Kane Watson granted bail over alleged $20k extortion attempt

Court documents reveal alleged list of hitman services on phone of man charged with attempting to extort $20,000 from a former friend.

Kane Watson will face trial in October on charges of aggravated break and enter, destroying property by fire, demanding property with menaces and firearms offences.

Police say they have uncovered an explosive shopping list of hitman “services” including castration, torture, rape and assassination while investigating allegations a Campbelltown man was stood-over and threatened by two men, one of whom pretended to have links to the Irish Republican Army.

Screenshots of the list were allegedly discovered on a mobile phone belonging to one of the accused men, and allegedly include a run down of the services available and their respective cost, as well as how to hire a “soldier” from the unnamed group.

Under the heading “assassination”, $70,000 would buy you “death, torture”, while “gun” and “poison” were priced at $40,000 each, according to documents tendered to the NSW Supreme Court.

Death by “knife” came in at $30,000 and “painless poison” was $42,000.

Under the heading “life ruining”, “rape” was said to cost $40,000, the charge for “castration” was $30,000 and “torture”,” blinding” and “crippling” cost $20,000, $11,000 and $10,000 respectively.

The list is prefaced by a statement saying the group had “48 soldiers on call” and that clients would be assigned the most “available and convenient soldier” based on their location.

Court documents reveal the list was found on a mobile phone belonging to Ambarvale man Nicholas McMillen, 24, who was arrested in December 2023 and charged with demanding property with menaces, destroying property by fire and two firearm offences. He has since pleaded guilty to the charges.

Police will allege McMillen and a second man, 29-year-old Kane Watson, were looking to sell guns to Sydneysiders - supposedly sent over from Ireland by McMillen’s IRA-linked uncle - and had recruited a friend named James to help them source buyers.

However, James declined to help the pair, allegedly prompting them to turn on him and demand $20,000 for “f—king them around”.

Details of the alleged extortion bid, and a subsequent attempt to burn down a NSW Housing Commission home, were revealed during Watson’s recent successful application for bail on charges of aggravated break and enter, destroying property by fire, demanding property with menaces and firearms offences.

Watson has pleaded not guilty to the charges and will face trial later this year.

Neither man has been charged with any crime alleged to have risen from information contained in the list, nor have any crimes been connected to said information, however it is alleged the pair discussed the list during communication uncovered by police.

Court documents state McMillen pretended to be his uncle during a series of online conversations with James, telling him he had a week to come up with “20 grand cash” or “your family will know what happens when people f—k with the IRA”.

The court heard McMillen later told police his uncle is Irish but has no links to the IRA. He said Watson was unaware of this fact and believed the uncle was a member of the militant organisation.

It is alleged McMillen and Watson contacted members of James’ family in an attempt to have him cough up the money and discussed ways to lure him out of hiding to kidnap him.

On the afternoon of December 5, 2023, McMillen and Watson allegedly set fire to James’ sister’s public housing unit in Macquarie Fields, causing $600,000 worth of damage to the building.

It is alleged they also set fire to a car used in the arson, which had previously been loaned to Watson by a friend.

Police raided McMillen’s home a week later, seizing his mobile phone and two gel blasters which resembled a Glock pistol and a pump action shotgun.

Watson was granted bail in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney (pictured). NSW. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

McMillen told police he had been directed to try and extort money from James by a man named Adam, but was unable to give officers any more details about Adam’s identity or contact details.

Meanwhile, detectives discovered three gel blasters - one Glock-style pistol and two military-style rifles - during a raid on Watson’s home, along with a handwritten note appearing to set out the maximum sentences for the crimes of extortion and selling guns, and a dot-point list titled ‘what does James have on me’.

The words ‘f—k me’ appear at the very bottom of the page.

When interviewed by police, Watson allegedly denied any involvement in the house fire, extorting James or ownership of the gel blasters found at his house.

Watson was granted strict bail by Justice Stephen Rothman earlier this month which includes conditions requiring him to report to police daily, live at an approved address under home detention and use only one mobile phone.

McMillen remains behind bars on remand and will face sentencing on August 21.