EXCLUSIVE: Chilling jailhouse letters of slain bikie Shane Bowden, 48, pledged loyalty 'forever' to the gang that would soon kill him - and how he was destined for trouble life after being born to 12-year-old parents

Just months before he was murdered in his driveway, Shane Bowden was signing off his jalhouse letters: 'Mongols forever, forever Mongols'. 

Now, it is members of that same club who police believe are to blame for killing him.

Bowden, 48, was gunned down in an assassination-style shooting in the early hours of Monday morning, just moments after driving his BMW sedan into the driveway of a Gold Coast home.

His shooting death was the final moment in the troubled life of a one-time Olympic cycling hopeful turned bikie, who was adopted at birth when his parents - aged 12 - were not fit to care for him.

Trudi McPhee, his ex-girlfriend and the mother of one of his sons, said that for weeks before his death Bowden had been looking over his shoulder, aware there was firmly a target on his back.

But before that he had been a dedicated Mongols member, with jailhouse letters he sent to Ms McPhee in his final days of a five-year term in Loddon Prison for a violent home invasion show what she called 'his loyalty to his brothers'. 

Shane Bowden recently rejoined the Finks OMCG after years as a senior member of the Mongols OMCG. Queensland Police believe the shooter may have had links to the Mongols despite recent jailhouse letters from Bowden pledging his loyalty to the bikie gang

Trudi McPhee , his ex-girlfriend and the mother of one of his sons, shared jailhouse letters Bowden sent her that show his loyalty to the Mongols OMCG - the bikie gang believed to have killed him on Monday morning

'Hey Baby. Thursday up early again missing you like crazy, wish I had you next to me,' Bowden wrote.

'Just had breakfast, coffee, showered and ready for the doors to unlock. I'll be going out to the boxing bag and knock that over for the day, I always feel better when I box early. After that I'll come in, have some protein then I have l legs, they always sort me out but I love doing them.

'I think Kain his came yesterday. The brothers put him in a bed and breakfast for a week until I get out.  

'We can start flying again, not long now babe. I miss you like crazy, can't wait to have you in my arms. Love Shane MFFM.'

In several other letters in the weeks leading up to his June release, Bowden used sign offs including 'RFFN' - an acronym for the Mongols motto 'Respect Few, Fear None'.

Another letter to Ms McPhee referenced Bowden's need to get his remaining tattoos from his Finks OMCG days removed.

'We get locked in early on Tuesday so I get to write to you and think about you and what we will be getting up to when I come home,' he wrote.

'I have to get the rest of the Fink tattoos removed. F**k they hurt. I had over 10 Finks tattoos and the patch on my back.

'I have seven Mongol tattoos on me as well. I have the bug for ink.

Bowden's death was the final moment in the colourful life of a one-time Olympic hopeful who was adopted at birth when his parents - both aged 12 - were not fit to care for him 

The 49-year-old was gunned down in a hail of bullets moments after pulling his BMW into the driveway of a home on Cox Road at Pimpama, on the Gold Coast, about 12am on Monday

Forensic police dusted for fingerprints on Bowden's black BMW sedan and collected evidence in paper bags for further examination

'Nobody deserves to die in this manner but, you live by the sword, you die by the sword,' police detective superintendent Brendan Smith said on Monday (Pictured are officers outside the Cox Road home)

'All else is good my babe, think of you always. No need to stress. Love Shane. RFFN.'

Bowden was gunned down in a hail of bullets inside his BMW moments after pulling into the driveway of a home on Cox Road in Pimpama, about 12.10am on Monday. 

Another of Bowden's partners and two young children were just metres away inside the Gold Coast home when he was killed on Monday.

Two burnt-out vehicles were found nearby - one at Beenleigh and one at Ormeau - and a manhunt has been launched for two men believed to be behind the shooting. 

Queensland Police Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said it appeared that Bowden had been ambushed.

A heavily-tattooed man talks on the phone at the scene where Bowden was shot dead hours earlier

'At this point we believe the victim came home from the gym and has driven into his driveway, the assailants have run in and shot him multiple times and consequently now he is deceased,' he said.

'He's basically driven into his driveway, hasn't even gotten out of his car and has been executed.'

As news of his death began to filter through the bikie community, tributes began to flow from a number of former female partners.

Among them was glamorous celebrity personal trainer Janet 'Aysen Unlu' Campbell.

Bowden and Ms Campbell were involved in the 2015 home invasion that landed him in jail and saw her serve a community corrections order. 

'My deepest sympathies go out to Shane's children and family,' Ms Campbell said.

'May God give him the peace that he seek. My thoughts, prayers and well-wishes during this dark time in there life. RIP Shane Bowden.'

But those comments angered Ms McPhee, who told Daily Mail Australia that despite her claims Ms Campbell was not that close to Bowden.  

'Janet Campbell was never his girlfriend, she needs to butt out - this isn't her family, she needs to go away,' Ms McPhee said.

Monday morning's shooting was the second time Bowden had been hit with a bullet in the past four months.

As news of his death began to filter through the bikie community, tributes began to flow from a number of former partners including glamorous personal trainer Janet 'Aysen Unlu' Campbell

Ms McPhee and Sam Bowden, hers and Shane's son, paid tribute to him on Instagram

The 48-year-old's body was discovered in a car on Cox Road at about 12.10am on Monday 

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SHANE BOWDEN:

1972: Shane Bowden is born to 12-year-old parents, seeing him adopted out to a family with older kids straight away

1996: Bowden, now 23, trains hard at the Australian Institute of Sport in the hope of reaching the 1996 Olympics

Late-1990s: After injury derails his career, Bowden begins to spend more time in the gym and is roped into the bikie world by underworld figures

2006: Bowden is involved in the huge Ballroom Blitz brawl on the Gold Coast and is jailed for six-and-a-half years

2013: After patching over to Mongols OMCG, Bowden is jailed for a violent home invasion alongside glamorous girlfriend Janet Campbell

2020 - June: Bowden is released from prison after five years behind bars. He is driven back to Melbourne by his Mongols brothers in a white limousine

Late-June: He is booted from the Mongols and rejoins the Finks

July 1: Bowden is shot in the leg during a drive-by attack

September: Bowden breaches COVID-19 restrictions when he flies into Qld from Victoria. He is charged over the breach

October 12: As he arrives home in his BMW in the early hours of Monday morning he is shot dead in cold blood 

Just weeks after his release from prison in June, Bowden was shot in the leg during a drive-by attack in Melbourne on July 1.

In the wake of his assassination, Ms McPhee said she believes those responsible for the July 1 shooting are the same  'cowards' to blame for Monday's early hour attack.

She also warned that Bowden's killing could spark an all-out bikie war on the streets of the Gold Coast. 

'As I sit here today I still don't think it's real. I don't think anyone deserves to die like this,' Ms McPhee said. 

'It's pretty cowardly. If he had a gun, which he didn't because he couldn't or he'd do five years, he would've shot back.

'Of course the cowards knew they couldn't go up and confront him face-to-face as he was a handy boxer and they wouldn't have stood a chance.

'All I know is this war is going to get bigger and women and their children need to be careful, because in this war they don't care who gets hurt.'

One police source told The Courier Mail to 'expect more bodies on the street'. 

Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said it was likely the targeted shooting was carried out by members within Bowden's former club. 

'It obviously makes things harder when these types of gangs are involved because they have their own code of silence,' Det Supt Smith said.

'It's important that people understand that these gangs are criminals… that survive on retribution, violence and threats and if anyone thinks anything otherwise they're an idiot.

'Nobody deserves to die in this manner but, you live by the sword, you die by the sword.' 

Forensic officers spent the day combing the scene for clues and seized footage from several CCTV cameras nearby.  

Bowden was ambushed in a Melbourne driveway on July 1, just two weeks after making a glitzy exit from Loddon Prison prison after a five-year stint for a violent home invasion

Forensic police gather evidence inside the Gold Coast home where Bowden was found dead

Evidence tags are seen on the ground of the scene of the execution-style shooting

Two burnt-out vehicles were found nearby - one at Beenleigh and one at Ormeau. 

Bowden was an elite cyclist in his younger years and in 1996 trained at the Australian Institute of Sport in the hope of making the Olympic team.

But when injury ruined his career he began to spend less time on the race track and more time in the gym, where he met shady underworld figures. 

He joined the Finks in the late 1990s and rose through the ranks.

In 2006 he was a key figure in the 'Ballroom Blitz', a wild brawl at a kickboxing event on the Gold Coast that saw Hells Angels bikie Christopher Wayne Hudson shot twice.

A year later Hudson would be involved in the Melbourne CBD shooting for which he was eventually handed a life sentence.

Bowden patched over from the Finks to the Mongols OMCG in the early 2010s before his return to the Finks in July.

The club he bookended his bikie career with will now bury him in the coming days.