Eric Forrest pleads not guilty in Dubbo Local Court to convicted killer David Collison’s murder

The man accused of the murder of a convicted killer whose remains were found in a burnt-out tree stump in central west NSW will stand trial in the state’s Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to the charge.

Eric Forrest pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in Dubbo Local Court.

The man accused of the murder of a convicted killer whose remains were found in a burnt-out tree stump in central west NSW will stand trial in the state’s Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to the charge.

Eric James Forrest entered the plea in Dubbo Local Court on Thursday, more than 14 months on from the remains of 53-year-old David Collisson allegedly being discovered during a Homicide Squad raid of a farm at the locality of Menah, near Mudgee.

The find finished an 11-day search which began on October 15, 2023, with police probing connections to drugs and other criminality.

Six months later, on April 13, police were called to a shipping container sitting on a rural property at Gulgong, roughly 12km away, where they found the bodies of Kelly Williams, 37, and Christopher “Diz” Gillespie, 55.

This publication previously revealed Gillespie was the manager of Ellerslie, the property on which Collison’s bones were allegedly found.

David Collisson was 53.

Dubbo Local Court heard in September Gillespie had given an induced statement, which detectives planned to use in their case against Forrest. An induced statement outlines the evidence a witness can give, but which cannot then be used against them.

While police allege Collisson was murdered by Forrest, the court had also heard in September that – although forensic tests conducted in the United States had confirmed the bones found in the tree were human – experts could not determine if they were Collisson’s.

David Collisson’s remains were allegedly found in a burnt-out tree stump at a farm property near Mudgee. Picture: NSW Police.

Forrest was arrested at Maroubra late last year and charged with Collisson’s murder, which police allege occurred on September 25 – a month before his remains were found.

Gillespie is understood to have moved off the property in the wake of Collisson’s death and into a large red shipping container on a 5ha lot on Perseverance Lane at ­Gulgong.

The shipping container is one of about six on the lot, which is bereft of any home and surrounded by a few trees, roughly 12km as the crow flies from the Ellerslie property where the remains were located.

A foul smell coming from the shipping container was noticed by a passer-by, who reported to police; they made the grim discovery of the bodies of the two friends inside.

Police have investigated the deaths of Gillespie and Williams, and found there were no obvious signs of a cause other than gas from a heater they were using to keep them warm on the bitter autumn night.

Christopher Gillespie whose body was found in a shipping container in April, six months after David Collison was allegedly murdered on his property at Gulgong. Picture: Facebook

Kelly Williams’ body was also found in the shipping container. Picture: Facebook

A thorough investigation has ruled out foul play or any connection to Collisson’s disappearance, but their deaths will still be investigated by the coroner.

The court previously heard more than 120 people from local towns including Dubbo, Mudgee and Gosford, as well as Bankstown, are expected to be witnesses in the case after being interviewed by detectives as part of Strike Force Utyana.

On Thursday, Magistrate Gary Wilson accepted Forrest’s plea before committing the matter to the Supreme Court where the defendant will be arraigned in February.

Collisson had spent nearly 20 years in jail for the 2000 murder of teenager Shahab Kargarian in Sydney.

Collisson was just 30 when he came across Kargarian and his girlfriend looking at the lights of the city from down at the water at Greenwich Point.

As they sat there Collisson and another man came up to them and one man said: “Give me your wallet … give me your f--cking wallet or I’ll shoot you”.

Kargarian replied: “I don’t have a wallet.”

The teenager’s girlfriend tried to intervene, before being pushed back, at which point she said the next thing she heard were the gunshots that took Kargarian’s life.

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