CESSNOCK hitman Ken Brooks was jailed for 38 years yesterday for the “cold-blooded" and “chilling" murder of a defenceless man he had never met.
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Justice Elizabeth Fullerton considered jailing the 47-year-old for life, but said the $30,000 contract killing of Tamworth farmer Jeffrey Ryan fell just short of the worst category of murder.
Brooks will be 74 when he is eligible for parole in 2038.
He showed no emotion when the sentence was read or when he was led from Newcastle Supreme Court.
Members of Mr Ryan’s family cried and hugged.
Justice Fullerton said there was overwhelming evidence that Brooks, who maintains his innocence, was the man contracted by Mr Ryan’s estranged wife Helen to travel to the Ryans’ property outside Tamworth on October 23, 2009, to carry out the killing.
Mr Ryan was found dead on the ground by a neighbour near the property’s homestead the morning after the shooting.
He was shot in the back.
Justice Fullerton said the amount of mobile phone traffic between Brooks and Helen Ryan, especially in the days leading up to Mr Ryan’s murder, established that Brooks was the man who she contracted.
Telephone tower data tracked Brooks as he made calls and sent text messages while driving from Cessnock to Tamworth on the day of the murder.
Police watched as Helen Ryan delivered the second instalment of $15,000 to Brooks in February 2010. Ryan, who also pleaded not guilty to murder, was previously jailed for 36 years. Her mother, Coralie Coulter, was jailed for 27 years for her role in helping organise the murder.
Ryan’s sister, Ganene Coulter, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was jailed for 11 years and two months, after she agreed to testify against her sister, mother and Brooks.
Justice Fullerton said the killing was “cold-blooded”, while the “bare and chilling fact” was that Brooks murdered a defenceless stranger for money.
Outside the court, Mr Ryan’s son, Ben, said his father was a “big man with a big heart” and no sentence could bring him back.
“I wouldn’t say it’s fair ... we must accept it and try to move on with our lives as best as we can,” Mr Ryan said.
He said the family appreciated the efforts of police and prosecutors who launched an extraordinary operation, some of which can’t be reported, to arrest and convict the four offenders.
