September 21, 2025
Gold Coast euthanasia ring kingpin’s boasts caught on police taps
An undercover operative posing as a suicide candidate helped bust open a $12,000-per-dose euthanasia drug ring operating on the Gold Coast reports Greg Stolz.
Explosive new details have been revealed in the case against an accused Gold Coast euthanasia ring, with police phone taps allegedly busting the group’s claimed kingpin boasting about setting up a killer “drug cartel”.
Court documents seen by the Sunday Mail which were deployed during this weeks bail applications allege “end of life service” provider Brett Daniel Taylor, who is charged with helping two people to die from a veterinary grade drug used to euthanise beached whales, was also “located by police” at the scene of three other suicides in 2020 and 2021.
The documents also allege that Taylor was present at the home of Gold Coast quadriplegic David Bedford, 43, on the day he died from the potent drug nicknamed “The Green Dream”.
Mr Bedford’s death in April this year triggered the police investigation which led to the arrest last week of Taylor, 53, his father Ian, 80, and 81-year-old euthanasia campaigner Elaine Arch-Rowe.
Brett Daniel Taylor, 53, from Main Beach, has been charged with two counts of aiding suicide and one count each of trafficking in dangerous drugs, possessing dangerous drugs and receiving or possessing property obtained from trafficking or supplying. Picture Facebook
Police allege the trio were involved in an assisted suicide racket which used a charity called Cetacean Compassion Australia Ltd as a front to access the veterinary euthanasia drug pentobarbital, which was sold to “vulnerable” people for thousands of dollars.
Detectives are investigating as many as 20 deaths as part of the probe.
The Victorian home of Taylor’s mother, Olga, was also raided as part of the investigation, with court documents alleging that police found 31 bottles of pentobarbital there. Mrs Taylor has not yet been charged with any offences.
Brett Taylor and Arch-Rowe have each been charged with aiding suicide and trafficking and possessing dangerous drugs, while Ian Taylor is facing only trafficking and possession charges. Brett Taylor is also charged with receiving drug proceeds and misrepresenting himself as a lawyer.
Arch-Rowe’s lawyer, Michael McMillan, said outside court that the case against his client for aiding suicide was “very weak” and she would be pleading not guilty.
Both Brett and Ian Taylor have denied any wrongdoing.
The Sunday Mail can reveal that one of the two aiding suicide charges against Brett relates to the planned “suicide” of a woman who turned out to be an undercover operative brought in to try to catch him following Mr Bedford’s death.
Police allege the trio were involved in an assisted suicide racket which used a charity called Cetacean Compassion Australia Ltd as a front to access the veterinary euthanasia drug pentobarbital, which was sold to “vulnerable” people for thousands of dollars.
Police allege the trio were involved in an assisted suicide racket which used a charity called Cetacean Compassion Australia Ltd as a front to access the veterinary euthanasia drug pentobarbital, which was sold to “vulnerable” people for thousands of dollars.
Police documents allege that Brett “infiltrated” pro-euthanasia group Exit International to procure clients for his will and estate planning business End of Life Services, with the “syndicate” advertising/marketing the availability of pentobarbital at seminars at community centres and aged care villages “targeting vulnerable elderly people”
According to the documents, police phone intercepts allegedly captured Brett and Ian Taylor and Arch-Rowe making “almost daily frank and uncoded admissions regarding the trafficking of pentobarbital”, including “openly discussing” charging customers between $8000 and $12,000 for each vial of the drug.
“The defendant (Brett) Taylor likened his enterprise as a ‘drug cartel’ with designs to move the business overseas after he had made enough money,” the documents allege.
“Taylor asserts (in phone taps) he will be the largest supplier of pentobarbital in Australia within 12 months.”
The documents allege seized bank documents show Cetacean Compassion Australia Ltd had spent almost $8000 buying suspected pentobarbital from a specialist veterinary drug supplier.
“The defendant used his Cetacean Compassion charity as a front which he maintains allows him or other members of the charity to lawfully possess pentobarbital,” the documents allege.
The documents also allege that Taylor was present at the home of Gold Coast quadriplegic David Bedford, 43, on the day he died from the potent drug nicknamed “The Green Dream”.
“The defendant has stated (that) if stopped by police, he can (claim to) lawfully possess pentobarbital due to his charity.”
Police allege that Arch-Rowe described herself as “secretary” of Taylor’s business and that she would meet with clients and explain the process for obtaining pentobarbital, including “cash-only” payments in an envelope.
Taylor sourced clients through Arch-Rowe’s and his mother’s connections to Exit International, documents allege.
“Taylor’s preference is supplying pentobarbital to people (rather than wills and estate planning) because it’s straightforward and there’s no need for follow-up or ongoing commitment,” police allege.
“Taylor misrepresents customer payments from pentobarbital purchases as charitable donations. This allows him to claim, in the event of an investigation, that the funds originated from charitable donors.”
The documents allege that Taylor was located by police at the apparent suicides of a couple in December 2020, and told officers he had attended to discuss estate planning with them.
He was also allegedly located by police at the apparent suicide of another woman in October 2021 – telling officers he was her estate executor and had known her for 40 years.
Police said they suspected the trio were “likely” supplied pentobarbital and nitrogen “to facilitate their deaths”, with Taylor telling officers that finding their bodies was part of his “discovery/check-in service”.
The documents allege Taylor told police he was present at Mr Bedford’s death at Hope Island in April this year and had called Triple 0, but denied supplying him with pentobarbital or any wrongdoing.
He said he was paid $5000 by Mr Bedford for estate planning services.
Police allege seized financial records show that Taylor “financially benefitted” from Mr Bedford’s death and was paid a total of $12,050 by disabled man and his mother before and after he died.
The documents also detail a raid last month on Mr Bedford’s mother Pamela Thompson’s Bargara home, where police told her her son – who was left a quadriplegic after a 2002 car crash – had died from a pentobarbital overdose.
Mrs Thompson told cops that her son held “a long-term desire to die” and had previously sought voluntary assisted dying, but was deemed ineligible.
She allegedly told police that during a meeting with Taylor on the day of Mr Bedford’s death, she gave her son a drink of lime cordial before he started “nodding off”.
Police alleged that soon after they raided Mrs Thompson’s home, phone intercepts captured her ringing Taylor to alert him.
Taylor allegedly told her that police were just “just dotting I’s and crossing t’s” and there “was nothing to worry about”.
Taylor also allegedly rang his father who warned him that his phone was probably tapped.
“(I) wouldn’t give a s..t,” Brett allegedly replied.
The documents also allege that a “highly-motivated” Brett and Arch-Rowe organised an End of Life Services meeting at the Maroochydore RSL Club earlier this month, where a police surveillance device allegedly captured the pair offering to sell pentobarbital to attendees.
A 80-year-old Ashmore man has been charged with one count each of trafficking in dangerous drugs and possessing dangerous drugs. He is due to reappear at Southport Magistrates Court on 26 September.
Taylor and Arch-Rowe allegedly said they had supplied pentobarbital to other people and been present at their deaths, and that Taylor told attendees that purchasing the drug from him for $10,000 was “cheaper than seeking euthanasia in Switzerland”.
Arch-Rowe sold a nitrogen canister to someone at the meeting for $500, the documents allege.
They allege that a day earlier, Taylor met an undercover operative at the Southport Surf Club and sold her a 250ml bottle of green liquid pentobarbital for $10,000 in cash.
The female operative had allegedly engaged with Taylor at an Exit International meeting hosted by founder Dr Philip Nitschke at Nerang four days earlier.
Documents allege Taylor “coached” the operative on what to tell police if she was ever stopped, and to tell them she had donated money to charity.
He allegedly told her to call her doctor and falsely report heart problems, and to mix the drug with juice to mask the flavour.
There is no suggestion any wrongdoing by Dr Nitschke or Exit International.
Documents allege Taylor told the operative that on “discovering” her body, he would tell paramedics and her doctor that he believed she had suffered a heart attack “to influence the issue of a cause of death certificate”.
Interviewed by cops, Taylor denied supplying pentobarbital to the operative and accused her of lying. He denied supplying the drug to any human and said it was only used for the “humane euthanasia of whales” via his charity.
Taylor is behind bars awaiting his next court appearance on October 7 after not opting to seek bail last week.
Ian Taylor, who police allege stored pentobarbital at his Ashmore home in a locked metal cabinet and acted as a driver for his son, is due to appear in court later this week.
Arch-Rowe, who has also been charged with sale of potential harmful things, was granted bail last week.
