Prominent Sydney lawyer Martin Churchill has been charged with drug supply after allegedly using his legal privilege to act as the middleman between convicted murderer Bassam Hamzy and an ice ring he allegedly ran from his Supermax cell.
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Mr Churchill and Hamzy were arrested on Wednesday by police investigating the bedside execution of Sydney teen Brayden Dillon on Good Friday, 2017.
The investigation into the teenager's death has previously allegedly uncovered a complex plot to falsify evidence and legal documents and led to criminal charges against seven other people.
Mr Churchill was arrested at his Glebe home at 8am and later charged with a host of offences, including knowingly participating in the activities of a criminal group and taking part in the commercial supply of ice.
Mr Hamzy was arrested at Gouldburn Supermax and later charged with directing the activities of a criminal group, supplying a prohibited drug and dealing in the proceeds of crime.
Mr Churchill represented himself on Wednesday afternoon at Newtown Local Court, where he did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.
Police allege Mr Churchill participated in a criminal gang in Sydney and Wollongong between 2017 and 2018, where he took part in the supply of 452 grams of methylamphetamine and dealt in $14,000 worth of proceeds of crime.
The 62-year-old allegedly tipped off his client Hamzy that police were potentially monitoring him with a listening device. He also is alleged to have supplied another man with $4000.
Mr Churchill, who was dressed in a blue polo shirt, was advised by Magistrate Glenn Bartley to find himself a lawyer.
His matter was adjourned to August 28, though he can bring the matter forward if he wants to make a bail application.
The Herald can reveal that a paralegal previously working for the Sydney lawyer was involved in the attempted murder of one of the men charged with killing the teen.
In 2016, the paralegal - who cannot be named - started dating Mr Churchill's client, Hamzy.
Through Hamzy, the woman known as Witness M met other members of the murderous now-disbanded gang Brothers 4 Life.
Mr Churchill's former employee drove the getaway car from a murder scene in 2013, when several Brothers 4 Life members shot and killed Bassam Hamzy's cousin, Mahmoud, in an attempt to murder his other cousin, Mohammed.
There is no suggestion that Mr Churchill was involved in any of the alleged murders.
Several weeks later, she was involved in another shooting - this time, of Abdul Abu-Mahmoud at Bankstown's Chokolatta cafe, who survived gunshots to the shoulder, back, neck, scalp and hand.
In 2016, Witness M plead guilty to one count of being an accessory before the fact of murder and being an accessory before the fact to discharging a firearm with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Mr Abu-Mahmoud, who Witness M identified to the triggermen who shot him, is currently in prison awaiting trial for the murder of the Sydney teenager.
Police allege he organised and financed the killing of the Glenfield 15-year-old as revenge for the murder of his own nephew Adam Abu-Mahmoud - Brayden's older brother, Joshua Dillon, is charged with the stabbing death of the younger Abu-Mahmoud.
Mr Abu-Mahmoud's brother, Mohamed Abu-Mahmoud, the father of the slain boy, has also been charged over the teenager's murder.
Alleged triggerman Conrad Craig, getaway driver Sophie Massie and Conrad's sister Kimberley Craig have also been charged over the execution.
Acting Homicide Squad commander Mark Henney said the murder investigation had led police to an organised drug ring, which was allegedly being run out of prison and through the solicitor.
"This investigation has uncovered the abuse of client-solicitor communications in order to organised criminal activity, in particular the supply of drugs outside the jail complex," Detective acting Superintendent Henney said.
Hamzy did not apply for bail and it was formally refused at Goulburn Local Court, where he is next expected to appear on September 11.
