Does skull on Geelong beach missing man Paul Kingsbury?
A panicked Paul Kingsbury called a family member to arrange a meeting in the dead of night just hours before disappearing in 2014. What happened to him after that is a mystery, but a skull that washed up on a Geelong beach could hold some answers.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Paul Kingsbury had every reason to be in a world of fear as things closed in on him a little over five years ago.
Kingsbury had for some time been on the periphery of Geelong’s sometimes brutal underworld, where the city’s bikies and their associates hold considerable sway.
But he is said to have made a big mistake, allegedly burgling the home of a senior Bandidos gang member and stealing two guns.
Such things can sometimes result in a severe but non-fatal response.
That wasn’t the case for the 27-year-old Kingsbury.
There is every indication — apart from a body — that he has been murdered.
The last known sighting of Kingsbury was at a property in Larkins Lane, Moolap, on the Bellarine Peninsula, on the night of July 6 2014.
A witness was later to testify that he wassummoned to a meeting in a shed on the block and later organised for an associate to collect two guns for him and bring them along.
That witness said Kingsbury left willingly and silently with another man in the hours after the weapons were produced.
It is unclear what happened from there but he was never seen again.
Kingsbury came from nearby Leopold and had been a relatively normal child, playing footy locally and volunteering with the CFA.
But he also fought bipolar disorder and, when he took to drugs in his 20s, things quickly deteriorated, despite the best efforts of his family.
In the years before his disappearance, Kingsbury had developed an ice addiction and was targeting farms in the district for firearms burglaries.
There had been a 2011 assault on four taxi drivers and a prison term for drugs, guns and stolen property offences.
Court proceedings after his death were told Kingsbury did not know who he could trust anymore.
His brother Jarrod said his car has been damaged by gunfire and a female acquaintance, Andrea Tilley, testified that he had money and believed someone was going to take it from him.
He had been shaken by an incident with a local Bandido-linked criminal with a well-earned reputation for violence.
Another witness said that in the period before he vanished, Kingsbury arrived at a house with a safe which, after being jemmied open, was found to be holding up to $12,000.
The night before he died, Mr Kingsbury had travelled to Melton and bought 14 grams of ice, which was divided up for sale.
MORE TRUE CRIME
THE NIGHT GANGITANO BASHED BOXER
REBELS HIT BACK WITH GANG TAKEOVER
DAD’S SOLO MISSION TO FIND DAUGHER’S KILLER
There was other evidence that he had been in deep fear in the hours before he was last seen alive.
Kingsbury — concerned he was going to be “rolled” — contacted a family member to arrange a meeting in the dead of night, just hours before disappearing.
Homicide squad investigators were notified in June, 2016, when a skull washed up on a beach in the Geelong suburb of North Shore.
Forensic testing was unable to establish whether it was that of Kingsbury or how the deceased had died.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the investigation remained on-going.
Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit the website www.crimestoppers.vic.gov.au.