Ex soldier pleads guilty to manslaughter over death of former bikie

A FORMER soldier and founding Mongol bikie has pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the death of a former bikie in Melbourne.

Lachlan Floyd has pleaded guilty to killing another man over a love triangle.

A FORMER Victorian soldier and ex-bikie has admitted killing another former bikie over a love triangle.

Lachlan Floyd, 30, pleaded guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court on Monday to killing Stuart Townsend, 26, at a park in Hughesdale in February 2016.

His manslaughter guilty plea came as he was due to stand trial for the more serious charge of murder, and he will now face a plea hearing in September.

Lachlan Floyd has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

He will now face a plea hearing in September.

Previously the Melbourne Magistrates Court heard Mr Floyd was upset that his former partner Jade Michael had begun a relationship with Mr Townsend, another former bikie who had done jail time for violence offences.

Ms Michael said she broke up with Mr Floyd in the weeks before the shooting, partly because of the pair’s drug use.

Mr Floyd continued to text Ms Michael, asking her for sex and expressing disappointment she had taken up with Mr Townsend.

Ms Michael said Mr Townsend rang Mr Floyd shortly before his murder, telling him to leave her alone.

Mr Floyd, a former soldier, was a founding member of the Melbourne Mongols chapter when they took over the Finks clubhouse in Port Melbourne, but is no longer a member after being thrown out in “bad standing’’.

Lachlan Floyd was caught up in a dangerous love triangle.

Ms Michael said Mr Floyd kept a shotgun hidden in a pillow because he was scared for his safety after leaving the Mongols because of “disputes”.

Mr Townsend, a former Finks bikie and heavy drug user, was sentenced to four years and 10 months jail after he slashed at the throat of a bouncer and stabbed another in the chest after he was refused entry to Seven, a nightclub in South Melbourne, on July 15, 2012.

But Ms Michael said Mr Townsend was reformed.