Matthew Charles Johnson found guilty of murdering Carl Williams
AN emotional George Williams is reportedly "very pleased" today after his son's killer, Matthew Johnson, was found guilty of murder.
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CARL Williams' killer Matthew Charles Johnson has been found guilty of his murder.
The verdict was reached just before 3.23pm today after deliberations that took more than 13 hours over two days.
The violent career criminal bashed the gangland identity to death with an exercise bike stem in a surprise attack caught on chilling security video.
But staff weren’t manning the cameras that captured Johnson approaching Williams, 39, from behind as he sat at a table reading the Herald Sun in his high-security Barwon prison unit on April 19 lear year.
Outside court, Detective Superintendent Doug Fryer said it was a good result.
He said Carl's father George became emotional when he was notified of the verdict.
"George has obviously been notified and (was) quite emotional and very pleased with the result,'' Det Supt Fryer told reporters.
"It's been a sensational trial and sensational event over the past 12 to 14 months and justice has been done.''
Johnson, 38, told the jury he acted in self-defence, claiming another prisoner warned him that Williams was going to attack him with a sock full of billiard balls so he had to get in first.
But a Supreme Court jury’s verdict means they didn’t believe the threat was ever made.
The trial sat for 14 days and heard explosive allegations made by Williams before his death, including that a corrupt policeman paid him to have police informer Terence Hodson executed.
The prosecution had argued that Johnson’s motive might have been Williams’ agreement to help police over the Hodson murder.
The jury weren’t told Johnson has well over 100 convictions, has spent most of his adult life in prison and has a history of bashing other inmates for “turning dog” or helping authorities.
A former concreter who didn’t finish high school, Johnson was a jail heavyweight and self-proclaimed "general" of a group of inmates who called themselves the Prisoners of War.
He wrote of his plans to kill Williams the day before he did, telling another inmate, “not much doing here brother, just D2TE (death to the enemy) the way it should be”.
“I think I’ll have to hang around for a while longer … doesn’t matter but coz I love this s---. I am the true general so I must keep things in good order, true.”
He told nobody of the threat by Williams and the man who allegedly conveyed the message, cellmate Tommy Ivanovic, did not give evidence at the trial.
Johnson claimed Williams treated him badly, looked down on him and told him he was disloyal for refusing to kill a policeman for him.
He said he feared retribution for his family outside if he reacted to Williams’ provocation.
“He was a killer. If you’re not going to take a threat that comes from his corner seriously there’s something wrong with you,” he told the jury.
The trial heard evidence from Williams’ father George, who once shared the unit with Williams and Johnson before his release on parole, and Roberta Williams.
The jury also heard details of Williams’ claims of high-reaching police corruption, including that former drug squad detective Paul Dale paid him to have Hodson killed so the informer would not be able to give evidence in Dale’s court case.
