in his workplace making preparations and gathering items including duct tape, a crow bar and a white powder which was found at the scene and later revealed to be a mix of antihistamines and sedatives.
He also phoned his mother and told her his lawyer warned he would be taken into custody on April 30 until the alleged rape charges went to trial.
“Just after 3am on the morning of the murder, an associate and you went to a petrol station
at Coomera,” Justice Applegarth said.
“He filled his car, and your 20-litre jerry can with petrol.”
“You went to the vicinity of the family home at Arundel where you directed your associate to
park at the end of the cul-de-sac. You got out of the car, taking your camouflage bag and jerry can with you.
“Once on the property, he waited for Ms Wilkinson to emerge into the backyard where he set upon her, inflicting the brutal attack.”
The associate, Bradley Bell, is also facing a charge of murder in relation to Ms Wilkinson’s death.
A review of his matter was heard in the Brisbane Supreme Court earlier on Wednesday where lawyers said the case may proceed to trial later this year but that the parties were due to have case conferencing in April and a further review was listed for later that month. It’s understood he is contesting the charges.
Defence barrister Kim Bryson said Johnston was born in Ohio in an Amish community where he was raised with a strict Baptist faith “with old fashioned attitudes and values”.
She said he was exposed to domestic violence as a child and went on to become a US Marine like his grandfather.
He served two tours in Iraq in 2007 and 2009 where he claims he was exposed to nerve agents and was impacted by the suicide of colleagues.
Ms Bryson said Johnston had asked to address the court and Ms Wilkinson’s family, who rejected the request. She said he had written a letter of apology that would be given to the Crown if the family chose to receive it.
Ms Bryson submitted it was open for the court to infer that Johnston had gone to the home on that day to restrain Ms Wilkinson and kill himself in front of her.
But the Crown rejected that proposition, saying he went to the home in camouflage, armed with multiple weapons and repeatedly stabbed Kelly before dousing her in petrol and setting her on fire.
SISTER’S MOVING STATEMENT AS SHE STARES DOWN KILLER
Ms Wilkinson’s sister Danielle Carroll told the court it was impossible to articulate her family’s loss.
“You have robbed me of a normal life with my baby sister, my confidant and my best friend,” she told Johnston.
“You have caused me and everyone around me a lifetime of immeasurable pain and suffering
“From the moment I received the phone call from my dad saying ‘he has killed her’ I just remember being overcome with complete breathlessness.”
Mrs Carroll lambasted Johnston’s cruel act of burning Kelly which she said took not only her life, but her body as well.
“I couldn’t hold her hand, I couldn’t kiss her on the forehead,” she said.
“You robbed me of giving her the proper goodbye she deserved.
“All Kelly wanted was to love and be loved and all you gave her was pure evil. You let in an infinite darkness and my heart aches for her
“I can’t bear to think about her last moments and what you did to her.”
She said the pain never went away.
“The sleepless nights, nightmares, days on days of immense heartbreak only to turn to days of numbness before the cycle starts again,” Mrs Carroll said.
“We may never be around her cheeky presence but Kelly’s beautiful soul will always shine bright throughout her family.
“She is free from you and you can’t hurt her anymore.”
Her brother-in-law Reece Carroll told Johnston he wondered whether it was even worth writing a victim impact statement, saying he believed nothing he said would change who “who you truly are”.
“ … nothing will change who you truly are and I certainly know there is nothing I can say that will hurt you like you’ve hurt this family,” he said.
“I’ve tried to help you for as long as I’ve known you.”
Mr Carroll said he had supported Johnston from the moment he married Kelly right up until the weeks before he killed her.
“It’s taken me eight long years to realise there’s no helping a monster like you,” he said.
“I once called you brother. Once.”
“How could anyone do something as unforgivable as this to anybody, let alone somebody they claimed to have loved?
“This is pure unrepentant evil and you did this. You did all of this.”
He said Ms Wilkinson’s children would endure a life without their beautiful mother whose love could never be replaced.
“They don’t deserve any of this and neither did Kelly,” he said.
Ms Wilkinson’s sister Natalie Wilkinson said the loss was so horrific that she struggled to get out of bed for 18 months and now found it difficult to communicate with friends and family and is living in fear.
She said she mourned the loss of the little moments like giggling with her sister, dropping the kids to school, talking with her and hugging her.
“I lost my best friend,” she said.
Ms Wilkinson’s grandmother said she missed the phone calls that would brighten her day and always end with a “love you, Nan,” from Kelly and a “love you, Kel,” from her.
“Kelly was always there when I needed her,” she said.
“Please tell me how to mend my heart.”
EARLIER: FORMER MARINE TO BE SENTENCED FOR DV MURDER
Former United States Marine Brian Earl Johnston will today be sentenced for the horrific murder of his estranged wife Kelly Wilkinson who died after being set on fire in the backyard of her Gold Coast home.
Johnston, wearing a suit and carrying paperwork, has been led into the dock in the Brisbane Supreme Court where Justice Peter Applegarth will sentence him for the horrific 2021 murder.
Ms Wilkinson’s devastated family have filled the courtroom and detectives who worked on the case are also present.
Many of her family were seen wearing earrings or pins featuring sunflowers – Ms Wilkinson’s favourite flower.
Johnston pleaded guilty to murder in February, just one month before he was due to face trial.
Ms Wilkinson’s death in 2021 sent shockwaves across Queensland and sparked a review into the police response to domestic violence.
In the wake of the attack, a senior police officer conceded the Queensland Police had failed to protect Ms Wilkinson, who contacted police twice in the weeks before her death with concerns about Johnston.
Johnston suffered serious burns during the attack and was placed in an induced coma while he recovered before being transferred to a correctional centre where he has remained on remand.
Ms Wilkinson was aged 18 when she married Johnston after a whirlwind courtship in the United States.
They had three children together.
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