Gerogery murder trial hears inmate reveal 'confession' by accused man

Paul Anthony Watson is facing trial in the Supreme Court following the alleged murder of William Chaplin.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard there was no evidence of the Gerogery man being alive after May 2010.

The court heard police only became aware of his death in 2019 after the alleged prison confession.

Mr Chaplin's skull, teeth and other bones were found in a shallow grave in a field at Gerogery and his identity was confirmed through his mother's DNA.

Watson and Mr Chaplin had lived together at a Main Street home.

Prosecutor Paul Kerr said Watson had a motive to kill Mr Chaplin and later told people he had done so.

A man who served time in custody with Watson in 2017 was asked about what Watson had told him.

IN OTHER NEWS:

"He told me that someone came to his house to threaten him and his family and that he killed him, burnt him and buried him," the man told the trial.

Both men were Jehovah's Witnesses and the witness said he later told prison staff and police about the alleged confession.

The man said he was concerned the body was out there and nobody knew anything about it.

Defence lawyer John Agius put it to the man that his client never made the comments.

He asked the inmate if he had made it up and if the claims were a lie.

"Sorry, I disagree, I know what he said, I know what I heard," the man replied.

The inmate said he had been highly on edge before reporting the claims as he was going to "rat" on someone, but he was thinking about the murder.

"I just told him about the facts," he said when questioned about what he told the prison officer.

"There's a body out there that nobody knows about."

Mr Agius asked the man several times if he was making it up, and suggested he was embellishing comments the accused man made on the phone to his wife.

The court was played a recording of the conversation.

Detective Inspector Chris Wallace said the prison intel was sent to Victorian Homicide Squad detectives who sat on the information for two years before NSW police became involved in 2019.

Phone taps were then applied for.

The accused man's wife, Samone, said she saw Mr Chaplin's body under a blue tarp at their property.

She said she saw her husband move the body with a younger man before a bonfire was lit above Mr Chaplin's body which burnt for two or three days.

Ms Watson said she had helped stoke the fire.

She said she had kept the incident secret until 2019.

The trial continues.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: