Bradley Bell trial continues, charged with being a party to Kelly Wilkinson’s death

A murder trial for a man accused of being a party to Kelly Wilkinson’s death has heard how killer Brian Johnston told him he would kill her but he didn’t think Johnston was capable of such an act.

A Brisbane jury has heard how Brian Johnston (pictured) killed his estranged wife Kelly Wilkinson on April 20, 2021. Picture Facebook

A murder trial for a man accused of being a party to Kelly Wilkinson’s death has heard how killer Brian Johnston would shift between “three split personalities” in the days leading up to the tragedy.

A former colleague of Johnston’s described these mood shifts as part of his evidence on day two of the murder trial against Bradley Bell, 29.

Bell is accused of being a party to the murder of Ms Wilkinson, who the jury heard Johnston had repeatedly stabbed and burned to death in her Arundel backyard.

The jury was told that Bell drove Johnston, his former boss and colleague, to Ms Wilkinson’s house just hours before her death on April 20, 2021.

Bell had stopped along the way to pick up a jerry can of fuel which was later used by Johnston to douse and burn his estranged wife, 27, the court heard.

Bell has pleaded not guilty and denies knowing that Johnston was going to kill his wife, which the prosecution alleges.

Bradley Bell is on trial for the murder of Kelly Wilkinson

A co-worker of the two men at Axo Group in Coomera told the Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday morning that Johnston had “three split personalities” in the lead up to the “incident”.

He said these included suicidal ideations, desiring to repair his relationship with Ms Wilkinson, and being angry with her for wanting a divorce.

The witness said Johnston’s mood changes got worse in the weeks and days leading up to Ms Wilkinson’s death, and that he would change between those three attitudes “like a flick of the switch” within the span of hours.

He had been told by Johnston that Ms Wilkinson had wanted a divorce and that she had accused Johnston of rape, he said.

During the second morning of the trial, the jury was played a 14-minute recording of CCTV footage captured the day before Ms Wilkinson’s death at the Axo warehouse where Johnston and Bell had worked.

Johnston could be seen pacing throughout the warehouse for some minutes, before conversing briefly with Bell.

Two men could be heard speaking about a jerry can and Johnston could be heard saying “I need you to get petrol”.

Bell could be heard questioning whether another individual “knew anything about this” and asking “what happens tomorrow?”.

The jury was told that Bell was interviewed by police on three occasions following Ms Wilkinson’s death.

In the first interview, he had omitted the fact he had driven Johnston to Ms Wilkinson’s house on the morning of her death.

A transcript of his second interview, conducted the day after the first, was read out to the jury in full on Tuesday, stating: “Everything I said in my previous statement is true up until a certain point”.

The jury heard Bell describe, in this second statement, how Johnston had shaken him awake on the morning of April 20 around 3am and asked him to drive him to Ms Wilkinson’s house.

“I was too tired to think, and he is my boss, so I just did what he asked,” the statement read.

The statement said Bell had assumed Johnston had spoken over text or phone to Ms Wilkinson overnight.

“I just didn’t feel that it was my place to ask,” he said.

Kelly Wilkinson was killed in her Arundel backyard on April 20, 2021.

According to the statement, Bell had stopped at a petrol station along the way to get fuel for the car, and that Johnston had asked him to get fuel for his jerry can – which he “didn’t think much of”.

On the journey to Ms Wilkinson’s house, Bell stated he was “happy for Brian to be distracted by directions”.

“Any conversation with Brian was always the same ‘I’m innocent’ – and to be honest, I didn’t want to hear it.”

“It was 3am and I was tired.”

The statement said he dropped Johnston near Ms Wilkinson’s house, and that he remembered being annoyed that Johnston didn’t thank him and frustrated that he wouldn’t get much more sleep before work.

The court heard Bell had returned to give police the second statement after his boss Ben Appo informed him that his car would have been captured on CCTV near Ms Wilkinson’s house.

In the second statement, Bell said he had been “scared” and “didn’t know what to expect”.

“I was concerned that I could be in trouble for driving Brian to Kelly’s.”

The family of Kelly Wilkinson leave the Brisbane Supreme Court, where the trial for Bradley Bell continues. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Crown prosecutor David Nardone said during his opening submissions on Monday that is was in Bell’s third statement – given the day he was arrested for murder – in which they jury would hear Bell make further claims that Johnston had talked about wanting to kill Ms Wilkinson and that he had offered Bell $1000 to drive him to her house.

Prior to giving that statement, Bell was recorded speaking to an undercover police officer in a watchouse cell at Southport.

The jury listened in court to the recording, captured on July 20, 2021, in which Bell expressed confusion at being arrested.

“They got me in on murder right now … Pretty much saying that I helped a man kill another person,” Bell could be heard saying to the undercover officer.

Bell could also be heard chatting about his work history, and how Johnston would “go on about” his personal life.

On Tuesday afternoon, the jury watched footage of Bell’s third interview with police, in which he told them he knew Johnston had a desire and plan to kill Ms Wilkinson, but “did not think he was capable of doing it”.

“The entire time right up until the next morning until I heard the radio I still didn’t believe that he would have done it,” the jury heard Bell telling police in the interview.

During the interview, Bell told interviewing officers David Moore and Prue Donald that Johnston had mentioned to him “more than multiple times that he wanted to kill Kelly”.

He said he and other coworkers “just played along with it”.

“He would constantly say the same thing 50 times a day to the point where you sort of, you wouldn’t really believe it,” Bell said.

Detective Senior Constable Donald could be heard asking Bell whether it ever came into his mind in the lead up to the incident that “this plan is going ahead”.

Bell replied that he “would’ve stopped it right then and there”.

“I think about this all the time … because I know that I was the one who could have stopped it all. I could have stopped the whole f**king thing,” he said.

He said he had thought Johnston’s plans were “gross” and that he would have “beat him up (him)self” or called police if he knew Johnston was capable of following through.

Bell told police during the interview that Johnston had offered to pay him $1000 to “drive him around” and drop him at Ms Wilkinson’s house.

“He said don’t ask questions, so I didn’t him ask questions,” Mr Bell said.

“In my head I had an idea ... He was asking me to be a driver to drive him to Kelly’s house to go kill her - that’s what he was getting at.

“I knew his intentions but I just genuinely did not think Brian would have done what he had done.”

Bell emphasised in the interview that Johnston was his boss and that he needed to keep his job, as he was homeless at the time.

“I was getting $1000 out of it, and he was my boss ... I sort of just played with it,” he told police.

The court heard Bell did not actually receive $1000 for driving Johnston.

That third interview had been given on the day Bell was arrested for murder, July 20, 2021.

The court heard that immediately prior to the interview, Bell had conversed with Detective Sergeant David Moore, who had offered him a cigarette outside.

Defence barrister Ed Whitton suggested to Detective Sergeant Moore, who appeared as a witness in court, that he had “downplayed” the importance of the warnings given to his client at the start of the interview.

The court heard Detective Sergeant Moore had told Bell during their conversation that the warnings - that anything he said could later be used against him as evidence - were “just a stock standard process”.

Detective Sergeant Moore confirmed that Bell had said to him, during the recorded conversation, that he would be “willing to do everything and anything” to help their investigation.

Mr Whitton suggested that Detective Sergeant Moore had “buttered him (Bell) up with cigarettes” and had “wanted to ensure he didn’t exercise his rights”.

Detective Sergeant Moore denied this, saying he had wanted Bell to understand how serious the allegations were and had wanted to be open and transparent about the process.

He said the conversation had been recorded as testament to them following a true and accurate process, and so that no allegations could be made.

The trial is expected to continue throughout the week into next week.

Originally published as Bradley Bell trial continues, charged with being a party to Kelly Wilkinson’s death