Australian serial killer Gregory Brazel loses bid to force prison to let him have a frypan in his cell

An Australian serial killer, who has spent almost a quarter century behind bars, has lost a bid to have an in-cell frypan provided by his prison. Serving three life sentences for killing three women over an eight-year period, Gregory Brazel took the State of Victoria to court claiming he had been bullied into accepting a settlement in the early months of last year. The 70-year-old, now suffering poor health, murdered two prostitutes while on parole on armed robbery charges in May and September 1990. A decade later, he confessed to having carried out the paid execution of a shopkeeper in September 1982 that went unsolved until he detailed the crime to police. Brazel applied to the Victorian Court of Appeal last year, seeking to overturn a lower court’s judgment approving a settlement reached with the State of Victoria. He first sued the state claiming he should be paid damages more than a decade earlier, arguing he suffered personal injury when a “chemical agent” was used to subdue him while a prisoner at the Metropolitan Remand Centre in May 2013. The case moved at a glacial pace as Brazel levelled allegations that Corrections Victoria staff had deliberately interfered with his legal correspondence and tampered with his mail. Following mediation in 2023, he agreed to settle the case, with Victoria paying some legal costs and $22,100 for future medical expenses. The draft settlement also included that Victoria would ensure his “continued access” to a blender, Birko jug and sandwich press because of his “dietary requirements”. Court documents reveal he is being provided 14 packets of sardines, a garden salad for lunch and a dinner of two potatoes, two tomatoes, one onion and two bananas. But Brazel soon came back to court claiming the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office had promised to allow him to have a frypan and the other cooking devices in his cell. He said on February 14 last year, Barwon Prison general manager Colin Thompson had made it clear he would not be allowed a frypan – with Brazel immediately writing a letter applying for the settlement to be thrown out. In a judgment, County Court Judge Timothy Ginnane rejected Brazel’s claim. The serial killer, who has launched multiple lawsuits against the state while jailed, challenged this judgment in the Court of Appeal. He argued the settlement should be overturned, claiming he’d been “bullied and coerced” by Judge Ginnane, and prison authorities had illegally prevented him receiving proper legal advice. Judge Ginnane rejected the preposition he had bullied Brazel. Brazel claimed if properly informed of the terms of settlement he would never have agreed to it and that he’d been “deceived” by the State. In a judgment delivered on December 20, Justice Stephen Kaye rejected his appeal, finding the grounds do not have a “real, as distinct from fanciful, prospect of success”. “It is quite apparent that, in the course of the negotiations, the applicant was sufficiently capable of advocating for his interests and of protecting those interests,” Justice Kaye wrote. “Further, as I have discussed, the evidence that was before the trial judge does not demonstrate that the conduct of the respondent in some way prevented or precluded him from seeking legal advice when he considered it necessary to do so.” Brazel, who has continued to offend in prison, including taking a prison guard hostage, bribery and arson, will first become eligible for parole at the end of March this year.