A covertly recorded prison conversation between Beau Lamarre-Condon and a friend was played to a Sydney jury on Monday, giving the court a detailed account of the accused man’s own words about the deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.
The recording was captured inside a prison as part of a police operation. Lamarre-Condon, 31, a former police officer, is on trial in the New South Wales supreme court charged with two counts of murder and one count of aggravated break and enter. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege he fatally shot the couple with his police service weapon at Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024.
The tape stems from a December visit last year by the friend, whose identity is suppressed, who recorded the conversation on behalf of police. On Friday the friend had already told the court that Lamarre-Condon allegedly confessed to killing the two men, describing it as an “out-of-body experience”, before attempting to play it off as a joke.
The recording, reported in the Guardian’s account (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/oct/26/beau-lamarre-condon-trial-covert-prison-recording-with-friend-played-to-court-ntwnfb), opens with Lamarre-Condon asking the friend to turn around to prove he was not wearing a wire. “You’re so paranoid,” the friend replied. “Calm down.”
The friend told him during the visit: “You put me in a scenario that’s very difficult for me.” Lamarre-Condon apologised, saying: “I fully take accountability that you’re involved because of me now.”
The friend said he was upset because Lamarre-Condon had called him dumb. “You’re not dumb OK,” Lamarre-Condon responded, before adding: “You’re not self aware in the way that I am.” He then accused the friend of lying “about so much shit” in his statement to police, saying the friend was wrong to recall that Davies was killed to eliminate a witness, and that he had in fact acted in self-defence. “Don’t you dare switch up,” the friend replied.
Lamarre-Condon also sought to reframe the legal character of his entry into Baird’s home. He told the friend it was not break and enter because Baird had arranged for a key to be cut for him. He admitted entering the Paddington terrace was trespass, but claimed it was normal to return to a former partner’s home to retrieve belongings. He said he did not knock because he did not want to be served with an apprehended violence order, though he called out hello as he walked inside.
One passage spoke directly to money and preparation. “If I had planned to do this mate, I’d be cool, calm, collected,” Lamarre-Condon told the friend. He said he would have had “cleaning ready to go” and would not have used a police firearm. “I can get [another gun] for $10,000, I could have done all these things,” he said, a remark that speaks to his own account of the resources available to him had the acts been premeditated.
He also told the friend he had taken him to the Royal national park before the murders in early 2024 and fired his gun to test how loud the shots were, saying he was planning to return there to take his own life. He said he had been suffering from suicidality stemming from trauma at work. During the conversation, the friend can be heard threatening to leave multiple times, telling Lamarre-Condon: “What you’re telling me mightn’t be the truth.”
By contrast, the cross-examination turned to the disposal of the bodies. Lamarre-Condon’s lawyer, John Stratton SC, suggested it was the friend’s idea to sink Baird and Davies in a dam. “I’m 100% sure it wasn’t me,” the friend told the court on Monday. He said he had warned Lamarre-Condon that the bodies would float. “I gave him a scientific fact that he [could] search up on Google in his own time,” the witness said. The friend admitted that after the pair discussed whether the bodies should be taken to a national park, he told Lamarre-Condon that bushland was nearby in the Royal national park. He denied Stratton’s suggestion that he had given false evidence or been influenced by media reporting.
The trial before Justice Natalie Adams continues.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org.