A jury has found not guilty a man who was charged with assisting a coworker in killing his estranged wife.
On April 20, 2021, Bradley Bell, of Pimpana, entered a not guilty plea to the murder of Kelly Wilkinson, 27, and was set to go on trial at Brisbane Supreme Court.
The 29-year-old was charged with Wilkinson’s murder after helping her 37-year-old estranged husband, Brian Earl Johnston, carry out his plot to knife Wilkinson and light her on fire.
Bell was camping at a campsite with Johnston when he was awakened at three in the morning and requested to be transported to Wilkinson’s house, according to Crown Prosecutor David Nardone.
Security footage, he claimed, showed Bell driving Johnston close to Wilkinson’s house around 3.27 in the morning.
The jury was informed that Johnston had removed a fuel can, zip ties, and a bag containing tools.
“By knowing and expecting that Brian Johnston would kill his wife … in driving him there and getting that petrol … Bradley Bell too is guilty of the same offence committed by Brian Johnston,” Nardone stated.
He said that in July 2021, Bell had acknowledged to the police that he had assisted Johnston prior to Johnston’s attack on Wilkinson at Arundel on the Gold Coast.
Bell will testify in his own defence, according to defence attorney Edwin Whitton, claiming that Bell had lied to police during an 80-minute interrogation on July 20, 2021.
“He lied when he said he knew Brian Johnston intended to kill Kelly Wilkinson,” he stated.
“He lied because he realised he had become involved in something terrible and he was scared.”
Whitton stated Bell “didn’t kill anyone” to the jury. “Brian Johnston is the man who killed Kelly Wilkinson.
It was a vicious killing. I won’t state differently,” he uttered.
Bell was later declared not guilty of manslaughter and murder by the jury.
On Monday, Justice Michael Copley’s trial got underway.
