Martin Churchill: Grim end of Bassam Hamzy's high-profile lawyer as he dies destitute, living off Centrelink and in excruciating pain
Martin Churchill charged with drug supply in 2019Co-accused was Supermax inmate Bassam Hamzy Do you know more? Please email [email protected] READ MORE: Alleged terrorist could be PARALYSED after a violent stand-off with prison officers 'over prayer time' at Goulburn's notorious Supermax jail
A solicitor who was accused of helping Supermax inmate Bassam Hamzy allegedly run a drug ring from his prison cell has died destitute in a Sydney nursing home.
The 67-year-old is understood to have made poor financial investments in Russia, leaving him penniless, and arrangements for his funeral had been delayed.
He had been on an experimental course of medication since his original cancer treatment stopped working several months ago and was taking heavy painkillers.
Described by associates as ‘smart and eccentric’, Churchill maintained his innocence to the end, occasionally railing against the NSW Police Force and NSW Director of Public Prosecutions.
Solicitor Martin Churchill (above), who was accused of helping Supermax inmate Bassam Hamzy allegedly run a drug ring from his prison cell, has died destitute in a Sydney nursing home
Churchill was arrested in July 2019 and accused of abusing his lawyer-client relationship with Hamzy in alleged coded three-way phone calls to Australia’s most secure jail.
The High Risk Management Correctional Centre, known as Supermax, is located in the Goulburn prison complex 200km south-west of Sydney and houses some of the state’s most dangerous inmates.
Police alleged Churchill and Hamzy used phrases such as ‘legal fees’ to mean an ounce of methylamphetamine and ‘paying the barrister’ to mean handing over drugs to a supplier.
Churchill was charged with taking part in the commercial supply of a prohibited drug and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Churchill was arrested in July 2019 and accused of abusing his lawyer-client relationship with Bassam Hamzy (above) in coded three-way phone calls to Australia’s most secure jail.
He was further charged with hindering the apprehension of a person who had committed a serious offence and stalk/intimidate with the intent of causing fear of physical harm.
The drug charges related to 452.8g of meth allegedly supplied between October 2017 and February 2018.
When Churchill first faced Newtown Local Court he represented himself and did not apply for bail. Magistrate Glenn Bartley advised him to hire a lawyer.
Hamzy was charged with commercial supply of a prohibited drug, hindering the apprehension of a person who had committed a serious offence and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
He has maintained his prison phone conversations with Churchill were legal discussions in which he referred to legitimate business and personal interests.
The High Risk Management Correctional Centre, known as Supermax, is located 200km south-west of Sydney and houses the state’s most dangerous inmates. A Supermax cell is pictured
Churchill and Hamzy both pleaded not guilty and were set to face a jury together in August 2021 but their trial was delayed by factors including Covid-19.
Their trial was put back again in January 2022 when lawyers acting for Churchill said 20 pages of his hand-written instructions were illegible.
The hearing was ready to go ahead in the District Court in May 2022 despite Churchill having been in hospital suffering a series of illnesses.
Churchill was granted a permanent stay of proceedings in August that year after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, in which cancerous plasma cells build up in bone marrow.
Three of the charges were the subject of stay orders, while the stalking charge was dropped.
Having spent three years on remand Churchill was released from prison and spent his final days as a patient in an aged care facility in Sydney’s south-eastern suburbs.
Churchill told friends in October the chemotherapy that had kept him alive for the past 18 months had stopped working. It is believed he died on December 19.
Described by associates as ‘smart and eccentric’, Churchill maintained his innocence to the end, railing against the NSW Police Force and NSW Director of Public Prosecutions
Churchill had worked in the legal system since 1976, first for the federal and NSW attorney-general’s departments, before establishing his own firm, Churchill Lawyers.
He was a keen follower of sports, a fan of popular music from the 1960s and 1970s, and a student of military history and international politics.
A onetime professional associate said Churchill had lost money on failed property investments in Russia, a country whose language he spoke and he had visited.
Churchill had once represented Sydney drug importer and big wave surfer Shayne Hatfield who was found dead in his cell at Parklea prison last Friday.
Hatfield was released from jail in December 2022 after serving 18 years over a $30million cocaine smuggling operation using baggage handlers at Sydney Airport.
Police believe the 59-year-old, who had been refused bail late last year after being charged with assaulting his girlfriend, took his own life.
Hamzy is set to face trial in the District Court in April.