By Mark Russell
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The prime suspect in one of two failed hits on former Bandidos enforcer Toby Mitchell has been jailed for 11 years for shooting two drug dealers, killing one of them.
Underworld gunman Gavin Preston, 42, shot Adam Khoury at close range in the head half an hour after police had called off a surveillance operation targeting the career criminal.
Gavin Preston pictured arriving at the Supreme court in August. Credit: Joe Armao
Supreme Court Justice Cameron Macaulay said on Tuesday that he was sceptical about Preston's account of what happened on the night Khoury was killed, but said it was plausible.
Preston claimed he went unarmed to Khoury's apartment to discuss threats being made by the drug dealer's associate, Christopher "Badness" Binse, to kill Preston.
Christopher "Badness" Binse
Preston claimed Khoury panicked and pulled out a gun before the pair wrestled, and Preston shot the drug dealer three times.
Justice Macaulay accepted Preston had been increasingly anxious, if not paranoid, about the threats being made by Binse.
Preston had initially been standing trial for murder before pleading guilty on May 29 to the lesser charge of defensive homicide, which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years' jail.
Preston also pleaded guilty to one count of recklessly causing serious injury for shooting a second drug dealer on January 30, 2012.
Pin-up boy: Former Bandidos enforcer Toby Mitchell "paid" for $350,000 in drugs with a box of soft-porn magazines.Credit: Craig Abraham
He had been on bail on weapons charges before the two shootings.
Justice Macaulay jailed Preston for 11 years with a non-parole period of nine years.
He told Preston that on his account he had "fired rapidly in response to Khoury first directing the gun at you".
"I accept that you had a genuine foundation for perceiving at that time that you were generally under threat of death or serious injury from people associated with Khoury, although not so much from Khoury himself," the judge said.
When Preston was being led to the dock before being sentenced, he taunted one detective sitting nearby, saying "I reckon you've lost this one champ".
"What did you tell everyone? You've never lost a case?" Preston said.
He laughed and told the detective he would be out of jail before the detective retired.
The Crown case was that Preston had been fuelled by paranoia and revenge when he killed Khoury.
Preston had been in the cross-hairs of Binse, a notorious criminal who was determined to avenge his friend Toby Mitchell's shooting in 2011, by detonating explosives under Preston's car.
Binse had been stalking Preston after the Mitchell shooting, placed a tracking device on his car and had taken photographs of Preston's partner before given the explosives to Khoury to look after while he was interstate.
Preston, who founded the notorious gang Youth Gone Wild in Pentridge during the 1990s, found out about the plan and decided to act first.
Having shot the second drug dealer 11 days earlier, Preston drove to Khoury's North Melbourne apartment on February 10, 2012.
Preston was being watched and his phone tapped at the time by a specialist police surveillance squad when it was decided at 12.25am on February 11, 2012, to send the officers home for the night.
Preston shot dead Khoury half an hour later.
Khoury was shot in the arm and chest before being shot at close range in the head. The third shot was again at close range to the head when Khoury was on the floor.
Binse was jailed in May 2014 for a minimum of 14 years for robbery and firing at police during a siege of his home in 2012.