Hudson was born in Tweed Heads in 1976 and has listed his occupation as plasterer.

Interstate police sources described Hudson as a renowned hard man from a blue-collar background in the building industry.

"He's not a man to be trifled with," the interstate police source said. "He's known as a pretty staunch bloke.

"Pretty tough . . . and he's not a steroid muncher."

Police intelligence suggests Hudson has been involved in the manufacture and trafficking of amphetamines.

Police believe Hudson was involved in the illicit drug trade and he has a penchant for strip clubs.

They say bikies and their known associates have invested in hotels and nightclubs, and have run strippers and illegal prostitutes around Australia.

Police claim a group of bikies has tried to buy a legal brothel using friends with no criminal records to establish a Trojan-horse front.

Police say that in 2005 the Queenslander was enticed, with the lure of a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle, to make a move from the Finks to the Hells Angels.

The Herald Sun was told the Finks and Hudson were already in dispute over a woman and there were suggestions he owed his former comrades money.

He allegedly fired shots into a Finks member's house in 2005 after defecting to the Hells Angels.

Hudson was recruited by the Angels because of his links to local nightspots.

The Angels wanted to use their prized recruit to help them muscle their way into the lucrative Gold Coast nightclub drug business, enraging the Finks.

During 2005, Hudson spent time in Cessnock jail on assault charges.

Many of the participants were gang members from Adelaide and were identified from video footage of the incident.

Police alleged Adelaide Hells Angels chapter member Terry Polley fired up to six shots from a handgun - one hitting a bystander in the foot - during the brawl.

Hudson decided to get out of town and later became involved with the Hells Angels City Crew chapter based in Sydney's inner western suburbs.

Tensions simmered between the gangs after the brawl, with the Hells Angels in May 2006 issuing an ultimatum to other gangs on the Gold Coast to "get out of town" or face the consequences.

New South Wales police say he was a suspect in an incident in which shots were fired at a nightclub in 2006.

Hudson was on bail in NSW when came to Melbourne in early June 2007.

He was seen with a senior Hells Angel, a man considered one of the most dangerous in the gang.

Several shots were fired from inside a black Mercedes sedan at the Scania truck company's Australian headquarters on the corner of Northbourne Road and the Hume Highway, Campbellfield, shortly before 4.50am.

The site is several hundred metres away from the Hells Angels' clubhouse in Campbellfield.

Police on routine patrol heard the shots and saw the car speed off.

A divisional van from Broadmeadows saw the Mercedes run a red light and did a U-turn to try to intercept it.

It is alleged Hudson fired shots out of the Mercedes in Northbourne Ave to deter the police from following.

The Age later reported that Collingwood superstar Alan Didak (pictured right with former girlfriend Cassie Lane) admitted to police he was with Hudson during the Campbellfield incident.

The shots were fired just hours after Didak played in the losing Queen's Birthday game against Melbourne and hours before he joined teammates on a morning flight to a mid-season camp in Queensland.

With no game scheduled the following week, the Collingwood and Melbourne players had one of their few in-season opportunities to head out on the town.

But the idea of a few beers soon turned into a binge of mixed drinks and straight spirits as a group of players headed from nightclubs to strip clubs.

After drinking at several venues, Melbourne and Collingwood stayers, including Didak and Melbourne player Colin Sylvia, converged on the Bar 20 strip club.

While the other footballers drifted off, Didak and Sylvia tottered up King Street to Spearmint Rhino.

Drinking vodka, lime and sodas and straight shooters, they were flying by the early hours of Tuesday.

Fatigued from a hard game of football and a harder night of drinking, Sylvia slowly descended into alcohol-induced unconsciousness.

Drunk and asleep, Sylvia was gently evicted by bouncers without incident.

The last thing Didak needed was another drink but unwisely he accepted one — this time a bourbon and cola — from a heavy-set man with burning eyes who said he was a fan of the Collingwood forward.

Didak chatted with the fan, who had recently moved from interstate.

Without his football mate, Didak accepted a lift from his new acquaintance, Christopher Wayne Hudson, and left with him about 3am.

Didak would later tell police he had accepted an offer of a lift home to Kew when it all went horribly wrong. It is a version of events that detectives found hard to swallow.

Police suspect but can't prove that Hudson bragged that he was a Hells Angel and invited Didak to the headquarters. The footballer, curious to see inside the heavily fortified premises, accepted, an act that, while foolhardy, was not illegal.

It was only minutes after they left the strip club that Didak realised his night was going off the rails.

Police believe Hudson and Didak drove from the nightclub and as Hudson's Mercedes sped over the Bolte Bridge, a high-powered handgun was produced and several shots were fired from the window.

Speeding along the Tullamarine Freeway, they arrived at the Hells Angels' East County Chapter headquarters in Campbellfield around 4am. Didak was greeted by at least one other member of the chapter.

If Didak was terrified, he hid it well. When he was offered yet another drink, he accepted and stayed for up to 45 minutes before hopping back in the car, this time in the back seat of the coupe.

In the front, was Hudson still driving, with a second bikie in the passenger seat.

They sped off, flying through a red light across the Hume Highway just as a local police divisional van cruised past.

The police followed but the Mercedes slipped into the Scania trucking industrial estate, out of sight, where it might have stayed if not spotted by an early-morning worker. Hudson then cruised slowly out of the factory complex and stopped in Northbourne Road. The police, having spotted the car, pulled up about 50 metres behind. Several shots allegedly were fired from the driver's side window of the Mercedes before it sped off again.

Police did not give chase. If they had, Didak might well have been permanently delisted, courtesy of a police bullet or a high-speed car crash.

Later police would find 10 spent shells and one live one on the ground in two separate groups on Northbourne Road — meaning someone in the car fired a volley of shots before slipping into the estate and a second set when the police pulled up behind.

Police believe Didak was dropped by the gunman near Southbank after the two shooting incidents about 6am.

Later that day he flew to Queensland with teammates for a mid-season break.

No Collingwood player or official apparently noticed any sign of stress or anxiety in their highly rated forward.

But police believe he did tell some teammates, including those he was drinking with that night, what had happened after they left. Just hours after the Campbellfield incident he was on a plane with the team.

Because of the pressing danger of a gunman on Melbourne streets who was prepared to fire shots at police to avoid arrest, the investigation was immediately handed to the experts, the armed crime taskforce.

A police appeal that morning brought an immediate response through Crime Stoppers. One caller reported a black Mercedes speeding wildly down the Tullamarine Freeway to Melbourne with one man in the back leaning forward and talking to the driver.

Detectives traced the Mercedes to a luxury vehicle dealer who at first denied any connection with Hudson.

But detectives found the name of a Sydney woman who was alleged to have bought the car. She had once worked at Spearmint Rhino and knew Hudson.

Within 48 hours of the shooting police were looking for Hudson.

But they did not know where he was living and still did not have enough evidence to make an arrest.

Three people were shot in the Melbourne CBD on the morning of June 18, 2007.

The shootings happened at the corner of William Street and Flinders Lane after two men went to assist a woman, said to have been Hudson's girlfriend, who was being dragged by her hair from a taxi.

One of the men, 43 year-old lawyer Brendan Keilar, died at the scene while another man, and the woman who the pair were trying to help, were taken to hospital with serious gunshot wounds.

The shooter then raised his pistol to his chin with onlookers believing he was going to kill himself.

But he lost his nerve and ran up Flinders Lane.

Police located a hand gun, a .40 calibre Llama Minimax, and a grey sweater at a building site near the crime scene.

Investigators named Hudson as the gunman.

It was claimed he had purchased the handgun in Melbourne in the fortnight leading up to the shootings.

He had been staying with the injured woman in room 502 of the Punt Hill Apartments in Flinders Lane.

The first police knew of a link between Alan Didak and the suspect was when they went to the apartment.

They found a handwritten note with Alan Didak's name and phone number.

A Honda CRV four-wheel drive believed to belong to either Hudson or the injured woman was found near the hotel the following morning.

The black Mercedes was recovered from an apartment block car park in Richmond that evening.

The injured woman was Kara Douglas, a 24 year-old model and stripper from Sydney while the injured man was Dutch tourist Paul de Waard, 25.

Ms Douglas, known in modelling circles as Kaera, was hoping to re-start her life in Melbourne after breaking up with her boyfriend only weeks before she was shot.

The morning's violence began when Hudson attacked one of Ms Douglas' friends outside the Barcode nightclub in King Street.

It is believed security video shows Hudson kicking Autumn Daly-Holt to the head until she slumped unconscious onto the nightclub's stairs.

Ms Holt-Daly, a dancer at the Spearmint Rhino men's bar, was taken to hospital and treated for head injuries.

Police warned that Hudson was dangerous and urged anyone who saw him to contact police or Crimestoppers.

"Under no circumstances should anyone approach Mr Hudson," a police spokeswoman said.

Police around Victoria were instructed to look for Hudson, and warned to approach him with caution.

Detectives with expertise in outlaw motorcycle gangs were called in to help the homicide investigators.

Under Hells Angels rules, members are expected to protect a "brother" wanted by police.

Police knew the gang had hidden a triple killer in Melbourne for 18 months before he was grabbed.

Detectives say members of the gang have protected the Hells Angels who murdered Vicki Jacobs, a witness shot dead in front of her son in Bendigo in June 1999.

But police say that if Hudson was acting without the authority of the Angels, he may be cut loose.

"If they try to look after him, they will know what's coming," a senior policeman said.

Interstate police agencies received an all-points bulletin for Hudson.

On June 20, the accused murderer handed himself in to police.

Hudson walked into Wallan police station at about 4.40p.m and was arrested.

His solicitor had been negotiating with police during the day.

It was reported that Hudson was fearful of surrendering in the city as he believed he could be shot and had been seeking assurances he would not be ambushed on his way to the police station to give up.

Homicide squad detectives escorted Hudson from Wallan to the St Kilda Road police complex where he was questioned.

He then appeared before a magistrate in an out-of-sessions hearing.

Hudson faces several charges including one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder one count of unlawful imprisonment and one count of intentionally causing serious injury.

His father said he is relieved his son gave himself up without a fight.

Terry Hudson said he spoke with his son as he handed himself in to police at Wallan.

"He rang me to say he's at the police station handing himself in, that's his only comment," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

"Obviously (I'm) very glad that nobody else got hurt and Chris is OK.

"What else can I say, I was just relieved nobody got hurt, so it was great."

Mr Hudson said his family was coping "a little bit easier" since the wanted bikie came forward, after spending the day pleading with his son to give himself up.

Mr Hudson said he would like to see his son, but would wait for advice from Victoria Police as to his access rights.

"I'm just waiting on the Victorian police to ring me and let me know what access I'll be able to have, whether I can speak with Chris or see him during the day as he goes to court," he said.

Hudson failed to appear in the Magistrates' Court the day after his surrender as he was hospitalised due to what were reportedly self inflicted injuries.

The court heard the accused man was in St Vincent's Hospital with an injury to his left arm that needed surgery.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said he was injured before his arrest.

According to the Sunday Age, Hudson's wrist was cut to the bone.

He was remanded in custody and is due to appear in court on October 10.

On June 28, 2007, Alan Didak was questioned by detectives at the Boroondara police station.

Earlier in the week a homicide detective and another from the armed taskforce quietly visited Didak away from the club to ask him some questions informally.

They had given him a few days to think deeply before he was to be formally interviewed.

But as rumours of Didak's involvement started to circulate in football-mad Melbourne, the interview was pushed forward, to be held discreetly at the Boroondara police station rather than at the St Kilda Road crime headquarters.

But the media were waiting. It was the lead item on TV news and page one the following day.

Didak was interviewed as a witness and confirmed he was with Hudson on the morning of the Campbellfield shooting incident.

In Didak's version of events to the football club, he said that he was offered a drink in the Spearmint Rhino nightclub by Hudson, who claimed to be a "big fan" of the Collingwood footballer.

Hudson is believed to have become a Collingwood member after moving to Melbourne earlier in 2007.

Didak gave police a version of events. In some parts it was clear and in other parts strangely vague. He can remember the events at the strip club, the drive to the clubhouse, shots on the Bolte Bridge, drinks with the Hells Angels and the dangerous trip back to the city. He can even remember leaning forward asking Hudson to slow down on the freeway (an act independently corroborated by the Crime Stoppers call). He can recall getting a taxi home from the city after he was dropped off.

Yet he has a 15-minute memory lapse just when the shots were fired in the vicinity of police. Perhaps he passed out — a convenient but entirely possible scenario considering the amount he had drunk. This would mean he could not be called as a credible witness to the events of the shots being fired at Campbellfield in any future trials. He can't testify to events he can't remember.

No one would really know whether Didak was asleep as Hudson isn't talking and the other passenger in the Mercedes is yet to be identified.

But what Didak could not know is there is another witness — not a person but a video camera. When the driver of the Mercedes slipped into the Northbourne industrial estate to avoid police, a security camera filmed three men in the car, with the rear passenger conscious and clearly animated.

It was then believed that Didak had not met the alleged gunman until the morning of the incident.

Didak faced a news conference that evening, after crisis talks at the club.

Ashen-faced, sweating profusely and wearing a pinstripe suit and Collingwood tie he read from a brief statement.

"The club and I felt it important to face the media tonight," he said.

"I am only now fully aware of the situation I found myself in. I deeply regret the embarrassment caused to myself, my family and the football club."

Magpies chief executive Gary Pert suggested that Didak had been held against his will during the "ordeal".

"Whilst in the car the person insisted that Alan accompany him to a bikie gang clubhouse," Mr Pert said. "Alan felt he had no choice but to comply."

Mr Pert said the car full of bikers was driving dangerously and erratically and that Didak was "desperate to get out" but could not escape because the car was a coupe and he was in the back seat. He was eventually let out of the car, near the city, and caught a taxi home, Mr Pert said.

The Magpie chief executive described Didak's encounter with Hudson and friends as an ordeal. "Alan had been drinking very heavily and as the night's events unfolded he became increasingly concerned for his own safety," he said.

The club backed Didak's version of events with Mr Pert describing the encounter with Hudson as a "chance meeting" with a man Didak had never met before.

Mr Pert stressed that Didak was co-operating fully with police.

Clubs sources said Didak did not come forward earlier because he feared for his safety if he told police about the bikers' activities.

The Age believed he only told club lawyer Eugene Arocca about his encounter some time during the three days before his interview.

Mr Arocca sat beside Didak as he read his statement. Club president Eddie McGuire learned of the incident via a telephone call from Mr Arocca as McGuire was on his way home from a holiday in Italy.

The head of the armed crime taskforce, Detective Inspector Gerry Ryan, said: "We are speaking to someone from Collingwood who is assisting us with out inquiries.

"That person is not at this stage a suspect in any crime. The Collingwood club has assisted us all along in this matter."

Both Mr Pert and Didak refused to take any questions after a news conference. The Collingwood chief executive said the written statements had been prepared in conjunction with police and it would not be proper to deviate from them.

Police had briefed senior Collingwood officials week but were staggered when they saw how the player was portrayed as an innocent victim.

"He is not a suspect, he is not a victim, he is a witness and not a very good one," a senior policeman said.

On July 1, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that police feared Hell's Angels gang members may seek revenge against Alan Didak for giving evidence against them.

Police sources said they believed Didak had reason to worry about his safety.

A Melbourne detective, who did not want to be named, said: "If I had given a statement against someone from the Hell's Angels, I would be very, very worried."

But according to John Silvester of the Age, Didak is safe.

The Angels have turned their back on Hudson for his alleged actions in the CBD. They cut him loose straight after the city shootings and "encouraged" him to surrender.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, who flew back from Europe to take charge of the crisis, said Didak would be subjected to "onerous conditions and restrictions".

McGuire said Didak's behaviour was "being taken with the utmost seriousness at the football club and at the appropriate time, appropriate decisions will be made. He was out too late, met bad people and it was just stupid".

Meanwhile Cassie Lane, declared the fallen star did not have a drinking problem.

Ms Lane said Didak was devastated to read that the mother of shooting victim Brendan Keilar believed if he had gone to police sooner, her son might have lived.

"Had he done so, the life of a brave man called Brendan Keilar might have been saved, and two other people not been badly wounded. One anonymous tip was all it needed".

"Instead, according to the sources, Didak saw fit to talk up his adventure with teammates and others, while staying silent where it counted".

Rumours swirling around the case suggest that Didak had, in fact, known Christopher Wayne Hudson for some time — as long as five months, one police source told a journalist.

Another suggestion is that the alleged gunman's girlfriend and a female friend of Didak's know each other well.

Such stories might seem outlandish — but no more so than the fact that Didak's number was found in Hudson's telephone.

Collingwood is certainly not telling. The club's lawyer, Eugene Arocca, categorically denied the entire Didak story when it was first put to him, so there is no reason to imagine the club is being any more frank than it has to be.

The spectre of having a top player charged with serious offences must be a powerful incentive to be as "discreet" as the law allows.

On form, Didak and too many other talented young sportsmen fall for the temptations that fame and fortune throw their way — including the potentially fatal attraction of keeping the wrong company and all that comes with it.

There is no proof of drug abuse in Didak's case, and Collingwood and the AFL have leapt to his defence, but his history is interesting.

Didak was arrested after an altercation with a taxi driver outside a Hawthorn nightclub last October.

Two months earlier, he was expelled from a nightclub after a "screaming match" with his then girlfriend and a confrontation with another man.

If it turns out Alan Didak is not as innocent as is being made out, it will not be the first time a Magpie champion has taken a wrong turn. Darren "Pants" Millane, killed in a car crash in 1991, sometimes collected debts for a well-known western suburbs drug dealer.

The Herald Sun understood Hudson had disputed club allegations that Didak felt threatened after the pair left Spearmint Rhino in the early hours of June 12.

Hudson was understood to have expressed disappointment at Collingwood's description of events involving Didak.

Hudson's father, Terry, also a staunch Collingwood supporter, would not deny suggestions his son was unhappy with the way Didak had been portrayed as a victim.

Despite having spoken to his son about it, Mr Hudson last night said from the Gold Coast he could not comment. But it's believed Hudson doesn't want Didak suspended.

Hudson was not expected to be charged with any offences relating to violence or threatening behaviour towards Didak.

Police were referring to Didak as a witness, rather than a victim, who has not been charged with any criminal offence.

Didak and Gary Pert faced another press conference on June 4, 2007.

Collingwood staff had hastily briefed club president Eddie McGuire on the events as he was about to fly back to Australia from Europe.

Increasingly uncomfortable with what he sees as a less-than-comprehensive briefing, he shifted the club's position from victim Didak to last-chance Didak.

Far from Didak being an innocent caught up in events as first portrayed, McGuire said, "he was out too late, met bad people and it was just stupid".

Collingwood announced tough restraints on their player, including a nightclub and booze ban plus mandatory alcohol counselling and a 1am curfew for the remainder of the season.

At the press conference the slant that Didak was a victim was finally dumped.

The player fronted the media to say his actions were "reckless, embarrassing and stupid" and had damaged his reputation. "I understand if I don't comply (with the restrictions) that is the end of my career at Collingwood," he said.

Hudson is accused of firing shots out the window of a black Mercedes on the Bolte Bridge and in an industrial area in Campbellfield about 4.50am on June 12.

The charges were filed in Melbourne Magistrates' Court yesterday but Mr Hudson did not appear.

He faces three charges of reckless conduct endangering serious injury, two charges of using a firearm with intent to resist arrest, three charges of using a firearm in a public place and one count of being a prohibited person in possession of the weapon.

Magistrate Duncan Reynolds remanded Mr Hudson to appear over the Campbellfield shooting on September 27.

Defence lawyer Theo Magazis requested an adjournment on the charges so the court could deal with all Mr Hudson's matters together.

Mr Hudson faces three charges of recklessly discharging a firearm, two of using a firearm to resist apprehension and three of using a firearm on a public road over the factory shooting.

He also faces one charge of being a prohibited person using an unregistered firearm.

Magistrate Peter Couzens granted the adjournment, saying the delay was not unreasonable.

He adjourned the matter to a committal mention hearing on November 7.

The Magistrates' Court had heard Didak was the only witness linking Hudson with the Mercedes Benz from which the shots were discharged in a Campbellfield industrial area and across the Bolte Bridge.

Defence lawyer Theo Magazis said Didak's "credibility is very much in issue".

The incident was allegedly sparked when police began pursuing the car because of its erratic driving.

The court heard a witness would also give evidence that they saw Didak get out of the car in the city with two other men.

Didak's statement to police also appears on the brief of evidence over the CBD murder because forensic testing showed the firearms used in both crimes were the same, the court heard.

The day's hearing was to determine which witnesses would be cross-examined in a preliminary hearing over the Campbellfield case and the CBD murders.

The hearing continues.