Secret police recordings used in Matt Wright's trial released to the media

Secret police recordings used in celebrity crocodile wrangler Matt Wright's trial released to the media Fri 3 Jul 2026 at 6:49am In short: Fourteen secret police recordings used in Matt Wright's Supreme Court trial have been released to the media. Among the recordings are Wright's first interview with police after the accident and tapped phone calls between Wright and his friends. What's next? Wright has repeatedly said he intends to appeal the jury's verdict on the two counts he was found guilty of. Secretly recorded phone calls and conversations crucial to the criminal case against celebrity crocodile wrangler Matt Wright during his Northern Territory Supreme Court trial have been released to the media. Wright was released from prison earlier this year after serving five months inside Darwin Correctional Centre for attempting to interfere with the investigation into a chopper accident which killed his co-star, Chris "Willow" Wilson, and seriously injured pilot Sebastian Robinson. The crash, on February 28, 2022, occurred during a crocodile egg collecting mission in a remote part of Arnhem Land. Wright was convicted on two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice following a month-long trial in August last year. The jury did not return a verdict on a third count after becoming deadlocked and unable to reach a unanimous decision. Almost a year on from the trial, the court has released 14 audio recordings which were central to the prosecution's case against the Netflix star, including his first interview with police after the accident and tapped phone calls with mates. Recording shows Wright's lie to police days after crash The first count of attempting to pervert the course of justice related to a lie Wright told police during his first recorded statement, just three days after the accident. In the recording, Detective Senior Constable Richard Musgrave can be heard asking Wright questions about what he observed when he arrived at the scene hours after the crash. Detective Musgrave can be heard asking Wright how much fuel he thought was left in the tank of the chopper. Loading...Detective Musgrave: In your estimation, how much fuel was left there? Matt Wright: Maybe half a tank. During the trial, prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC argued Wright knew "bugger all" about how much fuel was left in fuel tank and that his responses during the police interview were an attempt to mislead investigators. Acting Justice Alan Blow found Wright's "primary motive" for lying to police was to "protect" the chopper pilot from being prosecuted over the accident. "In my view, protecting Mr Robinson was your primary motive for twice telling police there was fuel in the tank," he said. "You lied to protect a mate … your lies were spontaneous and unplanned." The recording also includes Wright recalling the moment he first found out his friend had been involved in a serious accident. Matt Wright: Mick rang me, Mick Burns, asked if I'd heard of anything. I said 'no, nothing'. Detective Musgrave: What did he say in relation to that? Matt Wright: He goes, 'have you heard of an accident or anything?' I'm like 'no'. Said CareFlight had just been called to go out to where the boys are. And, like, communication was pretty short. We didn't really know who, what, where. I said, 'right', and I said, 'well, let's grab a chopper and let's get going, see what's going on'. Later in the recording, Wright told police he thought Mr Wilson had died as a result of being released from the line he was hanging from beneath the chopper. He also told police "it looked like Seb had done everything he could" to "get Willow down safely". In a separate recording, also released by the court, Wright can be heard briefly discussing what happened at the crash site and telling someone "no one touched nothin', no one tampered with nothin'". Recording from injured pilot's hospital bedside released The second count related to several visits Wright made to critically injured pilot Sebastian Robinson in hospital where he asked him to falsify helicopter records. During the trial, the jury was asked to listen to a recording taken by Mr Robinson's uncle, Jim Carew, during one of Wright's visits. Mr Carew told the court he and Mr Robinson's mother Noelene Chellingworth agreed it would be good to record the visit "for recollection purposes". Before he started the recording, Mr Carew said Wright "spoke about a number of things". "I remember him saying something about swapping hours, or assigning hours, I believe was the term that they used," he said. Loading...In several of the recordings released by the court, Wright can be heard discussing flight-hour paperwork and chopper records. In a tapped phone call between Wright and another pilot, Michael Burbidge, who was present on the day of the accident, the pair can be heard discussing the flight-hour log book for the crashed helicopter VH-IDW. Loading...Michael Burbidge: Who's got the logbook for IDW? Matt Wright: Don't know. I'm gonna find that out. Michael Burbidge: Righto cos you need to have a look at em. Matt Wright: I know. Michael Burbidge: There's been s*** written in em. Matt Wright: Written in it? Michael Burbidge: Yeah. Matt Wright: From who? Michael Burbidge: I don't know mate, just got it from f***ing a good source that f***ing some of the engineers have f***ing when it's come in and the clock's been off, or they've said the clock's been off, they've written in the log book 'clock found disconnected again'. So, you need to find out who's f***ing said it so you know who to trust and who not to trust. It's just engineers covering their asses probably. I got told, don't know if it's true or not, it didn't come from anyone up here, it came from someone down south. Matt Wright: Yeah, rightio that's the first I've heard of it. The recordings the jury couldn't agree on The court also chose to release two of the most controversial recordings in the trial, which the prosecution relied heavily on to prove the third count of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Count three related to allegations Wright discussed destroying maintenance documents for the crashed helicopter during a late-night conversation with a friend months after the crash. Recordings of the alleged conversations were captured on hidden police bugs inside Wright's Queensland home. During his closing address to the jury, Wright's defence barrister David Edwardson KC described the third count as being "utterly absurd" and based on recordings "so poor in quality that it is all but incomprehensible". The jury was provided with transcripts which Mr Edwardson warned might result in jurors being "primed" into thinking they could make out certain words. "If you put [the transcript] to one side and you just play the audio and listen to it for yourself, I defy you, even with the superhuman capabilities of the prosecution in this case, I defy you to make any sense of that conversation," he said. In one of the recordings, Wright allegedly spoke to his friend Jai Tomlinson about burning the helicopter's maintenance release. Loading...The prosecution alleged Wright could be heard saying "torch it" and later, "just burn the c**t". In a separate recording days earlier, Wright was alleged to have said "now they're starting to put the pressure on everyone, they start squealing", to which Mr Tomlinson allegedly replied, "one word against another's". Mr Tomlinson was grilled by Mr Gullaci about his recollection of the conversation, and at one stage accused the witness of lying to the court and giving "nonsensical" answers to protect Wright. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is yet to decide whether their office will pursue count three. "The matter remains under consideration by the Director of Public Prosecutions and no time-frame has been set," a spokesperson said in a statement to the ABC. 'It'll all come out, Matt' Various recordings reveal conversations Wright had with friends about the incident and the investigation. During one phone call in December 2022, Wright can be heard telling a friend: "What they're trying to do, what they're trying to prove, it's got nothing to do with accident [sic] and all that sort of stuff and cover-ups and all that bulls*** that means nothing". In a separate phone call, Wright can be heard telling another friend it was the pilot's decision to release Mr Wilson from the chopper that resulted in his death. Loading...Matt Wright: What hasn't come out is Seb, his actions taken in that event that he had, he buttoned Willow off. Friend: Mmm. Matt Wright: He punched Willow off at 100 foot. It killed him. Like, that hasn't come out yet. Friend: But it will. Matt Wright: Yeah, it will. Friend: Yeah, it's all, I mean, it's gonna be a long, sticky mess for all of you in the court, and um. Matt Wright: Totally. Friend: Who knows which direction it'll go on or which way they're gonna try and portray it, but yeah, I mean, I know, I've been thinking about that too, and it's, it'll all come out, Matt. Matt Wright: Yeah, yeah, totally, totally. I don't want to f***ing put Sebby in it but I'm not going to f***ing get put in the clink because of his downfall. Wright has repeatedly said he intends to appeal the jury's verdict on counts one and two. The ABC has contacted Wright for comment. In an Instagram video posted on Thursday morning from an airboat, Wright told his followers not to "believe everything you're reading and listening to in the media". "There are some overzealous reporters out there having a little dig, let them go," he said. "We're just going to have a cracking day out here. "Look at this place, how can you be upset about anything?" Wright is also facing separate lawsuits in the NT Supreme Court and the Federal Court over an air boating accident that occurred at his tourism venture Top End Safari Camp in 2023.