Prison officials held grave fears for the safety of Illawarra criminal Rian Kinloch in the days after his co-accused, Michael Black, was fatally stabbed inside Parklea jail in April, a court has heard.
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Kinloch's lawyer, Laura Fennell, revealed on Wednesday that the intelligence arm of Corrective Services had learned about threats to Kinloch's safety while he was being housed at Wellington Correctional Centre, in the wake of Black's death.
"Corrective Services had received information about his protection following Mr Black's death," she said.
"As a result of his association with Mr Black there had been heightened security fears. Those fears haven't subsided. There's concerns about him going to Wellington or Parklea prisons."
Both Black and Kinloch were on remand at the time accused of concealing a serious indictable offence of another are they allegedly failed to notify police about a public place shooting at Dapto on November 15 last year.
Police have since dropped the charge against Kinloch, however police had previously alleged the pair were repeatedly shot at by Derek Ferguson after Black had tried to open Ferguson's front door.
Kinloch was arrested on November 22 and charged with the concealing offence. He was also charged with possessing a retractable knife in violation of a weapons prohibition order after police discovered a spring-loaded blade inside his house.
Black was arrested and charged with the concealing offence in January. He was in a designated pod inside the prison awaiting his scheduled court appearance when he was fatally stabbed just after midday on April 22.
Meanwhile, Kinloch spent five months in jail before being released on bail on April 29.
Ms Fennell said Kinloch worked as a barber at a hairdressers in Thirroul while on bail and he and his girlfriend were thinking about opening their own salon in the future.
However, Kinloch was re-arrested on June 12 and charged with drug supply stemming from his time inside Wellington jail.
A set of facts tendered to the court on Wednesday said Kinloch was recorded on prison telephone calls organising for three female associates to have strips of the pain suppressant "buprenorphine" sent to him.
Police subsequently intercepted a package containing 194 strips, each of which was valued at between $100 and $400 in the black prison market.
Kinloch pleaded guilty to the drug supply and knife offences.
A background report will be prepared ahead of his sentencing on July 17.
