Matthew Charles Johnson

Matthew Charles Johnson (born 9 August 1973) is an Australian criminal who is known for his extreme acts of violence, including the murder of Carl Williams, a drug dealer and serial killer. Johnson was raised in Dandenong, Melbourne, Victoria; during his childhood, he experienced familial challenges and was expelled from school in year seven. As a child, Johnson became involved in criminal activity and substance use, both of which continued into his adulthood.

Johnson has a decades-long criminal history that includes convictions for burglary, armed robbery, serious violent offences, and murder. His best-known crime is the murder of Williams in 2010, which he committed using the stem of an exercise-bike seat in Barwon Prison's Acacia Unit, where both men were imprisoned. During his trial for the murder, Johnson claimed the act was in self-defence but he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 37 years.

Early life Matthew Charles Johnson was born on 9 August 1973 to Carol Hogg and his father who died early in Johnson's childhood. Johnson was raised in Dandenong, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Johnson's family life was difficult; his stepfather was described as an "aggressive alcoholic and a cruel drunk who would abuse [Johnson]". At age 15, Johnson became involved in the use of amphetamines, marijuana, and prescription medication.

Criminal history HM Prison Pentridge, where Johnson served jail time as a teenager.

Starting at age 15, Matthew Charles Johnson attended multiple youth-training centres and was jailed for burglary, motor vehicle theft, and weapons offences. As a teenager, he served three separate terms at HM Prison Pentridge,

In 2007, Johnson and an unknown accomplice stole a car while the occupants, three females – two of whom were 15 years old – were eating in a car park at a McDonald's restaurant in Doveton.

Conyers' trial In 2009, Johnson was put on trial for the murder of 18-year-old Bryan Conyers. It was alleged 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 home in Berwick. It was then alleged the pair cut open Conyers' abdomen and poured petrol into the wound. Two days later, while police were searching Johnson and Morgan 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. The jury found them both not guilty after deliberating for 27 hours.

Trial In September 2011, Johnson was put on trial for the murder of Carl Williams. During the trial, Johnson said the killing was an act of self-defence and that Williams had planned to kill Johnson with a sock filled with billiard balls. The judge Lex Lasry called this claim "fanciful" and during sentencing, he found the more-likely reason for the killing was that Williams was assisting police with their case against Dale and Rodney Collins for the Hodson murders.

Lasry found Johnson showed no remorse, quoting him as saying: "What's the big deal? People die every day. What are you making a fuss about it for?" At the time of sentencing, Johnson was already serving a 16-year prison term with a 13-year non-parole period for a number of offences. With the murder taken into account, Johnson's effective new sentence was life imprisonment with a 32-year non-parole period.

Life inside prison

In prison, Johnson is known by his nickname "The General". He is a leader of a gang named "Prisoners of War" and writes poetry about his time in jail.

In 2017, police investigated Johnson for issuing death threats to Williams' ex-wife Roberta Williams. It was alleged members of Prisoners of War were pressuring her to make a statement to Johnson's lawyer saying Carl Williams was planning to kill Johnson. This would have enabled Johnson to launch an appeal on the grounds his killing of Williams was an act of self-defence.