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00:15The notorious postcard bandit has launched a bid for freedom, arguing he's served his
00:20time and murderers are getting lighter sentences.
00:23I'm a bit nervous today.
00:25Ready?
00:27Yep.
00:28Alright.
00:28Let's go.
00:29Yep.
00:30Now the postcard bandit wants to be free, launching an appeal against his extraordinary 47-year
00:37prison term.
00:39The anxiety's up there.
01:07I was a young police reporter trying to find my next big story.
01:14And I stumbled across the story of Brendan Abbott.
01:17It's just like talking to another copper when you interview him.
01:20The first big feature I did on Brendan Abbott, and in colour it's even more striking, yeah.
01:27In 1989 he was doing 16 years at Fremantle Prison for the Belmont robbery.
01:33We don't want anyone dead today, do we?
01:35Get on the ground!
01:37And the Fremantle prison riot.
01:39135 inmates held five prison officers hostage.
01:43He had a lot of years ahead of him and he decided that he really didn't want to do that.
01:48So he managed to get over the wall of that prison and get out.
01:51Brendan would have thought that was his right and his duty to escape.
01:57After the escape, Abbott and Reynolds fled WA.
02:04We believed that Abbott had gone over east, crossed the border, and quite often it ceases then
02:11to be our problem, and that's how we treat it.
02:20I first became aware of Brendan Abbott after he escaped, when I was attached to what was
02:28known then as the Special Crime Squad in the South Australian Police.
02:33To catch a crook, you need to think like a crook.
02:36And that often gives you a bit of an avenue to follow up as far as an investigation is concerned.
02:45We knew he was very transient and probably flying, possibly using trains or whatever.
02:52In those five, half, six years I was on a run, basically I was just on a holiday.
02:57Tonight I'll be in a nice four, five-star hotel and the following week I'm laying in the swag
03:02in the middle of the outback.
03:03Yeah, up in Cape York fishing one week and then I'm down in Threadboe skiing the next.
03:08I went to Thailand for a holiday because I needed a bit of R&R, the stress was killing me,
03:12you know.
03:13I was using a false passport.
03:15When I say false passport, it was actually someone legit and I just took up their identity
03:20to obtain the passport.
03:21I probably should have gone to Europe because I should have gone and not come back.
03:26With Brendan living the high life while he was on the run, it certainly became frustrating.
03:31He was enjoying being on the run and keeping one over the coppers.
03:35He was a cheeky fucker.
03:58The security camera at Westpac snapped this shot during an armed hold-up on Friday.
04:03Brendan Abbott is thought to have committed at least 37 robbers.
04:06in five states.
04:07While he's been credited with some that he may not have done, I think there's definitely
04:11others out there that he hasn't been credited with.
04:13Abbott had gone to ground.
04:15The only time they had any idea where he was was when a major bank robbery would be committed
04:20and even then they couldn't be sure it was him because obviously there'd be disguises involved.
04:25Police believe that reports on radio and television may be inspiring copycats.
04:30The police in South Australia at best theorise but at that stage I don't know that I had
04:37really particularly any information on where he was operating.
04:40During that time there were robberies being attributed in South Australia and Queensland
04:46and possibly New South Wales where the same method of operation was being used, the same MO.
04:53His MO they believed involved dropping from the ceiling of banks, not in every case, but
05:00that became a strong element of his MO, the drop-in bandit.
05:03It was a brazen hold-up in the heart of retail Adelaide.
05:08It seemed to us that he was zipping down to South Australia to get away, you know, do
05:12the jobs there and then go somewhere else where it was quiet, try and keep us on our toes.
05:18It didn't surprise me that Abbott kept on doing bank hold-ups.
05:22He probably thought, well people don't know me in South Australia, it's easy to fly in, fly out.
05:28I think they were slowly starting to put a picture together that Brendan Abbott was behind
05:34and that he was commuting between the states.
05:38The way I thought about it was that Brendan Abbott needs to be brought to justice.
05:47Brendan James Abbott.
05:48The notorious postcard bandit.
05:50Postcard bandit.
05:51Postcard bandit, Brendan Abbott.
05:53It's the stuff that myths are made of.
05:55It's funny with Australians, they love the larrikin.
05:57The latter day bush ranger.
05:59Who makes Ned Kelly look like a petty thief.
06:02He's begun to earn folk hero status.
06:04We don't like banks.
06:06Banks are ripping everybody off.
06:07Now we've got someone who's taking their money away from them, being a Robin Hood in some
06:12people's minds and getting away with it and cheekily sending postcards to the copper say,
06:18catch me if you can.
06:20Holiday snapped mail to police.
06:22Often sending them postcards.
06:24With photos taken during his life on the run.
06:27It was absolutely irresistible for the media.
06:30How could you not run with the story?
06:31The bank robber taunting police while he's on the run.
06:35It was a fantastic yarn for the media.
06:37It was irresistible.
06:39Cool, cunning and a likeable bloke.
06:41Brendan Abbott was suddenly a larrikin.
06:43He was a cheeky bugger sending postcards to the coppers and getting away with it.
06:48He's laughing at you, isn't he?
06:50I would think so.
06:51He was taunting the police with these little postcards all around the country.
06:57But he wasn't.
06:59The postcard bandit was really a myth.
07:03And resulted from some rolls of film found in the back of a car that Abbott and Reynolds
07:09had used to escape from police.
07:17They were being pursued by a 79 division car and shots were fired at the coppers involved.
07:24Was it a shotgun or a pistol?
07:27He said something heavy like a shotgun or something similar.
07:31A total of about four shots fired.
07:33We have abandoned the vehicle.
07:35We're just going to see you at the moment until we get some help.
07:38Standby.
07:39Yeah, check the vehicle for firearms.
07:44That chase is where the postcard bandit myth comes from.
07:48The media have always said that those photographs were sent to us.
07:51They weren't.
07:51They were located in a stolen vehicle.
07:54So there was no indication they were meant for us.
07:58The police had found one of those disposable cameras in the back of the car
08:03and later went on to develop the film.
08:06And there was Reynolds standing outside the dwelling up police station.
08:12That famous photo.
08:15It wasn't Abbott.
08:16It was Reynolds taken by Abbott.
08:18The media took it that this was a postcard and let's run with it.
08:24And Abbott was always in the public eye while he was on the run because of the so-called postcard.
08:44It was good for the media.
08:46They were getting the headline and we were getting the information back.
09:08The public have a view of Brendan Abbott as this rollicking larrikin bank robber who kept the coppers at bay.
09:17He was always one step ahead.
09:19The reality is he's a criminal that ran riot for a total of about seven years and then spent most
09:28of his life in jail.
09:35When I was younger there'd be police parked in the streets obviously watching the house.
09:40He'd take the risk of coming around.
09:42He'd just come through the back of the house and he'd come through the back of another property or stuff.
09:46He'd come to the house and obviously just kind of keep it quiet because obviously they'd be listening.
09:51It's a risky thing on his behalf.
09:52It's like knowing the police that are watching too.
09:53So he's got some balls to be doing that because I sure as hell wouldn't be doing it no way.
09:59I remember it was one year for Christmas we got this box delivered to the house.
10:04It had the Nintendo 64 on it, all the controllers and pretty much every single game you could buy.
10:09So this is the original Nintendo that dad had bought me all those years ago so I still have it.
10:14I still play it from time to time.
10:16I've had it all modified inside so it's got all HDMI connections and stuff now so it doesn't hurt the
10:21eyes when I play it on the TV.
10:23At least when he does get out I can say well here you can enjoy the console that you bought
10:27me all those years ago.
10:28I just kept it for you, keep it warm.
10:32Obviously I had my mum, she looked after us and like she did good for us all the time.
10:37Make sure we're always fed, had a roof over our head, all that kind of stuff too.
10:39So she's raised as well, whereas dad didn't have his dad around.
10:45How a person was raised, like their childhood upbringing obviously has a lot to do with how they are as
10:49an adult.
10:50Dad didn't have it good from the start.
11:04I just thought we were a normal family.
11:07Yeah, mum, dad, five kids.
11:12His father Brian had no trouble putting food on the table.
11:17He and Thelma had married young.
11:21And that was more to do with the fact that she had fallen pregnant with my older sister.
11:27And so it was essentially a shotgun wedding.
11:30She had to get married and I don't think my father really appreciated having to be forced into a marriage
11:37that he didn't really want.
11:39As far as the kids were concerned, they had a pretty happy life.
11:46I interviewed Thelma on several occasions and she told me about her relationship with Brian being troubled.
11:58Brian walked out on Thelma one day and she was left as a single mum with five children.
12:07My dad handed me some chewies and told me that he was leaving.
12:16That was the last time he spoke to me and walked out the door.
12:22When my parents separated, there was no such thing as a pension.
12:27And so my mum had to rely on food donations.
12:33Suddenly, there wasn't necessarily food on the table every night.
12:37And life for those kids was pretty tough.
12:41They left Melbourne.
12:45They ended up in Tom Price, a mining town in Western Australia.
13:00Brendan was starting to get into a bit of trouble at school.
13:06I think after my dad left and Brendan's behaviour changed that my mum took that as her fault.
13:13You know, that's because I'm not a good enough parent, you know, and society says that.
13:17You know, a single mother can't raise children.
13:24The big turning point in his life was when he was made a ward of the state because he had
13:32hit a girl with a bike pump.
13:35Now, Brendan was always of the understanding that the girl was the judge's daughter and that's why he got sent
13:41to a boy's home.
13:43But that wasn't actually the reason.
13:47At the time, my mum was really struggling with Brendan's behaviour.
13:52She had actually asked the judge for him to go into a home because she wasn't coping.
13:59Before Brendan went into a home, he wasn't a thief.
14:02He didn't steal from anybody.
14:04But when he went into Hilston, he was around so many children who were actually committing crimes.
14:10And I think he learnt from that.
14:13Remember when I first got there, the group workers there, they actually forced me undressed and threw me into the
14:18shower.
14:19It was like a prison. You had your own cell.
14:21Some kids there, they were, you know, pretty fucking unstable.
14:26And I was made a ward of the state until I was 16.
14:30They were sort of like the talk at a place, you know, about crime, what they did.
14:34I think that that changed the direction of his life.
14:39How he learnt crime was while he was in a boy's home.
14:48Brendan Abbott is seeking to have his sentence deemed unlawful.
14:53If successful, it'd mean the serial fugitive can walk out of prison free for the first time in almost 30
15:00years.
15:01He's not proud of the stuff that he's done.
15:02It's like he's older now, he doesn't really, like, he's not going to do something like that ever again.
15:07Like, the things that the lawyers have said and the things Dad said.
15:09Like, it was looking like it was going to get released, like, really, really soon.
15:12It never goes in his favour.
15:14He doesn't know what's going to happen.
15:15I can only imagine how he's feeling.
15:16No, nothing really else.
15:17The decision's been held off, so they've adjourned it till August 11th, was it?
15:20Yep.
15:21So, um, we're just going to wait back to see not really the outcome we wanted today.
15:24Hope to have it all sorted, but hopefully it all gets done and dusted real soon.
15:28Once it goes to the court, they just delay, delay, delay.
15:30And now we're waiting on a decision from the judge that she's reserved,
15:33and that could take any time as long as she wants.
15:35Is it a bit disappointing? You've waited such a long time already.
15:39It's disappointing, but it's to be expected.
15:41We didn't come here expecting the best of everything,
15:43so I always expect the worst, hope for the best.
15:45Are you still very hopeful given, you know, everything we heard today?
15:48Of course, always hopeful, of course, yeah.
15:49Just wait and see what happens, really, yeah.
15:51I just try and stay in high spirits, so, yeah, that's it.
15:55That's all I've got. Thanks, guys.
15:56Thank you. Have a good day.
16:00It's frustrating nothing got answered today.
16:03Obviously, the judge, she's not picking up what he's putting down exactly,
16:06so she's reserved the decision on what she's going to do today.
16:11I feel really anxious that they're not going to release him.
16:13He's going to sit there for another five or six years, maybe longer, you know.
16:17I don't want that, you know, for him, and, like, I just want him out.
16:21Like, it feels like it's so close to him being released,
16:23but they're just, like, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing.
16:27So, at the moment, I'm still waiting.
16:28We don't know, like, what's going to happen.
16:35So, they've adjourned it now until the 11th of August.
16:38The lawyer's not called you yet.
16:40Ah, they said they were going to speak with you anyway
16:42and just give you a bit of a debrief of what happened.
16:45All right, I'll reassure you, then.
16:48Been in a courtroom? It's depressing.
16:50Yeah. It is.
16:51It just feels incredibly unfair
16:53that he should not be given the earliest opportunity
16:58to come out and spend some time with his family, with his son.
17:02That's when I wanted to stand up and be like,
17:03well, you guys didn't want him here,
17:05and now you're fighting to keep him in longer.
17:06Like, do you fucking want him or don't you want him?
17:08Like, cos I want him.
17:22Abbott and Aaron Raymond Reynolds sneak out of a workshop,
17:25climb onto a roof, and leap three metres to freedom.
17:30After the escape from Fremantle Prison,
17:33Brendan had been on the run for five years.
17:36Some people even believed he wasn't in the country.
17:46With Brendan living the high life,
17:48while he was on the run,
17:50there was stories about him travelling overseas,
17:54a story that he was working on a pearl lugger
17:57out of Broome in West Australia,
17:59that he had his own pilot's licence.
18:01It became quite frustrating.
18:02Where is he and where isn't he?
18:04What allowed him to remain on the run,
18:06one of the issues was that no-one was talking to anyone.
18:12Policing in those days was a very protective thing.
18:15This is my information.
18:17I'm not going to give you my information
18:18because you might get something I haven't got.
18:21And without having a national approach to it,
18:23nothing was going to go anywhere.
18:28So it was extremely important that the states work together.
18:34I was going to push for a better flow of information between states.
18:40And so I was able to make contact with Sid Thomas in South Australia.
18:49I started Operation Passion because I found that the cooperation from the other states
18:55was not as good as it could have been.
18:57Glenn Potter and I formed quite a strong alliance,
19:00and he was an extremely good detective who had the same passion for apprehending Abbott.
19:08We tried to coordinate the knowledge and intelligence on a structured basis.
19:14And as a consequence, we started getting the other states on board.
19:18And we started talking about similarities that were occurring between the robberies over here with Abbott,
19:24but also what was going on up in Queensland.
19:28And it started to wield results.
19:30So I'd taken out a file, and going through the file, it sparked a memory.
19:36When I was in 79 Division, we'd been called to a domestic dispute.
19:40A woman by the name of Kelly Fisher was having a domestic dispute with Glenn Salmon.
19:47We soon learnt when we were there, Salmon was actually Brendan Abbott's brother.
19:53And in our discussions, we were finding that Glenn had been over east.
19:57And that period over east coincided with a well-known robbery on the Gold Coast.
20:05Commonwealth Bank at Broadbitch on the Gold Coast was robbed with consummate ease.
20:10And they just went from teller to teller until they had, obviously,
20:14were satisfied with the amounts that they had received.
20:18Glenn was over there with Brendan.
20:20So Glenn was obviously someone we needed to really focus on.
20:28We followed Salmon everywhere.
20:31Salmon had been caught speeding.
20:35They had started searching the car, and they found what looked like a silencer.
20:42Salmon said it was a muffler to a motorbike or a go-kart.
20:46They started digging more, and then they found some ammunition in there.
20:53And at that very moment, Salmon sprayed both officers in the eyes with what we call pepper spray.
21:02They both lunged on him.
21:04Salmon tried to take the gun out of one of the holsters of one of the fellas.
21:09And Salmon was working very hard to try and get hold of that gun to obviously escape.
21:14Full-on fight occurred, still blinded, rolling on the ground.
21:18They eventually subdued him and got him in handcuffs.
21:25We had him brought back under close guard.
21:28He was shackled, and he was put into the interview room, and then we just let him sit there for
21:33a while.
21:45We wanted to talk to him, get into his head, find out what was important to him.
21:54And a summary of that would have been his allegiance to Brendan or his new family.
22:04It was a choice he had to make, whether his family were important to him or Brendan was.
22:16He didn't directly give Brendan up.
22:21But what he did do is he gave us a post office box at Mermaid Beach.
22:29Within minutes of getting that information, that was out to the Queensland guys.
22:35The post office box was raided.
22:38Items were found in the post office box, which gave us an address for the department on Broad Beach.
22:45Queensland police had a high rise opposite, observing him from that high rise.
22:51And identified it was Brendan Abbott.
22:55Then they saw him leave the flat.
22:58They had a surveillance operative downstairs.
23:01He was confronted by the surveillance operative, and he was taken into custody.
23:11One of Australia's most wanted men has been arrested on the Gold Coast.
23:1532-year-old Brendan James Abbott.
23:17His five-year life on the run was abruptly terminated.
23:21So was he a worthy adversary in that respect?
23:23Fucking earth he was.
23:25Five years on the run, out of Fremantle prison, amassing that amount of money.
23:30Yeah, of course he was.
23:31He was a hell of an adversary.
23:35Well, it was quite sheer relief.
23:37The psychology of a professional bank robber.
23:40They're certainly thinking more about themselves and their own existence than they are of the people that they're robbing.
23:46If you are a victim of any of these robberies, you've got to put yourself in that position and think,
23:51how would I feel?
23:58My name's Gwen Lehmann.
24:00I did 14 years with the Commonwealth Bank.
24:07I would start, I think it was 9.30, just as the bank opened.
24:11And I think I probably finished about 4.15.
24:14Which suited me during the shorter hours, being a mother.
24:1815 minute drive home to being the kids, you know, just be arriving home themselves.
24:24And yeah, it was great.
24:28Until it was robbed by Brendan Abbott.
24:32Armed hold-ups have been constantly in the news in recent months.
24:37There'd been a spate of robberies.
24:40And yeah, you know, it was in the news a lot.
24:45And on that Australia day long weekend, trying to be vigilant, closing time came around.
24:51Everything was great, you know, and that's when I heard this crash.
24:55On the ground!
24:56And I saw this figure emerging and then another one and all in black.
25:05I could see the gun and so that's why immediately I dropped down.
25:12You're just hoping the police are going to get there really quick.
25:15You're just in shock, you know, because it is so aggressive and frightening.
25:21How can he do that?
25:23It's not his money, he's got no right to be doing that and frightening all these people, you know.
25:28Just get a job.
25:30I didn't stay at their brunch very long after that.
25:36I really didn't want to, I guess.
25:40Didn't need that trauma in their lives.
25:43You can't help but take it personally though.
25:47Just hoped he would be caught, really.
25:50I'm not happy that they do glamorise people that do these things.
25:55They're not to be celebrated, are they?
25:57I'm sure a lot more bank officers probably feel the same.
26:10Yeah, Dad, he likes to cook.
26:13He's always got his little, that's another thing I want to ask him when he gets out.
26:16Everyone's got their little, their little prison recipes they make inside.
26:21But I'd like to see him cook me something.
26:29Good.
26:29Did you not wish to receive this call?
26:31Please hang up.
26:33Go ahead, please.
26:34James.
26:35Hey, how are you?
26:37How you doing?
26:38Good, good.
26:39They've repealed a lot of legislation and introduced new legislation.
26:45They're not falling between the cracks and this is what the whole court issue is about.
26:48Some things they've found, the lawyers have found and things that they see doesn't add up.
26:53It's written in English but when you're reading it, you think it's coming across in German, you know?
26:58It takes about three or five times to get your head around some of this stuff, right?
27:02So what they're looking at now is he's basically, since 2016, he's been unlawfully detained.
27:07So he probably shouldn't have been even put back inside after that.
27:10I tell you, if you have an escape history, that's worse than fucking ten kids.
27:14Yeah, I know.
27:15Yeah, I know.
27:15That's why I said you're seeing people with fucking kiddie fiddlers or fucking murderers or fucking like rapists and all
27:20this kind of stuff.
27:20And then, yeah, it's ridiculous.
27:22Fuck, it's 15 already.
27:23Or 10 minutes already.
27:24Yeah.
27:25I'll call you back.
27:26I'll call you back in about 10 minutes.
27:27I can't get back to you until after 10 minutes.
27:29Yeah, that's fine, mate.
27:29No dramas.
27:31So you only get 10 minutes per call.
27:34Yeah.
27:35And then the last 30, 40 seconds, you just cop those beeps, so it's hard to kind of hear what
27:41he says.
27:42Sometimes, like, if he makes a remark or says a certain thing, because there's always someone listening for every call
27:47they listen to,
27:47they'll just shut the call down and they'll just cancel the call.
27:51Trying to have a relationship with him with all those kind of restrictions in place, it's not out of the
27:55ordinary for me.
27:56So to me, it's just like getting 10-minute phone calls with him or getting an hour of visit with
28:00him when I see him in person.
28:01That is normal.
28:03I've never had it any other way.
28:10What do you say?
28:1110 minutes, Sydney?
28:17It's been 11 minutes now.
28:21It's already let me down.
28:32In 1997, Brendan had been on the run for five years.
28:35On the ground!
28:37Eventually got caught on the Gold Coast.
28:42And we got him locked up and long and got a maximum security prison.
28:52It was a great time, because he wasn't our problem anymore.
28:56How's he going to get out of this one?
28:58He's not.
29:00Brendan Abbott, Australia's most celebrated bank robber and prison escapee, is finally back behind bars.
29:06At that point, I thought the Brendan Abbott story was over.
29:10I thought that's it.
29:11He's never going to get out of prison.
29:14But then after a short while, it went back to business as usual.
29:20The escape was on the mine as soon as I got caught.
29:24I just didn't like being locked up.
29:26I had an idea I had to use a diamond wire to escape.
29:31In this document here, which obviously he's written,
29:35he's outlined a handle he made up out of something he found in the prison
29:39for the diamond wire to cut through the bars.
29:43You just can't hold the wire and cut away.
29:45It'll just cut through your hands.
29:46So he's devised a form of a handle.
29:48It just shows the length of detail he went to do his planning.
29:54Abbott and these other four inmates had diamond wire smuggled into the prison.
30:00The wire was inserted inside the antenna of a radio
30:04that was delivered to Abbott as a gift from a family member.
30:08And it probably would have been checked.
30:10They would have opened up the inside and had a look,
30:12but no one looked inside the antenna.
30:15I was all fed up and then Berishon had come into play.
30:23Brendan Abbott had befriended an inmate, and his name was Berishon.
30:30He had a bit of heart and guts about him for a young kid.
30:32I mean, he had some dash about him.
30:35I've got to say that, you know?
30:37Because we were just talking out in the yard.
30:39About the impossible scenarios of getting me out, blah, blah, blah.
30:43And he just piped up and said,
30:44Oh, I'm getting paroled soon. I'll come back.
30:47I basically just said to him, you know,
30:49you don't talk shit about this stuff.
30:51You even do it or you're not, you know?
30:53And he said, no. He says, I'm keen.
30:57Your conversation will be recorded.
30:59Go ahead, please.
31:00Hiya.
31:01Berishon has sourced weapons and organised getaway cars
31:06using code as to when the escape would occur.
31:10Before he left, we organised, you know,
31:12what he was going to do with the fence and let his nose there.
31:14He flashed, yeah, a small light, I think a torch.
31:17He flashed it and it was red.
31:19I would just drop a piece of burning paper out the window.
31:24They had to each individually break out of their cells
31:27and then also escape out of the block itself.
31:32Berishon signalled to them that it's okay to escape
31:35with a flash of a light.
31:38They used plastic chairs that they melted together
31:41and stacked up to be able to leap over the razor wire
31:45that surrounded the block.
31:47Bolt covers thrown over to the fence.
31:50There were several fences that they had to get through.
31:54Berishon was take out the floodlights they have there
31:56just so when the perimeter vehicle come round
31:58they didn't really have a complete shot at us.
32:01Things didn't quite go to plan.
32:06The prison perimeter vehicle come trundling around the corner.
32:10Berishon had to open fire on them.
32:12With a high-powered rifle.
32:26With sheer luck till we got away of it.
32:30We ended up making our way down to the Gold Coast.
32:33But that was pretty dramatic and lucky no one got killed during that escape.
32:37Yeah, I mean if it was a PAW I'd be a hero.
32:42No one knew what was going to happen next.
32:45Brisbane was a city under siege.
32:47We haven't got a clue where they're going, what their plans are.
32:50Was there going to be a shootout?
32:51Was there going to be a bank robbery?
32:54Heavily armed police were out in force today
32:57combing the bushland and suburbs to Brisbane's south.
33:00It just felt like anything could happen.
33:03There was just a, I think a real sense of nervous tension in the air.
33:08Three of the men are serving life sentences for murder.
33:11Another is serving 13 years.
33:13While suspected ringleader Brendan Abbott is serving 12 years for armed robbery.
33:18When Brendan escaped from Longwood, he escaped with accomplices.
33:23At least four other complete losers who were dangerous criminals
33:27who were going to create havoc.
33:30You know, going to brothels, committing offences.
33:33He always knew that coppers had limited resources.
33:37And if we're chasing off after those guys who are just going nuts after an escape,
33:41there's less chance we're going to be working on him or discovering him.
33:45The other guys eventually got caught.
33:50He and Berashon went off and they teamed up for a while,
33:54which enabled Brendan to carry on his robberies.
34:05This sounds nice, Atlantic salmon.
34:09It's probably the dearest fucking thing on the menu.
34:12It would mean the world for me to see Brendan get out and spend time with James.
34:17Probably more so for James than for Brendan.
34:21Because I believe that James is desperate to have some sort of a connection with his dad.
34:27If they do come back and work it all out, like, how does it work today?
34:29Can he walk?
34:31Like, if they go, okay, it's wrong.
34:32Like, there's no reason they can reserve the decision.
34:34Like, if that's the case, they should say, alright, he's to be out today.
34:37Yep.
34:37Like, if I was in his position, they said, oh, no, your time was served years ago.
34:40I'm like, oh, open the door, I'm walking outside now.
34:43And every minute they hold him after, they kind of hold him against his will, really, aren't they?
34:46Yeah, well, yep.
34:48So I'll just hop straight on the plane and go, really?
34:50Like, if I got a call and saying, yeah, it's all sweet,
34:53I'd book a flight and I'd be at the airport within the hour.
34:55Yep, yep. And then, yeah.
34:57How do you think he's going to go flying back, though?
35:02Oh, I don't know. He'd probably be a bit fancy.
35:03Probably wouldn't put him in a fucking business class.
35:05You'd have to.
35:06If he carries on, I'll stroke him to the wing.
35:10I think Brennan has definitely served his time.
35:13Brennan needs to get out of jail and he needs to spend time with his own son,
35:16which he has not done since his son was born, pretty much.
35:23If he's due for parole in October,
35:27if they don't start integrating him, they're going to say, no,
35:30we're not giving him parole because he hasn't had enough integration time.
35:33Yeah.
35:34Right, because he needs to be able to get used to looking after himself.
35:38Well, that's right.
35:39Not that he can't do it, but still it's, you want to give some...
35:43But it's an excuse for them to say no.
35:44He's 63 years old.
35:46I know.
35:46When are they going to fucking let it go?
35:47I know.
35:49I have never, ever said that I don't believe that Brennan should have served time.
35:52He did a crime and when you do a crime, you do the time.
35:57This is not time.
35:58This was not anymore about a bank robber.
36:01This was a political agenda because they were pissed off at what he had done.
36:10Abbott's been on the run for almost a month now.
36:12One sighting was in the city, but we have been unable to confirm this.
36:16The elusive escapee could still be just about anywhere.
36:19It's a cat-and-mouse game.
36:21Cops trying to find a crook, especially someone like Abbott.
36:28When Brennan escaped from Longwind Prison, he and Berichon teamed up.
36:33Berichon was obviously on the run with Abbott.
36:37And in Victoria, there was an incident where there had been a drug deal identified by two Victorian police officers.
36:43And as a result of that, there would have been a shooting and two officers had been wounded.
36:47103-3, have you got your vests on?
36:49Prepare to shoot this bloke, so make sure the vests are on.
36:51And it turned out he was Berichon.
36:56Warrants have been issued for the arrest of 20-year-old Brendan Luke Berichon
36:59over the shooting of two police officers, with him Australia's notorious postcard bandit.
37:07He was drug dependent.
37:09On the day of the shooting, he's decided to go out.
37:12They just can't wait.
37:13When they want to get on, they just can't wait.
37:15Common sense goes out the window.
37:17I just didn't need that, you know.
37:18Of all things, he's gone and shot two fucking coppers.
37:21So we're going inside, and I said, give us your gun, you know,
37:23because I just didn't want to believe it.
37:25And I smelt it.
37:26Yeah, it'd been fired.
37:27And there was only one round left in it.
37:29So he let go about 15 or 16 rounds at the shooting.
37:33Drugs just bring drama.
37:34It just bring trouble.
37:36You've taken a big step when you shoot coppers.
37:39That raised hackles across the country.
37:44Well, it was just a mad rush to get out of there, you know.
37:46This is his time.
37:47He's left a bum bag, then he's dropped his wallet.
37:50So I knew it was just a matter of time.
37:52They'll be able to pinpoint where we were.
37:54Fucking hell, how much worse can this get?
37:58So now that we have a shooting, the postcard ban,
38:01it becomes a national thing of interest again.
38:08Brendan Abbott's embarrassed the governments
38:10of both Queensland, WA, at a political level.
38:13We can't keep a prisoner in.
38:15Politicians pay attention to that.
38:17Abbott very much became a political football.
38:19The opposition Labor Party were hammering the Nationals
38:23over the fact that Abbott had managed to escape from prison.
38:26Brendan Abbott is a symbol
38:28of the incompetence of this government.
38:30The two parties in Queensland
38:32were vying for the reputation
38:36as being the toughest on law and order.
38:38Where is Brendan Abbott?
38:44Bearisham went off the rails in Victoria
38:46and shot the copper.
38:47We now had something firm that they're on the move.
38:51That ultimately led to Darwin.
38:56Well, it was a bit of a lead up to his capture.
38:58I was asked to listen to some telephone intercepts
39:01by the National Crime Authority
39:03in relation to a person they thought
39:05might have been Brendan Abbott in the north of Australia.
39:09When I listened to the tape, yeah, it did sound like him.
39:13Things really started moving.
39:15The authorities were very angry.
39:16As a consequence, they were going to throw everything in
39:20at the hunt for Brendan Abbott.
39:22He'd been very lucky to slip through the police net,
39:26but he got very unlucky that day.
39:28He was caught coming out from doing his laundry.
39:30When I was in the laundromat, it wasn't long after I walked out of there though,
39:33I had a vehicle come in one way and another one come in the other.
39:38How many rifles sticking out of them
39:40that looked like a porcupine on wheels.
39:42And then they'd just yell it out to get on the ground.
39:44I just knew it was fun.
39:48Good evening.
39:49Australia's most notorious bank robber, Brendan Abbott, is back behind bars tonight.
39:53One of his requests has been for us to retrieve his laundry in the dryer.
39:59Brendan, are you looking forward to going back to Queensland?
40:02It wasn't a typical thing for a criminal to be flown from one city to another in a private jet.
40:10The level of notoriety that he had gained,
40:13and the fears that the police probably quite rightly had at that stage,
40:17were that it required the highest level of security.
40:22There was that Lex Luthor persona surrounding Abbott.
40:26He was in the eyes of the police and corrective services.
40:29He was a super villain, capable of anything.
40:31Abbott was moved by helicopter to high security at Woodford Prison.
40:35They set up this special cell for him in the Supermax at Woodford
40:38and vowed that he would be remaining in solitary for a very long time
40:43and no opportunity to escape.
40:44And that's exactly what happened.
40:53Abbott spent the best part of ten years in solitary confinement,
40:58like Hannibal Lecter almost.
41:06Oh, like, you've been in solitary, like, so it's 23 hours a day lockdown,
41:10I'm pretty sure, like, in your cell, basically.
41:12That would be enough to drive anyone insane.
41:17I think he did six years straight at one stage with that,
41:20like, which is fucking ridiculous.
41:21Like, I don't know how they got away with doing that.
41:27How long did you live in totals for solitary?
41:30Oh, it was...
41:31I think it was about 12 years.
41:35Over time, when you're just locked up in the cell for years on end,
41:40it becomes your little safety zone.
41:43Being in there for so long, I started experiencing what were called panic attacks.
41:50Yeah.
41:51And I didn't understand it until later on.
41:53I'd go out to the visit sometimes and dine and be there with all the kids.
41:57You know, and honestly, all I wanted to do was just get the fuck back to my cell.
42:01You know?
42:02Yeah.
42:02Because of all this activities, kids running around and that, you know?
42:06I was kept in the cell for 24 hours a day,
42:10but no one was across from me.
42:11So they just totally isolated me.
42:14And that went on for about 14 months, I think, 15 months.
42:17How do you get through that?
42:18Like, to not be crazy?
42:19You know what I mean?
42:20Like, 12 years?
42:20You just got to keep your mind occupied or otherwise you go fucking loopy.
42:24Oh, yeah.
42:25100%.
42:26I've seen some of them over the years go there, you know, in the solitary
42:29and they just lose the fucking plot, you know?
42:32They're smashing up the cell or they're shitting their hands,
42:34smearing it over the cameras, smearing it over the wall,
42:37smearing it over themselves.
42:39And I think we say, how the fuck can you do that, you know?
42:42But it affects people differently.
42:46As far as his mental health now goes, he seems, like, in good spirits
42:50and all that kind of stuff too, but you can never really tell.
42:52You know, someone can be really depressed
42:54and no one would even know
42:54because the person's always showing, like, a smile and being all happy.
43:00At the end of the day, none of those people in authority give a fuck.
43:05They're held accountable in a sense,
43:06but they've got to be medical attention, you know?
43:08You've got to be monitored, but they don't really care, you know?
43:12I mean, it's just amazing how they can get away
43:15with the regimes they impose on people.
43:18The treatment was just insane.
43:21He's in jail.
43:22You've got him in maximum security.
43:24Why are you doing this?
43:25Anyone spending 24 hours by themselves
43:27knows it's difficult to do that for the timeframe he did.
43:31I mean, to me, that was just gutless to the authorities too.
43:36I'm surprised they get away with it, you know?
43:37They go on about human rights.
43:39Corrective services, what I've experienced over the years,
43:42what they do to people,
43:43it is a breach of human rights.
43:46I am surprised that Brendan is not completely screwed in the head.
43:53Completely.
44:02Thirty years inside is punishment for embarrassing the system.
44:08I do think that is what has happened to Brendan Abbott,
44:11but he has been behind bars since 1995,
44:15with the exception of that six months on the run,
44:18and most of that time has been in solitary.
44:22I think there's the old adage,
44:23you do the crime, you serve the time.
44:25There are probably plenty of good reasons why he wants to get out,
44:28because I'm sure there's still funds available.
44:30I did have some knowledge that he's got money stashed here in South Australia,
44:33but where?
44:36Who knows?
44:37Look, I feel for the victims.
44:39Anyone who's had a gun pointed in their face,
44:41he deserves to have been punished for that.
44:44But having said that, he's done his time.
44:48I have to say, I mean, I've locked up murderers
44:50who've got one third of the sentence that he's got.
44:57Go down to the pub, have some pool, have something to eat.
45:00Like, now it's getting close,
45:01I'm actually starting to think, like, fuck, what can we do?
45:04I'm sure he wouldn't mind doing something like this.
45:06It's pretty relaxing to us.
45:07It's not...
45:08You won't have to talk to many people.
45:09You can just sit there and play a game.
45:12He'll probably go out of his way, too,
45:14to make sure he can beat me.
45:16Just spending one day together will be, like,
45:19a whole year's worth of phone calls and visits.
45:23He's getting older as well, too,
45:24so I don't know how much longer I got with him.
45:26Like, Dad's been saying for years, he goes,
45:28I'm old now and stuff, too.
45:29He goes, like, I don't have interest
45:31in wanting to try and run away.
45:33I don't want to rob banks.
45:34Like, he goes, like, I've done all that.
45:35Like, look what it's cost me.
45:37He has no amount of money.
45:39It's worth the years that he spent in jail
45:40when he could have been outside with me
45:42having a legitimate life.
45:54When do I get out?
45:55The criminal activity's done and dusted.
45:57Too awful that shit, then.
46:04I want to spend a lot of time with James.
46:07It hasn't been fair for him, I must say.
46:10I wasn't even going out on the run
46:11expecting to have a child.
46:13Have a son.
46:13I've no regrets about that.
46:17Go fishing, build up an old car or something,
46:20and just basically have my freedom back.
46:23Really.
46:24That's not much I'm asking for.
46:27I mean, if I went down a different path in life,
46:29who knows what I could have done?
46:31It is what it is, you know?
46:34I can't change anything.
46:36I might as well, you know, enjoy the ride.
46:58What's the first thing you think you're going to do
46:59if you get released?
47:03I might have to handle the bank.
47:13So, once we get a chance,
47:15Bye.
47:16I have to have a chance.
47:17Bye.
47:19Bye.
47:22Bye.
47:24Bye.
47:27Bye.
47:35Bye.
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