BIKER BOYZ

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Rebel bikie and his brother were so incensed that a rival gang member had avoided arrest over a fight with one of their allies, they took matters into their own hands.

Rebel bikie and his brother were so incensed that a rival gang member had avoided arrest over a fight with one of their allies, they took matters into their own hands.

Out of a sense of "misguided loyalty" to his bikie gang, John Bedson armed himself with a rifle and fired a volley of bullets from the back of his brother Derek's ute into the clubhouse of rival club, the Bandidos.

John Bedson, 27, fired the volley from a .22 semi-automatic rifle that killed 51-year-old Ross Brand and seriously injured Paul Szerwinski.

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After being found guilty of murder and intentionally causing serious injury, John Bedson was jailed for a maximum of 23 years in the Supreme Court of Victoria, at Geelong on Wednesday.

For his role, Derek Bedson, now 23, was sentenced to 12 years' jail after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and reckless conduct endangering life.

The fight that sparked the shooting was a relatively minor scrap at the Geelong Cup earlier that day, October 22, 2008.

It involved a member of the Death Before Dishonour (DBD) motorcycle gang, affiliated with the Rebels, and a man nominated to become a Bandido.

Justice Elizabeth Curtain said Derek Bedson was at the races that day and although he didn't witness the fight, he was incensed that the Bandido involved had not been arrested and enlisted his brother's help to exact revenge.

Although Derek Bedson was not a member of a motorcycle club, his stepbrother John was a Rebel and a DBD member - and bore a tattoo on his left cheek to prove it.

The sentencing by Justice Curtain was delayed by an hour as family members and dozens of bikies queued to enter the court amid tight security, including uniformed police.

One of the bikies said: "That's one of our brothers (in the court room)", before announcing to members of the press gathered to cover the case that his large group would be pushing past.

"If you've got a problem with that, you've got a problem with me," he threatened.

Security staff had earlier ejected one bikie for an unknown reason but allowed the rest to barge their way in.

Some Bandido members at the court wore T-shirts bearing images of Mr Brand.

Justice Curtain said Mr Brand's death was senseless and had traumatic consequences for his loved ones, including his wife of 14 years and their son.

She said the murder was serious because it was in public in broad daylight.

"The firearm was discharged in daylight, in a public street, across a public area, into those men who were simply standing there," she said.

She said John Bedson's actions were driven by a "misguided loyalty to the Rebels, or DBD".

"You came to the view that you were justified in taking retaliatory action," she said.

While Derek Bedson was not associated with a motorcycle group, Justice Curtain said he must have acted out of some sense of allegiance.

Mr Brand and Mr Szerwinski had posed no threat and had not been involved in the fight at the races earlier that day, she said.

John Bedson must serve a minimum of 18 years' jail before being eligible for parole, while Derek Bedson must serve a minimum of eight.


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