The final words of the man who confessed to murder before he was shot dead by police on Monday have been revealed from bodycam footage.

Edward William Johnston held a replica gun to his head, then turned it to point at police before uttering his last words: “Are you ready? Because I am.”

Officers shot the 50-year-old Irish man three times, believing his gesture and words were a clear warning that he was about to open fire on them, according to sources close to the investigation.

The 3am shooting ended a three-hour stand-off during which police engaged in futile negotiations with Johnston.

The body of his ex-partner, Nicolette Ghirxi, whom he had harassed for months, had been found an hour earlier in her Birkirkara apartment. She had been stabbed to death and two knives were found nearby. 

Times of Malta was able to confirm, through sources close to the investigation, that the entire interaction between Johnston and the police was caught on body camera footage, which is now part of the investigation into the case that rocked the country this week.

It later turned out Johnston had been carrying a replica Beretta pistol. 

“In that moment, in pitch black darkness, police couldn’t have possibly known that his gun couldn’t shoot and considering that they had just been informed he had really killed a woman that night, they had every reason to interpret those words as a direct threat on their life,” one source said.

Other details of Johnston’s movements on the night of the murder are slowly becoming clear. 

While it has not been revealed how he got access to Ghirxi’s apartment on Triq Maestro Giuseppe Busuttil or how long he was there before the stabbing took place, he left late on Sunday night for the Hilton Hotel in St Julian’s.

The victim, Nicolette Ghirxi. She suffered several knife wounds.

‘Get me a beer or I’ll shoot you’

Sources close to the investigation say that he entered the resort at around 11.30pm and asked for a drink at the hotel’s Vista Lobby Lounge, which overlooks the sea. 

The bartender told Johnston the bar was closed but that they would check with colleagues, before briefly leaving the bar to speak with staff.

When the bartender returned, Johnston pulled out the gun which later turned out to be a replica, telling the bartender: “Get me a beer or I’ll shoot you.”

Johnston left the hotel shortly afterwards – possibly by jumping down to the ground from a nearby roof – and police were called.

The details of Johnston’s exact movements and interactions with hotel employees are still being investigated by police, and hotel staff declined to comment when Times of Malta visited the premises on Tuesday.

Johnston jumped into the sea

On Monday police commissioner Angelo Gafa said officers first found Johnston on the rocks behind the hotel and when they approached him he jumped into the sea and at one point, directed the gun at his head.

At that point the police did not know the gun was a replica, and three hours of negotiations during which a medical team and a professional police negotiator were roped in on site were not enough to persuade him to put down his gun and surrender to the police.

Johnston died at Mater Dei Hospital, shortly after the shooting.

One source speculated that in that moment, Johnston may have wanted to die in the hands of the police in what is known in the forensic world as ‘suicide by cop’.

“When he said those words and pointed the gun at the police he knew he was provoking them to shoot him, because that is what police do when faced with a threat like that, all the while knowing he had nothing to fire back with,” the source said. The law says a police officer can fire their gun only as a last resort and in “exceptional circumstances”, and when it is “inevitable to preserve the life of a police officer or others, or to avert an imminent danger of widespread violence.”

The area where Edward Johnston was shot dead by police.

Internal police guidelines also say officers can only fire their gun when they have a “reasonable belief” that their target “poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.” 

Stand-offs in Glasgow and Liverpool

It is believed this was not Johnston’s first stand-off with police.

The victim’s family told Times of Malta that he had boasted to her about being involved in a previous bomb threat in Glasgow.

The man in the Glasgow incident, also called Edward Johnston and of the same age, was jailed over a restaurant bomb threat in 2012 and was almost shot by police in Liverpool a week earlier after pointing a replica gun at them. In both cases he challenged police to shoot him.

Times of Malta understands the Maltese authorities are still trying to confirm at this stage if the man they shot while he pointed a fake weapon at them is the same person.

Johnston had been harassing his ex-partner for months after their almost two-year relationship broke down.

She first reported him to police in April but told officers she did not believe her life was at risk.

Over the next months she made further reports, including of fake profiles he was suspected of setting up to make slanderous allegations about her sex life.