Kelly Wilkinson was turned away from Southport police station and told to “cool off, give Brian a break” while seeking help just four days before her estranged husband, Brian Earl Johnston, burned her to death in 2021, an inquest has heard. The allegation was made in an 11th-hour submission by the lawyer acting for her family as they successfully applied to adjourn the coronial inquiry to hear additional evidence.
Lawyer Mitch Rawlings said Queensland police’s claim that 12 April 2021 was the last time Wilkinson engaged with police was false. He said she also attended the police station on 16 April – four days before her murder – but there is no record of this attendance in the internal police system. “One of Kelly’s sisters drove her to the Southport police station, where she remained in the car while Kelly got out with some documents,” Rawlings said. “She returned to the car moments later and complained that the person at the front desk turned her away saying words to the effect of, ‘Just cool off, give Brian a break.’”
Rawlings said Wilkinson then called two additional people and repeated the same story. He said Wilkinson’s sister, Danielle Carroll, had made the allegation in an interview with police after Wilkinson’s death. Thursday was scheduled to be the final day of a three-day hearing into Wilkinson’s 2021 murder, when Johnston stabbed her, doused her with petrol and set her on fire at her Gold Coast home.
Deputy state coroner Stephanie Gallagher has already heard this week that police missed two opportunities to act in the days before Wilkinson’s death. One officer improperly granted bail to Johnston eight days before the murder, and another improperly recorded Wilkinson’s attendance at Southport, noting in an internal police log that she was “cop shopping”. Katherine McGree, acting for the Domestic Violence Prevention Centre, argued the 16 April incident could be considered a third missed opportunity. Gallagher decided to adjourn the inquest to a future date to allow the new evidence to be considered.
The coroner has heard that Wilkinson contacted police on four occasions before her murder, not including 16 April. She was flagged as a high-risk aggrieved party, meaning “proactive police response to risk is recommended”, but a referral to a specialist domestic violence liaison officer was never opened, and she never had a safety plan prepared. Johnston, 37, pleaded guilty to Wilkinson’s murder in 2024 and was sentenced to life in prison.
