'Calm and deliberate' shooting spree killer gets life

An Australian judge sentenced a gunman to life in prison today for killing a lawyer and wounding a girlfriend and a Dutch tourist during a shooting spree in the country's second largest city.

The morning rush-hour shooting in Melbourne on June 18 last year shocked Australia, where tough laws ban most people from owning handguns and where the sound of gunfire is extremely rare, even in the biggest cities.

In passing sentence in the Victoria state Supreme Court, Justice Paul Coghlan told 31-year-old ex-Hell's Angel biker Christopher Hudson that his crimes were of the highest degree of seriousness.

"Your conduct is all the more chilling because it remains unexplained," Justice Coghlan said. "It was calm and deliberate."

The judge noted that no-one who had pleaded guilty to murder in Victoria had ever been sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

He ordered Hudson to serve 35 years behind bars before a parole board could consider releasing him.

Hudson had pleaded guilty to the murder of lawyer Brendan Keilar (aged 43) and the attempted murders of fashion model Kaera Douglas (then aged 24) and backpacker Paul De Waard (then aged 25).

The two men had come to Ms Douglas' aid as Hudson attempted to drag her by the hair from a taxi, according to the admitted facts of the case.

Defence lawyer Phillip Priest told the judge at a recent sentencing hearing that Hudson was high on crystal meth and alcohol when he shot Ms Douglas then the two men at point-blank range.

Hudson fled the scene but gave himself up three days later.

Both Ms Douglas, who was shot once and lost a kidney, and Mr De Waard, who shot in the chest and abdomen, have recovered from their injuries.