TRASH TAKEN OFF THE STREETS
Christopher Wayne Hudson was one of the Gold Coast’s most infamous bikies until his final, fatal crime spree.
FEW Gold Coast criminals are more infamous than Christopher Wayne Hudson.
The club-hopping bikie was a central figure in the gang wars of the mid-2000s, before gaining national infamy with a central Melbourne spree that killed 43-year-old solicitor Brendan Keilar.
This weekend marks 15 years since Hudson’s notorious rampage made headlines around the world.
It capped off a short but violent criminal career, which ended with Hudson jailed for 35 years.
Hudson came to prominence in the early 2000s as a member of the Black Uhlans.
“Before long he wanted to join the Finks,” a bikie associate told the Bulletin in 2007. “The Uhlans, having had a taste of his crazy young ways, were not too sorry to see him go, so he patched across (defected).’’
After a handful of years with the Finks, Hudson defected again in October 2006, this time to the Hells Angels.
The Bulletin reported during the wars that he convinced hierarchy he could deliver with drug contacts in the then-lucrative Surfers Paradise nightclub world. The Hells Angels gave him a Harley-davidson motorcycle and he was away with them.
This betrayal set the stage for a brewing gang conflict that came to a head in March 2006 when the Hells Angels and Finks went head-to-head during a kickboxing fight night at Royal Pines Resort. It would be dubbed the “Ballroom Blitz”.
The fight was supposed to be in the ring but the battle raged across the room in front of 1800 people.
The violence began after the Finks spotted Hudson.
Members and associates of the Hells Angels were sitting ringside when the large group of rival Finks, including Shane Bowden and Nick “The Knife” Forbes, arrived.
Forbes threw a punch at Hudson.
Footage showed Forbes and Hudson coming to blows, before Bowden pulled a handgun and shot Hudson twice, in the face and back.
Forbes then held Hudson against the ring while Bowden and another man rained more blows on him.
It was believed the shooting was retribution for Hudson’s defection.
Bowden, who was on parole at the time for drug trafficking and property offences, was convicted and went back to prison for seven years.
He would be gunned down in his Gold Coast driveway 14 years later.
Hudson survived his encounter with Bowden but was also charged with several offences, including affray.
He travelled to Victoria where, in June 2007, he committed his most infamous crime.
At 8am on June 18, the then-29-year-old shot and killed Mr Keilar amid peak-hour traffic on Melbourne’s King St.
The 43-year-old lawyer was killed running to the defence of Kaera Douglas, a young woman being attacked by Hudson.
Paul de Waard, a young Dutch backpacker was also shot while trying to help Ms Douglas, who was shot in the stomach by Hudson.
Both Mr de Waard and Ms Douglas survived their injuries.
Hudson went on the run, sparking a nationwide manhunt but handed himself in to police two days later.
Before he was arrested, he phoned his parents on the Gold Coast and told them he was coming out of hiding.
Anne Hudson told the Bulletin at the time that he made a second call after being taken into custody.
‘‘After he handed himself in he called us back to say he had handed himself in,’’ she said. ‘‘He said he loved us very much and he was sorry for everything.
‘‘He said he had been treated very well by police.’’
His grandfather Wilfred said Hudson had fallen in with a bad crowd as a teenager.
‘‘He got hurt in a car crash about 10 to 12 years ago, maybe that’s what sent him silly. It was just after he got his licence,’’ he said. ‘‘Grandchildren can be more trouble than they’re worth.
‘‘How he got a gun I don’t know. He’s never had one in his life. But once they get in with this crowd they’re gone. But you can’t really blame the bikies for this one, he’s only got himself to blame.’’
Detective Inspector Stephen Clark said Hudson’s surrender was “the best outcome”.
Hudson pleaded guilty in May 2008 and was jailed for his crimes. He remains behind bars today.
Mr de Waard received the Royal Humane Society of Australasia’s medal for his role, while Victorian Premier Steve Bracks announced a $250,000 trust fund would be established for Mr Keilar’s family to support them.
He said Mr Keilar had paid a terrible price for his heroism.