EXCLUSIVE: Why slain Finks bikie Shane Bowden WASN’T looking over his shoulder before being executed on the Gold Coast
EXCLUSIVE: Why slain Finks bikie Shane Bowden WASN’T looking over his shoulder before being executed on the Gold Coast – he was too busy trying to juggle, set up or get over relationships with FOUR women
- Bikie boss Shane Bowden was shot dead in execution-style shooting on Monday
- The 48-year-old’s body was discovered in a car in a Gold Coast home at 12.10am
- Bowden had been involved with multiple women over the years and had two kids
- Police are believed to be hunting men linked to the Mongols OMCG over murder
- Bowden had left the Mongols OMCG in July over a feud and returned to the Finks
- Do you know more? Contact tips@dailymail.com
Before his murder Shane Bowden lived the true bikie lifestyle, with numerous romances punctuating his time out of jail.
His rocky road of romance began at the Australian Institute of Sport in the 1990s when he met Trudi McPhee.
Recently, during his five-year stint in jail in Victoria for a home invasion, he wrote Ms McPhee letters and told her of his hopes that they could rekindle their love and reunite with their son.
After her, there was Janet ‘Aysen Unlu’ Campbell, a woman who accompanied him during 2015 the home invasion.
On his release from jail in June this year, rumours began to spread of a new romance with a fellow Finks member’s girlfriend.
Bowden then packed his bags and went to Queensland, moving in with Crystal Clement – a glamorous blonde mother-of-two whose BMW he took out late on Sunday night.
Just a few hours later, as he returned the car into her Gold Coast driveway, Bowden was met with a hail of bullets that would kill him instantly and spark fears of a bikie war erupting on the streets.
Bowden has a son with Trudi McPhee (left) who he first met in the mid-1990s and was involved in a violent home invasion with Janet 'Aysen Unlu' Campbell (right) that saw him jailed in 2015
More recently he was rumoured to be seeing Tennielle Patterson (left), the girlfriend of a Finks OMCG member, but those rumours are not believed to be true. In the aftermath of his switch to the Finks OMCG from the Mongols OMCG in July, he moved to Queensland and stayed with Crystal Clement (right).
Bowden was still sitting in the driver's seat of the black BMW sedan in the garage of Ms Clement's home when the gunman, or gunmen, attacked.
Queensland Police are hunting two men who they believe are linked to the Mongols OMCG, the club Bowden left in bitter fashion so as to rejoin the Finks OMCG in July.
Officers have reportedly begun contacting members of the Finks OMCG and also the Mongols OMCG in a search for answers.
The Courier Mail reports that bikies could be forced into secret 'star chamber' crime and corruption commission hearings.
These hearings have seen bikies and other criminals forced into handing over crucial information into crimes in which they would normally stay quiet.
If they do not talk they can be charged with contempt of court and jailed.
In the wake of Bowden's death, details have emerged of a feud he had with his fellow Finks OMCG bikie Jye Carter in the weeks prior.
Daily Mail Australia understands Carter accused Bowden of having an affair with his model girlfriend Tennielle Patterson, but Finks associates say the rumour is not true, and is unrelated to the bikie's killing.
It is not suggested Carter is linked to Bowden's death in anyway.
Bowden was shot dead about 12.10am on Monday in the garage of a home at Pimpama on the Gold Coast. He had previously been shot in the leg on July 1, in what is now believed to have been a failed assassination attempt
The 48-year-old was gunned down in a hail of bullets moments after pulling his BMW into the driveway of a home on Cox Road at Pimpama, on the Gold Coast, about 12am on Monday
Forensic police dusted for fingerprints on Bowden's black BMW sedan and collected evidence in paper bags for further examination throughout Monday.
Prior to Bowden's death his rival from within told a number of friends about the pair's feud.
'I don't even no [sic] if I'm in the club, I'm trying to sort my life out,' Carter said in one message.
'I got kicked out cause apparently Shane wanted me out.
'At the end of the day it is what it is, they just f**k turn on me without even talking to me first. I don't no [sic] wtf (is happening) but I lost my bike and colours.'
Bowden was reportedly staying at the home of glamorous blonde bombshell Crystal Clement while on the Gold Coast, having returned north from Victoria after the end of his five-year jail sentence for a violent 2015 home invasion.
Ms Clement and her two young children were sleeping inside when Bowden died.
A close friend of Bowden's told Daily Mail Australia he had only known Ms Clement a short time and she was just one of a number of women he was involved with during his time as a bikie.
He had two children, one with longtime on-and-off girlfriend Ms McPhee with who he had planned to reunite with.
There was also previously Ms Campbell, a woman who accompanied him during the home invasion.
More recently he was linked to Ms Patterson, who began dating Carter in February.
In the wake of Bowden's death, Carter told a friend they had been 'fighting' over her before showing there was no love lost between them.
Carter: 'Shane Bowden was murdered last night, mmmmm too bad aye'
Friend: 'What do you mean [?]'
Carter: 'His [sic] dead'
Friend: 'That's horrible for his family'
Carter: 'Shane Bowden was murdered last night brother the c**t I'm fighting with in my club who f*** my girl.'
In the months before his death Bowden had switched allegiances from the Mongols OMCG to the Finks OMCG.
He had reportedly had a falling out with Mongols leaders and was booted from their club, returning to the gang where he began his bikie career.
Queensland Police believe that this change of allegiances is linked to his death, but his ex-girlfriend denied that members of the Finks would have been involved in any way in his death.
Trudi McPhee, his ex-girlfriend and the mother of one of his sons, said that for weeks before his death Bowden had been looking over his shoulder, aware there was firmly a target on his back.
His fear had been sparked by a drive-by shooting in Melbourne which now appears to be an initial attempt on his life.
'He believed people had been watching him ever since he got shot in Melbourne,' Ms McPhee said.
'He got shot and then he got COVID-19, and then he told me that he was heading up to Queensland because he thought he would be at peace up there, but a few weeks ago he told me he thought he was being followed.
'But it's definitely not the Finks.'
Two burnt-out vehicles were found nearby shortly after the shooting - one at Beenleigh and one at Ormeau.
Footage from CCTV cameras along the street has also been scoured by police.
Queensland Police Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said it appeared that Bowden had been ambushed.
'At this point we believe the victim came home from the gym and has driven into his driveway, the assailants have run in and shot him multiple times and consequently now he is deceased,' he said.
'He's basically driven into his driveway, hasn't even gotten out of his car and has been executed.
'It obviously makes things harder when these types of gangs are involved because they have their own code of silence.
'It's important that people understand that these gangs are criminals… that survive on retribution, violence and threats and if anyone thinks anything otherwise they're an idiot.
'Nobody deserves to die in this manner but, you live by the sword, you die by the sword.'
Bowden's death has sparked fears of a bikie war on the streets of the Gold Coast in a similar fashion to the one that raged in the mid-2000s.
One source told The Courier Mail to expect 'more bodies on the streets'.
Carter had entered into a relationship with Ms Patterson (pictured) but it ended after claims of cheating
'It's pretty cowardly. If he had a gun, which he didn't because he couldn't or he'd do five years, he would've shot back,' she said.
'Of course the cowards knew they couldn't go up and confront him face-to-face as he was a handy boxer and they wouldn't have stood a chance.
'All I know is this war is going to get bigger and women and their children need to be careful, because in this war they don't care who gets hurt.'
Bowden was involved in the infamous Ballroom Blitz in 2006, a wild bikie brawl on the Gold Coast that saw Christopher Wayne Hudson shot at a kickboxing event.
Bowden served six-and-a-half years in jail for that brawl and upon his release joined the Mongols OMCG, having been recruited while behind bars.
He spent time in Queensland, the ACT, New South Wales and finally Victoria, where he was involved in the violent 2015 home invasion.
Bowden was given a hero's welcome as he walked out of jail, stepping into a white limousine and being driven to Melbourne with an escort from Mongols associates.
A heavily-tattooed man talks on the phone at the scene where Bowden was shot dead hours earlier
The black BMW in which Bowden was killed was put onto a tow truck and taken away for more testing
SES members were called in to protect the car as it was being assessed by forensic detectives
But within weeks his relationship with the Mongols - including their Victorian leader Toby Mitchell - had soured and he was booted from the club, returning to the Finks.
On July 1 he was shot in the leg and later that month contracted COVID-19, before he returned to Queensland to continue rehabilitate.
But his journey north was shrouded in controversy as he was charged with a breach of COVID-19 restrictions after not declaring his travel as required.
Tributes flowed for the father-of-two in the wake of his death, including from his 14-year-old son, ex-girlfriends and the Finks OMCG.
'Dad I can't believed this has happened, you weren't meant to leave. Love you always. Mum is heartbroken. I promise I will be by her side always RIP,' his son Sam wrote.
'Rest in peace brother. [Until] we meet again. Finks forever forever Finks,' the bikie gang posted alongside a photo of Bowden.
Trudi McPhee and Sam Bowden, hers and Shane's son, paid tribute to him on Instagram
Janet 'Aysen Unlu' Campbell, a former partner of Bowden's who was involved in the 2015 home invasion with him, also offered her tributes.
'My deepest sympathies go out to Shane's children and family,' Ms Campbell said.
'May God give him the peace that he seek.
'My thoughts, prayers and well-wishes during this dark time in there life. RIP Shane Bowden.'
Daily Mail Australia contacted Carter, Clement and Patterson for comment.
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