Bronson Ellery, aka Lizard Man, was just a ‘lost kid’, his lawyer said

BRONSON Ellery’s mother insisted her one-time Bandido son was “no bikie”. His long-time lawyer described him as a “good kid”.

Bronson Ellery was found dead alongside his ex-girlfriend on Friday.

BRONSON Ellery’s mother insisted her son, a confessed one-time Bandidos member, was, “no bikie”.

He was, she said at one of the string of court appearances the 24-year-old made in his short life, just a man who loved tattoos.

The wannabe heavy metal musician, who performed under the name Solitary Son, was dubbed “Lizard Man” by Gold Coast police, thanks to his full face collection of tattoos.

He and his ex-girlfriend, 20-year-old Shelsea Schilling, were found dead inside a Southport apartment on Friday afternoon.

While police initially suspected murder-suicide, it is believed they are now treating it as a double homicide.

In an interview with a music site in February, 2015, he said he got the facial tattoos in order to dedicate himself to his music career.

“I knew I was never going to do a normal job or anything, because I knew I was going to be fully dedicated to music,” he said.

Shelsea Schilling and Bronson Ellery, posted to his Solitary_Son Twitter account in December, 2015

“I was going make it hard for myself and just cover myself in tattoos so there was no other option.

“I just didn’t care. I knew I was doing music, so it didn’t matter what I looked like, and appearing like this would also help for the genre of music. It makes a statement.”

For Ellery’s long-time defence lawyer, Chris Hannay, the news of his death came as a shock.

He said while Ellery had been in and out of prison on a raft of minor offences through his adult life, in the past 12 months he had turned his life around, was focused on his music career and had avoided any brushes with the law.

“He was a 24-year-old lost kid, but he was the politest young kid you have ever known,” Mr Hannay said.

“Bronson loved his music, loved being centre of attention in the last 12 months, had no issue with the cops whatsoever.

“He just called in just to say g’day a few days ago and he was in great spirits.

“He came in and said hello to my staff said his music was going well, he had done his recording, he seemed happy and cheerful. Not even close to depressed.”

Mr Hannay said the 24-year-old’s distinctive facial tattoos marked him as, “a fluorescent light” for police.

He described his jail stints as for, “rubbish, he was just a petty criminal”.

A picture from Bronson Ellery’s Twitter account.

Among the charges he had been convicted of were attempting to pervert the course of justice, after he threatened a man who complained to police that a friend of Ellery’s had damaged his car.

He was arrested by members of Taskforce Takeback, which was formed after the infamous Broadbeach bikie brawl of 2013 that led to a massive crackdown on bike crime in Queensland.

But in February 2015, after being released on bail while awaiting sentence for the perverting the course of justice charge, he told music site Noisey that he had abandoned his bikie connections.

“I used to have links to the Bandidos. I hate them now. I got turned on by them at the clubhouse. I walked out, though. I was sweet,” he told the site.

Ellery’s defection from the Bandidos was also partly fuelled by the murder of his close friend Max Waller in 2013.

Bronson Ellery leaves Southport Magistrates Court in 2013.

“It was bad,” he said in a television interview.

“I didn’t expect that to happen. He didn’t deserve that.”

Ellery told Noisey of his past brushes with the law that ended in jail time, including a brawl with a Finks member at Harbour Town Shopping Centre in 2012, and threatening a man in Surfer’s Paradise.

He said he wrote nine songs while on remand at Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, which he then went on to record that became the album Searching Souls, released in April 2015.

“It’s a lot better and heavier than my previous stuff. I was going that crazy in jail, doing my head in that bad in there,” he said.

“I had nothing to do but write cool songs. I wrote all the lyrics and the song ideas. I’ve just actually released a new trailer for my album.”