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00:28You
00:34Australia's most wanted criminal, the notorious postcard bandits, Brendan Abbott.
00:40We don't want anyone dead today, do we?
00:42His robberies have the mark of genius.
00:44We've got a Ned Kelly running around.
00:46Taunting police with postcards and holiday snaps.
00:49Everybody likes to see the coppers outfoxed.
00:52Most crooks you deal with, they're as dumb as a box of hammers.
00:56Brendan was not stupid.
00:58Brendan was a larrikin.
01:00He was a cheeky bugger.
01:01A master of disguise.
01:03Abbott made a daring escape from a Perth jail.
01:07That was a pretty smart escape.
01:09That's genius.
01:11The hunt is continuing for two extremely dangerous prisoners.
01:15Hitting banks in Perth, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.
01:20I first met my dad when he was on the run.
01:23Police were watching the house.
01:24He'd take the risk of coming around.
01:25I've got some balls to be doing that.
01:28If the police see him, they're going to shoot him.
01:30And that was my greatest fear.
01:33One of Australia's most wanted men has been arrested on the Gold Coast.
01:38The man no jail has been able to hold, finally, back in custody.
01:43Abbott is being held in strict security.
01:45In solitary confinement.
01:49Brendan Abbott has done more solitary confinement than any prisoner in Australia ever.
01:53The nation's longest serving prisoner who hasn't committed murder.
01:5928 years is shit.
02:00I'm sick of playing these games.
02:02Five hour flight for a three minute visit.
02:04But at the same time, it's all I've known.
02:08Australia's most notorious bank robber and prison escapee has begun a last ditch bid for freedom.
02:14Do you think it's fair that he's spent more than some murderers?
02:17It's been way too long.
02:18He knew what he was getting involved in.
02:20You do the crime, you serve the time.
02:25I think it's being acceptable.
02:26I'll bring it home.
02:26Come on.
03:04Australia's most notorious prison escapee is plotting a fresh bid for freedom, this
03:09time within the law.
03:10In a legal challenge, the now 63-year-old is seeking to have his sentence deemed unlawful.
03:20My name's James Abbott, son of Brendan Abbott, postcard band as everyone refers to.
03:31Dad's over in Kazarina Prison in Western Australia now, couldn't be any further away from Sydney
03:36if he tried.
03:37I try to get over there twice a year.
03:41He's been in jail for way too long.
03:4427, 28 years now, straight.
03:48I've never known him out of prison basically.
03:55Dad's calling now.
03:57If you don't receive a full call from a prisoner out of Kazarina prison, your conversation
04:02will be recorded.
04:03If you do not wish to receive this call, please hang out now.
04:09Go ahead please.
04:10Hey.
04:11Hey James.
04:12How are you doing all?
04:13Good.
04:13What's happening?
04:14Never much.
04:15I just reckon it's confirmed that you came up.
04:18It's only up for what?
04:20Is it?
04:21Is that today?
04:22Yeah.
04:27I'm pulling up shortly actually.
04:30My brother Brendan has well and truly served his time.
04:34Brendan needs to get out of jail and he needs to spend time with his own son.
04:39I kind of do beat myself up a bit now, thinking like, how many years I wasted not going to
04:44visit Dad.
04:46James is desperate to have some sort of a connection with his dad.
04:50The authorities need to let it go.
04:53It's been cruel, it's been inhumane and it's been unnecessary.
05:00Dad's got a court case coming up and they've somehow managed to change his earliest parole
05:05date now from 2026 to 2028 or 2029.
05:08I don't see how they're allowed to just change someone's earliest parole date and add an extra
05:13three years to it.
05:18These lawyers, they're working on to say that he's been unlawfully detained.
05:24What we're hoping for is that he's to be basically released immediately.
05:39Brendan had been involved in, I guess you could call it a black market ring, stealing electrical
05:47items.
05:48So we'd steal from warehouses, load up the trucks.
05:53And there's a lot of people who are happy to buy cheap goods.
05:58Price rises will be hefty.
05:59Electrical items and white goods are all set to rise.
06:04Back in June 1986, I was a brand new probationary detective.
06:10I think it was my second day.
06:12And a series of raids have been planned with the Broken Ender Squad, targeting some individuals
06:19who were doing high-end burglary.
06:21The cooks were smashing open walls, getting inside and taking significant amounts of high-end
06:28electrical stuff.
06:33So the warrants were executed on this morning, and a number of people were brought back to
06:38Nolamara detective's office, which was an old house converted into an office.
06:48I saw Brendan Abbott when he came in.
06:51He just looked like a normal run-of-the-mill person, nothing odd about him or anything like
06:58that.
06:59A young detective, John, was watching him.
07:02My job that morning was to look after Abbott while we interviewed the others.
07:10Abbott's in a back room, which was effectively a storeroom.
07:13There were no cells in this place.
07:16He said, mate, would you like a cup of tea or a coffee while you're waiting?
07:21And he said, yeah, I'd love one.
07:26Walked down the corridor into the kitchen.
07:36And as I'm making this cup of tea, there's this tremendous bang.
07:41Brendan's out the back door, and he was pretty quick.
07:45He was gone within a matter of seconds.
07:58Over fences, and just disappeared into the back blocks of Nolamara.
08:03So we did a search around the area, and no sign of Brendan.
08:09Effectively, that was his first escape.
08:11It wasn't a good start for a brand-new proboscopy detective, and it caused me a fair bit of grief.
08:16from the more senior people there.
08:19We all felt a bit sorry for John.
08:21He was only a very junior, young detective.
08:26Yeah.
08:28Abbott was then on the run, and that's when he started planning the Belmont job.
08:34Get on the ground!
08:36Brendan Abbott was obviously looking at what his career was going to be,
08:40and he decided he was going to be a career criminal.
08:42Could have been anything.
08:43I actually quite liked him.
08:45I probably shouldn't say that.
08:47But he was a likable sort of character, and very intelligent.
08:51Like any intelligent, you know, knockabout bloke,
08:54he decided that crime was going to be the best way forward.
08:59And the rewards were great.
09:10The Commonwealth Bank, Belmont.
09:128.45 Friday morning.
09:14Two men brandishing guns.
09:15They escaped with more than $100,000.
09:19These dramatic photos come from the bank's security camera
09:23as the robbers fled the scene.
09:25In WA, we were just beginning to experience growth in armed hold-ups.
09:32You could have two or three a week.
09:35Petrified bank employees were held at gunpoint by the men,
09:39one wielding a handgun, the other a shotgun.
09:42Yeah, I remember the Belmont robbery particularly
09:45because it happened to be my birthday that day.
09:49We got a call out to go out there.
09:52Yep, we soon discovered.
09:55Staff were pretty traumatised by the way it occurred.
10:03The Belmont robbery was the one that really brought him
10:07to everybody's notice.
10:10Brendan Abbott opened a new era to us as investigators
10:13of what crooks, bank robbers, were going to do.
10:17This was a real smart, well-planned thing
10:20where they got into the roof and they hid there in the roof.
10:26Until they realised, or until they could see
10:29that the bank manager had opened the vault.
10:35Once it was opened, then they dropped down through the roof.
10:39On the ground!
10:40It gave them an element of surprise.
10:43Everyone on the ground!
10:44The staff wouldn't have been suspecting anything
10:47till they came down through the roof.
10:49Stay there!
10:51Stay there!
10:59I don't want any heroes pushing any buttons!
11:02It's turned out they had planned it quite well.
11:06We don't want anyone dead today, do we?
11:10Up! Up!
11:12It's me.
11:14They were going to get far more money
11:16if they could get into a bank and into the vault
11:19before the bank had opened,
11:21than if they walked in the front door
11:22and did the usual style of stick-up that you would normally do.
11:26Stay on the fucking ground!
11:28Do your move!
11:29Hurry up!
11:30The big night!
11:31Stay down!
11:32That's it, that's it.
11:33Coming through the ceiling was something new.
11:36Stay down!
11:37Stay down!
11:38Let's go! Come on!
11:39Come on!
11:39I hadn't come across that before
11:41and I don't think too many of my colleagues had at the time either.
11:49Come on, Dan!
11:51Come on, Dan!
11:53Most crooks you deal with, especially in that era,
11:58they were as dumb as a box of hammers.
12:02Brendan was not stupid.
12:17That was a fucking disaster.
12:20Hey, what happened?
12:22We'll get here.
12:23We'll get here half an hour early.
12:25The visit starts at 1.45.
12:27They delayed us,
12:28didn't get us out of here until up there until about 2 o'clock.
12:31Then they call us up there,
12:32then I go sit in the waiting booth waiting to see Dad.
12:35I sat there for probably 20-odd minutes waiting
12:37and I end up walking back out of the door saying,
12:40like, what's going on?
12:42And the guard asks me, he goes, are you ready to leave?
12:44I said, he hasn't even fucking walked out yet.
12:46So I don't know what the deal is.
12:47So, sitting there waiting, waiting, waiting,
12:49and then by the time he comes in, Dad comes in,
12:52he's losing his fucking mind.
12:53He's like,
12:54I've been sitting in that waiting room for you to come.
12:56He's been sitting there waiting for me to come
12:58the last 15 to 20 minutes,
13:00but I've been sitting there waiting for him too.
13:01They haven't communicated.
13:02So, by the time Dad's coming for the visit,
13:04I've got maybe 15, 20 minutes out of the whole hour.
13:09So I fly all the way from Sydney for a five-hour flight
13:12for a fucking 15 or 20-minute visit.
13:13They do this all the fucking time.
13:16I don't understand what happens.
13:19So Dad's in a bad mood
13:22because he's sick of this stuff happening all the time.
13:25Yeah, you know what they could have done?
13:26What?
13:26They come and grab me before they cleared the fucking floor.
13:29Contact visits.
13:30Yeah.
13:31No, they fucked me around the whole time.
13:34They've delayed us twice already,
13:36then moved us to non-contact,
13:38and then put us in a room where they know the speaker doesn't work.
13:40Like I said, most of them couldn't run at temperature.
13:45It's quite easy to think, you know,
13:46these people are playing loan games
13:48when they say you're paranoid.
13:49But they do.
13:50Whether or not that was the case today, who knows, you know?
13:53Visits are getting cancelled left, right and so on.
13:55So it's like even for me now to book a visitor to go see him in Perth,
13:59I'm sitting there just thinking, am I wasting money?
14:00It gives you anxiety about driving there.
14:02All right. All right, no worries.
14:03I'll chat to you soon.
14:04It's good to see you, and I'll see you again soon.
14:06No worries, mate. I'll chat to you soon.
14:08Yeah, bye-bye.
14:11Do any crimes you get...
14:12Obviously, you're jail time for doing the wrong thing,
14:14but it's been way too long.
14:16It's enough now.
14:19For you to be released out of prison,
14:21they have to say that, you know,
14:23you're no longer a threat to society.
14:25You know, recently I've seen, like,
14:26some murderer got out and killed all these people.
14:29You see there's other people getting released
14:30for, like, other stuff they've done.
14:33And they get less time than what Dad has.
14:35I don't understand how it works.
14:37No idea.
14:47The Belmont robbery, that woke everybody up.
14:50To come through the ceiling...
14:52On the ground!
14:53...and get away in such a brazen hold-up...
14:57...we have a problem here.
15:02The hunt began.
15:05Police immediately launched a massive hunt
15:08for the robbers and their getaway car,
15:10a white Cordia Mitsubishi.
15:12This helicopter was also called in
15:14for a wide aerial search of the metropolitan area.
15:18Catch me if you can.
15:23Brendan Abbott had some type of relationship with Jackie Lord at the time.
15:29I was 15 when I first met Brendan,
15:31and I remember meeting him at a swimming pool.
15:36He seemed almost shy, but he was also mysterious.
15:42But I was quite normal when I met Brendan.
15:44It wasn't like I was anything bad.
15:46I was working.
15:47I had, in fact, two jobs.
15:49I wasn't a thief as such, but I started to shoplift.
15:54I suppose it might have even been in competition with what Brendan was doing.
15:59We were soulmates, but I had to make some choices.
16:04Otherwise I would have gone the wrong way as well.
16:07So I decided that I'd have to cut it from there.
16:12They did have an off-and-on and up-and-down relationship for many years.
16:18After the Belmont robbery...
16:20Jackie found out that Brendan had been seeing somebody else.
16:24She then contacted the police and said where they would be able to find Brendan.
16:28It was her tip-off that let the authorities know that Brendan Abbott was a part of that robbery.
16:35And she did receive reward money.
16:37I was furious. How dare you do that to my brother?
16:40I was pretty annoyed with her for doing that.
16:43I mean, I know that he did the wrong thing,
16:45but it was all over jealousy as far as I was aware.
16:49So he had seen another woman or something and Jackie had got jealous about that.
16:54And so she reported where Brendan was to the police.
16:57Jackie Lord pointed us towards Abbott.
17:01He was in Port Hedland at the walkabout hotel.
17:06We let the local detectives know.
17:09They went out there, but he was gone.
17:13His vehicle was seen pulling into the Port Hedland airport.
17:18We knew Brendan Abbott was fairly cunning.
17:21We thought, well, maybe he is coming back to Perth.
17:32We got to the airport.
17:34We made contact with the ANSET security officer out there.
17:38We told him what was going on and that we wanted to see if Abbott was on this plane.
17:46This is just a little mud map.
17:48That's ANSET flight 347.
17:52All the passengers got off.
17:54He was the last one off.
17:57And immediately I recognised it was Brendan Abbott.
18:01And he was looking around.
18:04He was well aware of his surroundings.
18:08He made his way down following the other passengers.
18:12But he kept on putting his hand inside his jacket.
18:16Which made me think he probably was armed.
18:20And he was starting to walk faster.
18:23So I had to walk a lot faster.
18:25And I was able to catch up with him.
18:27Some people started yelling,
18:30Hey, he's got a gun.
18:32And then I knew that straight away it had to make a move.
18:45We jumped on him.
18:46We had to use a bit of force.
18:50Oh yeah, we weren't messing around at all.
18:53We had to do what we had to do very quickly.
18:56In typical Brendan Abbott style.
18:59And when he did see his face.
19:02He saw this graze on his eye.
19:05And he made a comment.
19:06He said this is going to look good in court tomorrow,
19:08isn't it boys?
19:10Abbott with a huge bruise on his face.
19:13Members of his family weeping.
19:14I was very distressed about the mark on his face.
19:19Because it was very clear that they've shoved his face into the ground.
19:25I was angry with the police and how they did things.
19:30And he said, Diane, they're just doing their job.
19:32You know, they've got a job.
19:33And their job is to catch a thief.
19:35And I'm the thief.
19:36Brendan James Abbott, 25 of no fixed address,
19:39faced a variety of serious charges in the East Perth court today.
19:43Abbott was jailed for 10 years with no minimum term.
19:46As Abbott left the court, he turned to Mr Justice Smith and said,
19:49Thank you. You're a real gentleman.
19:52I wasn't surprised by the sentence,
19:54because I think bank robbery is up there with murder in sentence time.
20:13I think when somebody goes to jail,
20:16there's always that concern that they could be beaten up, raped, murdered.
20:28Fremantle prison is a very old prison and very archaic.
20:34So when he went to jail, it's natural, I think, for any family member to be concerned about where do
20:44we go from here.
20:45You know?
20:58Australia's most notorious bank robber and prison escapee has begun a last ditch bid for freedom.
21:04The so-called postcard bandit, Brendan Abbott, has spent three decades in jail,
21:08the nation's longest-serving prisoner who hasn't committed murder.
21:13His lawyer, Matthew Crowley, claims he was essentially no longer liable to serve any more time.
21:22First thing I'll do with Dad is probably go out and have dinner.
21:25I probably won't want to sleep. I just want to stay up and keep talking.
21:30I hope he gets out, like, really, really soon.
21:37Yeah, and I'm getting older as well, too, so, you know,
21:40it'd be good to have him around a little bit.
21:43Can you see me?
21:44Yeah, I can see you.
21:45I've never got to speak to Dad or see Dad
21:49without someone else listening or someone else being present.
21:52Like, it's always monitored, like, all the time.
21:55My camera's off, that's why.
21:58Hey, at least you've got a good set-up.
22:00Mom's doing what I used to do some jumps.
22:01Oh, yeah? Tell me about them. Let's go.
22:05I got two, mate, which had a Vox system on it, you know?
22:08Yeah, yeah.
22:08You know what Vox system is? Yeah.
22:10Yeah, it's just come in handy, so when I'm doing some stuff,
22:12I can still communicate to you what's going on outside, you know?
22:15I like my toys. I like my toys.
22:18Anyway, but, you know, there's a lot better shit about it, eh?
22:24What's your feeling with the court case, though?
22:25You feel like it's going to... What do you think?
22:28What are you leaning towards?
22:29Technically, my time expired in 2004.
22:32Mm-hm.
22:33And therefore, since I've been brought back in 2016,
22:36I've been unlawfully in prison.
22:39As it stands, I think, if I don't get on this court case
22:42and they don't give me parole,
22:44I mean, it could come close to, you know, some years imprisonment.
22:48What, if I roll in a shit fucking bank
22:49and escape a couple of times?
22:51You know what I mean?
22:51Any multiple fucking murder don't get that.
22:54Don't get after that.
22:55It doesn't make any fucking sense.
22:57Sometimes, like, if he makes a remark or says a certain thing,
23:00I'll just shut the call down.
23:03I've never known him to be out, so it's normal to me.
23:05So when he gets out, that's going to be really strange.
23:12When I go and visit Dad, it's like hanging out with a friend.
23:15Just chilling out, have a conversation, just have a bit of a laugh.
23:20The more I've gotten to get to know him now and talk to him,
23:23we can have mature conversations now.
23:26I realise how similar we are.
23:29It's kind of scary, though, considering he's never been around,
23:31how much me and him are very alike.
23:43G'day, g'day, g'day.
23:44How are you feeling about getting this tattoo?
23:47Oh, yeah, I can't wait to show Dad later.
23:49I think the postcard outline's going to be the...
23:51The poster stamp's going to be the funny thing for him.
23:55A little bank robber with a money bag
23:56and put a pair of aviator sunglasses on as well
23:59just to give it the look of Dad.
24:01And then look at the postcard stamp outline around it.
24:04What do you think he's going to think when he sees that?
24:06I used to think I'm a fucking idiot, but...
24:08That's what it's about.
24:10He'll love it.
24:12As Mum always says to me, she goes,
24:14even though Dad hasn't been around,
24:14she goes, you and him are exactly the same as each other.
24:16Yeah, they walk the same too.
24:18Walk the same smart-ass attitude.
24:20What do you think they walk the same?
24:21They walk like on their tippy toes.
24:24Expose me.
24:25I feel like you're going to do a lot of cooking as well.
24:28Dad likes to cook, so do I,
24:30so I think it might be something we'll do together as well.
24:36What else does he like to do?
24:38Rob Banks?
24:45I'm just Dad calling now, actually.
24:50You are about to receive phone call from a prisoner at the Casuarina prison.
24:54Your conversation will be recorded.
24:56If you do not wish to receive this call, please hang up now.
25:02Go ahead, please.
25:03Hey, mate.
25:04Hey, how you doing?
25:05Good, what's happening?
25:06Fine, am I...
25:06Any updates on the lawyers or anything for this court thing?
25:10No, no.
25:11I told them I would ring them Thursday.
25:13Yeah.
25:14Last week.
25:15I spoke to them last week.
25:16They seem still full slim ahead.
25:18As I said to you the other day, you know,
25:22don't expect to get a decision on the day.
25:24Yep.
25:24As you know over the time, you know,
25:26they just wanted to pay me up as public enemy number one.
25:30You know what I mean?
25:31There's some people in jail.
25:34Yeah, that's it.
25:35I don't understand it.
25:36All good.
25:37All right, I'll chat to you in a couple of hours.
25:39Yeah, I'll see you.
25:39I'll talk to you before, yeah?
25:41No worries.
25:41I'll speak to them.
25:42See you, mate.
25:42Bye-bye.
25:43Ten minute calls whenever he rings,
25:45before you know it, the call's over.
25:47So...
25:48Brendan Abbott's problem is that the offences he committed,
25:52regardless of the fact he didn't shoot anybody,
25:54they were very violent offences.
25:56It's the top of the scale.
26:08My first memories of Brendan Abbott was I, at that time,
26:12I was on the armed robbery squad.
26:13He'd escaped from a suburban police station.
26:17And he was suspected of doing a number of armed robberies,
26:20particularly one in Belmont,
26:21where he came in through the roof.
26:24On the ground!
26:25I think he was charged at that stage
26:26with the robbery at Belmont.
26:28And to walk into a bank
26:29and shove a loaded shotgun into somebody's face,
26:33and say, give me your money or you're gonna die,
26:35he was gonna be in jail for a long, long time.
26:42Anyone who's been to Fremantle Prison,
26:44now when you go and see it as a historical thing,
26:48the conditions in there were terrible.
26:50Absolutely terrible.
26:51Locked up like that.
26:53I was going back in time for like 200 years.
26:56The place was condemned way back in the 60s and 70s.
27:01I mean, if they're not in water yourselves, they're no toilets.
27:06You have to carry bottles of water up, you know?
27:09You know, you're made to shit in the tent.
27:15But let's not be too soft.
27:16There's some pretty terrible criminals in there.
27:19People have murdered and raped and done some terrible things.
27:22So do we have any sympathy? No.
27:25But the reality is that you put people in those conditions,
27:30you're going to have to deal with things like riots and scapes.
27:37The full-scale riot has broken out tonight at Fremantle Jail
27:41and the century-old prison is on fire.
27:44There are reports that the rioters have taken some hostages.
27:49Two of the prison guards had had an altercation with one of the prisoners.
27:53The allegation was that they'd bashed this particular prisoner
27:57and that went round the prison like wildfire.
28:01There was a whole group of prisoners that resisted
28:04and then attacked the prison guards.
28:07135 inmates took control of a cell block
28:09and held five prison officers hostage.
28:12Locals and a former inmate
28:13blame inhumane conditions in the jail
28:16and today's heat for the riot.
28:25You know, any opportunity to get rid of those conditions
28:30either by burning it down, they're going to take.
28:40When the prison riot occurred,
28:43I was one of the senior negotiators in the police department at that time.
28:52When I first got here, this place was all on fire.
28:55We couldn't come out through there.
28:58We walked around onto the hill and looked down into the yard.
29:04It was just absolute pandemonium.
29:06There were five warders that had been taken hostages.
29:10One of them was fairly badly injured.
29:13And Abbott was one of the first ones to get up on the roof over here,
29:16the roof of the exercise yard.
29:21Mainly they were acting as lookouts.
29:23He was also one of the ones with the group
29:25that was surrounding the hostages.
29:28And then start to negotiate with him to see what it was they wanted.
29:31The prison superintendent said to me,
29:33don't tell them you're a copper.
29:35And I said, you've got to be fucking joking.
29:38I said, I put half the bastards in here.
29:41We negotiated.
29:42I thought we would exchange cartons of cigarettes.
29:45And then they said they wanted something to eat.
29:47And they brought in these big plastic dustbins full of beans
29:50and a big plastic dustbin full of toast.
29:53So then for about the next 20 minutes,
29:56it was pretty silent in the yard
29:57because they all had their beans on toast.
30:02Brendan was one of the rioters.
30:04He'd argue against that.
30:06But it was well known he was one of them.
30:10And he was quite clearly part of that core group.
30:14He was always looking for an opportunity.
30:17I've no doubt when he was climbing on the roof of the exercise yard,
30:21he was in a position to actually see what the perimeters were around the prison.
30:27Brendan Abbott would have been looking for opportunities to get out.
30:32I think his planning would have started the day
30:34that they locked him up back here after the riot finished.
30:46Well, the aftermath of the riot was all of the main protagonists
30:50were all interviewed by the police.
30:52And it turned into a massive trial.
30:55The trial itself went on for months and months.
30:58I sat around the Supreme Court for weeks waiting to give evidence.
31:01And every morning, Brendan Abbott and all the rest of them would be brought in.
31:08And, of course, the photographic evidence.
31:11And all of the exhibits would be handed to the various prisoners to look at and everything.
31:16They had aerial photographs of the prison
31:18and it was almost like having a Google map.
31:21Through the riot trial, they handed around to the dock,
31:26aerial photographs of the prison.
31:28Now, we weren't sure there was a roof at a certain spot where we had to jump across.
31:34And it wasn't until the committal hearing that we had a look at the aerial photographs
31:38and that showed us there was an actual roof there.
31:40And that's how we knew.
31:43Brendan Abbott was ultimately charged and convicted of those offences.
31:49When Brendan got charged for the riot and they added the sentence on top of what he was already serving,
31:54I was really surprised by that.
31:57He was going to be in jail for a long, long time,
32:00which I think led to his subsequent escape later on down the track,
32:04because it was very meticulous in what he did.
32:07Given Brendan's cognitive ability, you know, he's mentally switched on.
32:12I think if the system had picked that up earlier, they could have changed his direction dramatically.
32:25My first memory growing up...
32:30Brendan was obsessed with knowing how things worked.
32:41Brendan never had any problems with his schooling or anything.
32:45And he was always a smart one.
32:49He'd take things to pieces to see how they worked and put them back together.
32:53I don't know how old he was when I said to him one day,
32:55I said, when you start going out with a female,
32:57I said, are you going to take her to pieces and try and put her back together?
33:00And he said, Mum?
33:02And I said, no.
33:03I said, well...
33:04But there was nothing that he couldn't take apart.
33:08I remember when Brendan was 13, my mum bought us a boom box back then.
33:16And that night...
33:22My mum walked in the bedroom and he had the whole thing pulled apart on the bed.
33:27And put it back together again.
33:29And it worked.
33:30But he enjoyed doing that stuff.
33:33So he's always had a very inquisitive mind when it comes to the operations of things.
33:55It was...
33:58John?
33:59Hey, how are you?
34:00How are you doing?
34:01Good, good.
34:03So what's this guy here you got?
34:05Oh, do you want to see now or do you want to...
34:07I'll give you a quick little look, fuck it, whatever.
34:10It's right on the ankle.
34:10He'll have a bit of a laugh out of this one.
34:14Hold on, I've got to drop the camera down one second.
34:26So Sammy's sister changed it to a bank robber.
34:28She's put the little postcards...
34:30Little postcards stick around the side too.
34:32And then it's got your aviator sunglasses and a little moustache that you had.
34:39Sammy.
34:41What's that look?
34:43What's this coming up on the screen here?
34:45Hello.
34:46Hello.
34:48There we are.
34:50Hello, how are you?
34:52How are you?
34:54You're the one that did the tattoo for me today.
34:57Oh, really?
34:58I had to look at photo references of you to get some inspiration.
35:03Really?
35:06I like your head.
35:08Your head?
35:11Show us the side.
35:12Show us the back.
35:16That's my head.
35:17Yeah, I was just saying that.
35:20Hey.
35:22You're not going to go ball to ball anyway, no?
35:24No, I don't think so.
35:26Oh, they cut it out.
35:28Aw.
35:29Aw, that sucks.
35:30Can I say bye?
35:31Yeah?
35:31No, they cut it out because they came on the camera, I think.
35:33That's probably why.
35:34Aw.
35:34Aw, that sucks.
35:36Yeah?
35:37That's my partner talking to her on the camera, and it's not harming anyone at all.
35:42It makes me angry when stuff like this actually frustrates me, and it plays in my mind for ages.
35:47It just sucks having a family member, someone you care about, and someone else is telling you what you can
35:54and can't do with them.
35:5528 years, it's shit.
35:56I'm sick of playing these games, but at the same time, it's all I've known.
36:01Then I'm just like, you know, it gets a bit frustrating what it is what it is.
36:14In the Fremantle prison, Brendan had got himself working in the prison tailor shop.
36:28He knew a number of things, that there was an area across the roof where he was very vulnerable.
36:33So anything he could do to lessen the reaction from the guards to make them unsure of who they were
36:41dealing with, working in the tailor shop gave them access to making uniforms.
36:45So he obviously came up with the idea, let's make some uniforms that appear like prison guards.
36:51That will give them a moment of hesitation for the guards to get across the roof and get to the
36:56wall.
36:57If they had gone across there in their prison greens, they would have been shot.
37:02The tailor shop normally had a prison guard. He was the tailor.
37:07I had to wait till when there was only one officer working in there.
37:10Normally they'd have two officers working in there.
37:13In the tailor shop, they used to make blue overalls many, many years ago.
37:16And I just put it to him one day about, you know, about showing me how to make the overalls.
37:20Because I used to be able to make every garment in the shop.
37:23And then one day, he said, yeah, right, I'll show you.
37:25He came down and showed me how to make one, and then I just knocked the others up pretty quick.
37:29Just went and showed him.
37:30He said, yeah, well, now you know how to make overalls, get back to the other stuff.
37:34There was three hats.
37:36Well, the badge I got off, I got one out of his office, and only one of them had the
37:40original badge.
37:41The others were copies.
37:42At night, I got some cams and paints from somebody.
37:45It was an artist, and I just copied them.
37:49To make their escape, they had to distract the overseer, the tailor who was in charge of them.
37:55Back in the day, he used to be able to get these good porn magazines in the jail.
37:59And I don't know, his wife must have been pretty strict on him or something, I don't know.
38:03But I'd give him one of those, and he's always looking out for new ones, you know.
38:08And he'd sit in his office, bloody every page, and get knocked by all the fellas up cutting the bars.
38:15Funny thing about it, you know, when that was going on, there was only six people in the shop.
38:20And everyone started working flat out, you know, to overlock us in the sewing machines.
38:24And there was times I used to think that that made it suspicious because everyone's working for some reason.
38:28You're in a room full of sewing machines making a lot of noise.
38:32That covered the sound of cutting through the bars, and so they had free run while that was happening.
38:37And to us with me.
38:56SIREN
38:56Come on. Hurry up.
39:07The guards hesitated, gave enough time to scramble across and over the wall.
39:17And somehow Brendan was able to retain some of his civilian clothes and they aided him
39:23in his ultimate escape.
39:28They left one behind who fell down the gap, but two got away, Abbott and Reynolds, and
39:40headed off to five and a half years of freedom.
39:43That was a pretty smart escape.
39:45It was one of the more, I suppose, celebrated escapes, if you could say that, from Fremantle
39:51Prison.
39:52Abbott and Aaron Raymond Reynolds sneak out of a workshop, climb onto a roof and
39:57leap three metres to freedom.
40:00When Brendan broke out of Fremantle Prison, my first thought was the police will kill him.
40:08If the police see him, they're going to shoot him.
40:10And that was my greatest fear.
40:12My greatest fear was that somebody was going to kill him.
40:14If someone escapes from custody, whether it be a prison or from a police station, there's
40:19a lot of effort put into it to recover that person.
40:22So if someone like Abbott was on the run, then there'd be all stops pulled out to try and
40:28recover him.
40:29Abbott, if he's confronted at a scene of a robbery, then he will shoot it out.
40:34The guns are loaded and he's prepared to use them.
40:37They would say, you know, he's highly dangerous and would shoot if confronted.
40:42So don't confront him.
40:44And that used to really cause me a lot of grief because I actually thought that the
40:48police were just saying that the media, they were telling the media that because that would
40:52justify them shooting him when they caught him.
40:58Eventually, and even if it takes us two months or two years, he'll definitely come unstuck.
41:17Good morning.
41:18How are we?
41:18Good, how are you?
41:19Good, thanks.
41:19Come in.
41:20Yes, come in.
41:28Morning.
41:29Morning.
41:30How are we?
41:32Good, good.
41:32How are you feeling?
41:34Yeah, feeling all right.
41:35A bit nervous.
41:36What time did you guys get in last night?
41:38Pretty late.
41:39I think we flew in.
41:41Flight was delayed.
41:42Flew in about quarter past eleven, twelve o'clock I think it was.
41:44Got to the hotel.
41:46Parked the car.
41:47Came upstairs.
41:48Showered straight to sleep.
41:50Yeah.
41:51Probably had about four hours sleep.
41:53How are you feeling, Sammy?
41:56Excited.
41:57Excited for James.
41:58And excited for him to get out.
42:03I had a call with Dad this morning beforehand, so he was just giving me the slight rundown
42:06of everything that's going on.
42:07So he spoke with the lawyers yesterday.
42:10They said that if they get up on one of the main matters they're going for, that'll be
42:14it.
42:15That'll be the end of it.
42:16Dad'll walk.
42:17If not, then I have to appeal things and go further.
42:19So at the moment it's set for two days.
42:21Potentially could go for three.
42:22Ready?
42:24Yep.
42:25Alright.
42:26Let's go.
42:26Yep.
42:30I'm a bit nervous today.
42:32The anxiety's up there.
42:44He's a cheeky bugger sending postcards to the coppers, dumbing his nose at the police.
42:49But he wasn't.
42:51The postcard bandit was really a myth.
42:54One of Australia's most wanted men has been arrested on the Gold Coast.
42:58He was too hard to hang onto.
43:00It was a daring breakout.
43:01They cut their prison bars with diamond-encrusted angel wires.
43:04To escape from a maximum security prison twice is the stuff that myths are made of.
43:09This latest incident is an embarrassment for the government.
43:12Where is Brendan Abbott?
43:13Police are now planning a national task force to catch him.
43:16You just can't be that lucky for that long.
43:20The man in no jail has been able to hold finally back in custody.
43:24This 37-year-old will be an old man before he ever sets foot back in the community.
43:31Abbott spent the best part of 10 years in solitary confinement.
43:35And now that's a pretty extraordinary thing.
43:3823 hours a day locking yourself.
43:41That would be enough to drive anyone insane.
43:43You've got him in maximum security.
43:45Why are you doing this?
43:46I'm surprised they get away with it.
43:48It is a breach of human rights.
43:49To me that was just gutless to the authorities.
43:57Can you hear me yet?
43:58Yeah, yeah, yeah.
44:00How do you get through that to not be crazy?
44:03You've got to be a law lawyer.
44:03You've just got to keep your mind on it or otherwise you're going to work.
44:08This case is said to be complex.
44:10If successful, the serial fugitive can walk out of prison for the first time in almost 30 years.
44:16I think it's fair that he's spent more than some murderers.
44:19He knew what he was getting involved in.
44:21He'd do the crime to serve the time.
44:23He was getting older.
44:24I don't know how much longer I got with him.
44:27Everybody's just fine for the decision to come back to the judge.
44:56I'm glad he's doing so high.
44:58I'm trying to make it hard for you to get broke before.
44:58Where can I find here?
44:58I'm not.
44:58I'm not.
44:58If you have no criminal��릴게요.
44:58No one won'tACH.
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