Inside the surprising prison life of assassin who executed Rebels bikie boss – as he reveals incredible details of life behind bars

A former army sniper who shot rebel boss Nick Martin from 300 meters away is living a “pleasant and stress-free” life behind bars.

The killer revealed how he feels better in prison than outside, and he fills his time by watching TV, playing Xbox and going to the gym.

His prison cell is plastered with the smiling faces of loved ones, and he and other inmates painted a mural of a turtle on the prison wall.

Martin, 51, was fatally shot in the chest on December 12, 2020, while watching a drag race with his family at Kwinana Motorplex in Perth.

The hitman, whose name has been suppressed for his own safety, will testify next month at the trial of David James Pye, the alleged mastermind behind the murder.

He struck a deal with prosecutors to testify at Pye’s trial in exchange for just 20 years in prison.

Despite arguments in court that he should be released even earlier, his life in the high-security prison, which also cannot be identified, does not seem so bad.

“I am in the maximum security section of one of the highest security prisons in the state,” he said in correspondence from his cell seen by Daily Mail Australia.

‘But as bad as that sounds, it is really pleasant and stress-free.

‘The regular schedule and predictability of each day put my PTSD into the background and not long after I got here I felt better than I had in a long time.

“It’s strict here and we are limited in what we can do, but the guards are always honest with us, as long as we follow the rules everyone is nice enough.”

The gunman described his single room as “spacious, clean and comfortable” with its own TV and Xbox, and access to an extensive prison library.

“We even got to do a mural on the training ground, so we put a turtle mural on the wall, so we spent a week doing that and now it has a bit of color,” he said.

He said he and “the boys” trained “rain, hail or shine” in the prison gym, boxing, jumping rope, weightlifting and learning Brazilian jujitsu.

“We are a happy couple and support each other to eat well and train hard,” he said.

“I’m the only one here who has had army training, so I’m always trying to get the other guys fit and discipline them so that they can ultimately leave here better than when they arrived.

‘Especially the younger boys when they come in, I try to take them under my wing and make them feel fitter and stronger.’

The prison also has pool and ping-pong tables, when inmates want to be less active.

The killer said his strict training regime was part of a detailed plan to prepare himself for life in the real world when he is released.

“I have to protect my body so that when I go out, I’m still in good shape to make the most of my life on the outside. That’s why I meditate and exercise every day, without exception,” he said.

He is also trying to obtain a university degree in a bid to secure his future from the outside after his release, but complained that prison authorities could make that difficult.

“I’m not sure if the prison will allow me to start a proper degree, so I will have to apply and hopefully they will allow me because I would like to leave here with a master’s degree,” he said.

The killer said he wanted to study journalism, human biology or humanitarian aid and achieved top honors in a bridging course he had to take first.

Despite his name and where he is being held captive being suppressed, the killer said this was not at his request and he did not care who knew.

“Everyone knows my identity,” he said during a court hearing in May.

‘The banning order is only to remove my name from the media – so I am not against reporting.’ The judge maintained the oppression anyway.

He has also written an autobiography, which the police are keeping under lock and key until after the Pye trial.

Martin died on the spot in front of hundreds of shocked families and children, including his own wife and stepdaughter.

After being hit, Martin told his wife Amanda, “Honey, I’ve been shot,” as she tried to revive him before he died in her arms.

Another man, a convicted drug dealer and the boyfriend of Martin’s stepdaughter, Ricky Chapman, was wounded in the shooting by the same bullet that killed Martin, with a bullet fragment later recovered from his arm.

Judge Stephen Hall said the hitman would have been jailed for 30 years if he had not made a deal with prosecutors. He will now be eligible for parole after 18 years.

Two weeks before the murder, the killer made a reconnaissance trip to the engine complex and watched Martin from just 10 yards away as he put the finishing touches to the deadly plan.

The assassin went back to the engine complex three days beforehand and moved a safety ramp to give himself a better shot.

The next day he went to the bush and fired 200 rounds as practice and to fine-tune his sniper rifle.

On the day of the murder he… entered the pit area of ​​the race circuit around 6:30 PM and followed Martin to the spectator area to confirm he was sitting where he expected.

He then left the motorcycle complex, wearing a camouflage suit with gloves, and sneaked back in through a hole in the fence he had cut earlier.

He crawled into an area of ​​dense vegetation between 7:23 PM and 8:33 PM, where he had a direct line of sight to Martin.

From 335 meters away he calculated the distance, wind speed and its effect on his shot and watched Martin through his scope for 10 to 15 minutes.

Finally, he chose his moment and pulled the trigger.

The killer then calmly packed up and left. He would later have the barrel of his gun replaced and his tires replaced again to avoid detection.

Police spent months investigating with 100 officers on the scene, and the WA government offered a $1 million reward to anyone with information about the shooter.

For all his careful planning and execution of the murder itself, the gunman, who was not a professional assassin, was sloppy in covering his tracks.

Police found his footprints near where the fatal shot was fired and determined they were made by Fila running shoes.

CCTV footage from the motorcycle complex showed him there on November 28, December 9 and December 12, wearing the same type of shoes, allowing police to track him down as a potential suspect.

Cell phone data also placed him at the shooting site before Martin was shot dead.

The gun barrel was also a loose end, as police seized the gun barrel from the gunmaster and matched it to the bullet after it was removed from Chapman’s arm.

Police put the gunman under surveillance and tracked him from the gun shop to his stash in bushland in Warnbro.

There they found $249,550 in cash hidden in PVC pipes.

The police were ready to intervene on March 15 and the killer confessed on June 2 in exchange for a lighter sentence.