Bikie who shot custom car maker `on a whim’ gets 25 years jail
A NSW bikie who killed a custom car builder “on a whim” in a dispute over a rare motorcycle has been jailed for more than 25 years.
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A NSW bikie who killed a custom car builder “on a whim” in a dispute over a rare motorcycle has been jailed for more than 25 years.
John Richard Weston, 37, ambushed and shot dead Laurie Starling as the 29-year- old left his NSW Central Coast business The Chop Shop in 2014. on the evening of July 24, 2014.
A NSW Supreme Court jury earlier this year found him guilty of the murder, and on Wednesday he was sentenced to 34 years with a non-parole period of 25 years and six months.
“There is no doubt that the murder was detestable and gravely reprehensible, if not extremely wicked,” Justice Stephen Rothman said in sentencing. Mr Rothman said Weston, a senior member of the Rebels, took Mr Starling’s life “on a whim” after the shop owner tried to retrieve a unique, custom-made motorcycle that was seized by the gang.
Mr Starling had bought the bike — which was constructed for reality television competition Biker Build-Off — from a man the Rebels believed owed the gang $200,000.
The Rebels took the bike from Mr Starling, believing it still belonged to the other man.
When Mr Starling contacted someone connected to a rival gang to try to retrieve the bike, Weston spoke to another Rebels member about travelling to the Central Coast to give someone a “touch-up”.
Weston made several visits to The Chop Shop in Gosford with other gang members before July 24, when he ambushed and fatally shot Mr Starling as he went to leave for the evening.
Mr Rothman in sentencing considered Weston’s significant criminal history, his difficult upbringing and mental health.
Mr Starling’s mother, Julia Starling, expressed no problem with the sentence but said “that horrible, violent man has to be put away for a very long time”. She said her son “grabbed life from the minute he was born” and at 29 years old had achieved so much.
“He ran a business, he was getting awards, he had his whole future ahead of him,” Dr Starling told reporters outside court.
“And he had a big future, he had plans, he had so many plans.” Another Rebels bikie, Timothy Steven Rolfe, previously pleaded guilty to the murder and is expected to be sentenced on Thursday.