Matthew Charles Johnson

Matthew Charles Johnson (born 9 August 1973) is a convicted murderer and criminal from Melbourne, infamous for murdering drug dealer and serial killer Carl Williams inside Barwon Prison's Acacia Unit.

He grew up in the Dandenong area, was expelled from school, and has spent his teenage years and adult life in and out of prison.

Matthew Charles Johnson was born on 9 August 1973, to Carol Hogg and a father who passed away early in Matthew's childhood.

Raised in the Dandenong area, his family life was challenging, with his stepfather being described as an "aggressive alcoholic and a cruel drunk who would abuse [Johnson]".

His mother described a young Johnson who "loved sport and was a bright student" who channelled his frustrations at school through misbehaviour.

His educational journey was rocky; he was expelled from Lyndale Secondary College in Year 7 due to misbehaviour, after which his mother successfully enrolled him in St Kilda Community High School which catered to students from troubled backgrounds.

Johnson completed his education up to a Year 10 level.

He soon became involved in minor offenses, substance abuse, and found himself in the company of similarly troubled youths.

Johnson became involved in the use of amphetamines, marijuana, and prescription medication from the age of 15.

Since the age of 15, Johnson had already been to multiple youth training centres and even jail for burglary, motor vehicle theft, and weapons offences.

As a teenager, he had completed three separate terms in HM Prison Pentridge.

At 18, he was imprisoned for "serious" theft and drug offences.

In his 20s, after his release from Pentridge, Johnson secured employment as a concreter and was able to stay out of trouble until he suffered a workplace injury.

In January 1998, Johnson was involved in a series of armed robberies, in this spree, Johnson entered an elderly couple's Safety Beach home with a knife, and in another house held a knife to a man's throat, threatening to "start cutting" unless they gave him money.

These crimes earned Johnson a six-year prison sentence with a four-year non-parole period.

Spending adulthood in and out of prison, Johnson gained a reputation in Victoria's prison system for his violent behaviour and in May 1999, Johnson was sentenced for his participation in an attack on a protected inmate in Barwon Prison.

For the crime, he received a 20-month prison sentence.

In September of the following year, Johnson appeared again in court for an attack on contract killer Gregory Brazel in Barwon Prison's Acacia unit.

The ensuing trial, labelled the "trial from hell", saw Johnson and his four co-accused relentlessly abuse Judge Warren Fagan.

One of the defendants threw a bag of human excrement at a member of the jury, and two of the defendants exposed their buttocks to the court.

The trial ended with the jury finding Johnson and two others guilty of seriously injuring Brazel with the stem of a bike seat and other weapons.

Judge Fagan sentenced them to serve an additional six years to their existing prison sentence.

On appeal, Johnson and his co-convicted were granted a re-trial, pled guilty to a lesser crime, and ultimately received a 12-month prison sentence to be served concurrently with their existing sentence.

All five of the defendants in that trial, however, received extra jail time for multiple counts of contempt of court.

It was alleged that on 22 May 2007, Johnson, and his co-accused, Mark Morgan, shot and killed Conyers over a A$50 drug debt at the victim's Berwick home.

It was then alleged that the pair cut open the victim's stomach and poured petrol.

Two days later, while Johnson and Morgan were being searched by police at Glen Iris railway station, the murder weapon, a 9 mm Luger pistol, fell out of Johnson's pants.

After three months, Johnson was charged with murder and Morgan was charged as an accessory.

They were both found to be not guilty by the jury after they deliberated for 27 hours.

In the time between Conyer's death and their arrest, Johnson and an unknown accomplice stole a car, while the occupants, three women (two of whom were 15 years old), were eating in a carpark at a McDonald's in Doveton.

With a pistol, Johnson threatened to kill them if they didn't get out of their car and pressed the gun to the woman's head.

His accomplice punched one of the 15-year-old women twice and dragged her out of the car, where they then proceeded to commit an aggravated burglary in Craigieburn on a supposed drug dealer.

The two broke into the house whilst the occupants were asleep.

Johnson pointed a loaded gun at one of the occupants before the pair, who were intoxicated with drugs, realised they had robbed the wrong house.

The pair stole A$25,000 worth of property from the house and fled the scene.

The pair were charged and pled guilty to the offences.

The sentencing judge, Judge Geoffrey Chettle, declared Johnston a "real menace to society" with no prospects of rehabilitation and sentenced Johnson, who was awaiting trial for the murder of Carl Williams at the time, to a 13-year term of imprisonment.

Prior to the murder, Matthew Johnson and Carl Williams had known each other for roughly 10 years.

In 2009, Johnson was put on trial for the murder of 18-year-old, Bryan Conyers.

In 2011, Johnson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 32 years for murdering Carl Williams, along with several other offences he had committed prior.