How a detective’s son became one of the state’s most notorious killers
He’s a triple-murderer, arsonist, thief, standover man and hostage-taker, and has used his mastery of manipulation on many a con. But there’s one deal Greg ‘Bluey’ Brazel couldn’t use his gift of the gab to talk authorities into.
Police & Courts
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Stone-cold killer Gregory Brazel should this month be making his first submission for parole after a marathon stint in jail.
The brutal red-headed manipulator with the gift of the gab would, no doubt, be preparing to put a strong case for early release after serving the past 30 years in maximum security prisons.
The triple-murderer, arsonist, thief, standover man and hostage-taker has had a fair crack at committing just about every offence in the Crimes Act.
Brazel is also a con who has never lacked confidence.
He has used his renowned powers of persuasion to swindle fellow inmates and trick staff alike while behind bars.
But there was one deal he couldn’t make; the one which would have seen him eyeing freedom right now.
In 2000, Brazel was serving time for the murders 10 years earlier of sex workers Sharon Taylor, at Colac, and Roslyn Hayward, at Sorrento.
It was then that he came forward with an extraordinary confession.
He out of the blue owned up to being the gunman who in 1982 shot dead mother-of-three Mildred Teresa Hanmer in an armed robbery at her Mordialloc hardware and gift shop.
His confession to the typically brutal Brazel act carried enough details only the killer could have known for it to have veracity.
As always with this four-decade crime veteran, there was a catch.
For reasons best known to himself, he agreed to make a statement to investigators as long as no life term was imposed on him.
In a nutshell, Brazel wanted to get the Hanmer murder off the books but still get out in February 2020.
The plan didn’t work out and he still has years to serve, which, given his background and prison antics, is probably just as well.
Brazel has a long history of using whatever legal avenues or other means are at his disposal to manipulate the system.
“He’s been on more hunger strikes than he’s had hot dinners,” a source said.
When those tricks fail, there’s always violence.
In 1979, he stabbed fellow jailhouse heavyweight Mark “Chopper” Read and years later phoned the 10-year-old daughter of another inmate and threatened to kill her.
A favourite tactic was to ring police investigating his many crimes and drop details about their personal lives and families to intimidate them.
Brazel has bashed staff, once took an officer hostage, threatened to blow up a jail and set fire to a cell.
But he’s no one-trick pony, unafraid to use words to steal from victims after winning their trust.
Wife-killers Tony Kellisar and Peter Caruso found that out the hard way when they were separately duped out of big money by the smooth-talking schemer.
A naive prison counsellor was once tricked into putting $30,000 into Brazel’s TAB account.
At one stage, the killer took to bleeding himself in the hope anaemia would win him special medical treatment.
One former prison officer said it was clear Brazel would have made something of his life if he did not have innately criminal tendencies.
“He plays the game, he’s very good at playing the game,” the ex-officer said.
“I found him all right but you had to be wary of him.”
Brazel has also been the victim, once winning a $12,000 payout after a behind-bars glassing.
A dispute over a mobile phone led to a brutal prison bashing by fellow thugs which ended in the infamous Trial From Hell case.
Brazel came from the kind of upbringing that made him an unlikely generator of such mayhem.
His father was a New South Wales detective and he joined the army in the 1970s at a young age.
But the signs of what was to come emerged when he took five colleagues hostage, firing shots during an exercise which turned into a siege in Victoria.
That preceded almost 45 years with only brief stints in the outside world.