502:, Abbott was given duties in the tailor workshop, fitting and sewing uniforms to order. It was through the workshop Abbott and Aaron Reynolds were able to create fake prison guard uniforms. On 24 November 1989 Abbott dressed in the false uniform, cut through the bars in the workshop and gained access to the guard's walkway, he made his way across the rooftop and out of the prison grounds. This escape earned Abbott his lifelong notoriety as a criminal genius, and ultimately led to his permanent and erroneous branding as "the postcard bandit." In the almost 150-year history Fremantle Prison was operational, Abbott is the only prisoner on record to escape and never return due to its closure in 1991.
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electronics to dodge alarms and police. Weeks were spent methodically planning each bank robbery including observing the staff in the bank, identifying weaknesses in security, patterns of behaviour and the layout of the premises prior to the robbery taking place. These skills are widely thought to have assisted him in both successful prison escapes. Police officers who have interviewed Abbott have stated he is always probing for information on how he has been caught or what the police know about him. Abbott used his understanding of police methodology and intelligence gathering to successfully avoid capture during his time as an escapee.
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was armed and fired on a patrol vehicle successfully disabling it. Guards were pinned down by the shots. The offenders alleged that this occurred in panic, when the escapees' escape plan went awry. Nonetheless, it gave the escapees enough time to cut through the fence and escape in the car driven by
Berichon.
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reporter Nigel Hunt incorrectly reported that Abbott had filed for a
Supreme Court Judicial Review regarding the application to transfer to face the charges. Hunt's story concludes with an unnamed source's suspicions that Abbott could have committed not just the one he is sought for questioning over,
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for mistreatment. He was released from solitary confinement in May 2004 and returned there on a
Maximum Security Order in April 2006, after he requested medical attention three times in 12 months. After years in mainstream, Abbott was again returned to Supermax solitary confinement in August 2008 and
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While
Reynolds was arrested within weeks of the Fremantle escape, Abbott went on to establish himself as a "professional" bank robber, believed to have been responsible for "40 to 50" bank robberies across Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland's Gold Coast. Working in Abbott's favour, the
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for bank robberies and the 1997 prison escape. Following his recapture, Abbott was transferred to
Maximum Security at Woodford Correctional Centre. Due to Abbott's high risk profile, he was flown into the prison by helicopter, being the only prisoner in Australia to have arrived directly by air.
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of his travels to the
Western Australian Police. However, the story was a WA Police media unit concoction; the "postcards" were photos Abbott lost while running from police with Aaron Reynolds after the Fremantle Prison escape, and were intended for his friends and family. They included a picture of
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office, limiting communication between the departments and making
Adelaide a repeated target. Rivalry between the states made intelligence sharing minimal and Western Australian Police were yet to issue a warrant for Abbott's arrest almost five years following the escape. By 1994 the states' police
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by an accomplice, Brendan
Berichon, who had been released in September. Uncharacteristically for Abbott, the escape from Sir David Longland Prison in November 1997 involved actual force rather than an implied threat of force. While cutting through the sensor fencing, the alarm was raised. Berichon
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In June 2019, Abbott had a bid for freedom unanimously rejected by the WA Court of Appeal. Lawyers argued the sentence should be reduced because he already spent 17 years in prison in
Queensland for crimes committed before he escaped Fremantle Prison in 1989. The court said the original sentences
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at the time of his escape in 1989 (12 years, six months and 24 days plus an additional one-third penalty of four years, two months and eight days in forfeited remissions for escaping custody under the law then extant). On 16 January 2017, Abbott was sentenced to an additional and cumulative five
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Abbott is recognised as a highly intelligent criminal and "minor genius" with a strong reliance on memory and observational skills to carry out his criminal activities. He used his knowledge and self-taught skills in make-up to create convincing disguises, computers to create false IDs, and
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He will be eligible for parole in
Western Australia in July 2026, and his Western Australian sentence will expire in July 2033. If no further charges are laid against him, he will remain on parole in Queensland until July 2040, when he will be 78 years of age.
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in 2008, that detectives were travelling to Queensland to question Abbott at Woodford Correctional Centre, although no such interview has ever occurred. In December 2010, Abbott's application for a South Australian transfer was approved by the
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During Abbott's Queensland sentence, Western Australia twice refused Abbott's transfer applications in 2005 and 2008 to return to the state to complete his sentence. In 2004 Queensland authorities approved an interstate transfer but
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On 4 May 2016, Abbott was extradited back to Western Australia to serve out his sentence of 16 years, nine months and two days that he was serving for armed robberies and his role in the
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departments compromised and agreed to work together. Elevated to the status of Australia's most wanted man, his five-and-a-half years on the run came to an end when police tracked down a
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in Perth, cited an unnamed Western Australian police source who alleged that WA authorities "had a cell waiting" for Abbott, although there had been no official confirmation of such.
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were appropriate, and it would not intervene on the basis of mercy, noting Abbott had also deliberately committed subsequent crimes that led to his imprisonment in Queensland.
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then released back into mainstream detention in the days preceding a judicial review hearing into his back-to-back Maximum Security Orders, in October 2009.
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and was considered an average to good student. His watercolour "Little Boy Blue" was painted after the November 2009 national apology to
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of Western Australia, Abbott continues to suffer anxiety and related health disorders, as noted in a semi-biographical work,
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refused to accept him. In early 2007, Abbott re-applied to be transferred to Western Australia and that was approved by the
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to address the outstanding warrant. The application followed official statements by Adelaide detective Sid Thomas, in
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On 5 November 1997, less than three years after his recapture, Abbott escaped with four other prisoners from
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Abbott was on the run for six months from 1997 to 1998. On 2 May 1998 he was eventually caught in
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bill registered to the address where he was living. On 26 March 1995 Abbott was recaptured.
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Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
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772:"Gold Coast woman tells of chilling encounter with Brenden Abbott aka Postcard Bandit"
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After serving two years of his current sentence in solitary confinement, he sued the
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with his first bank robbery. In the months following, police arrested Abbott at
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Abbott had fled from police during questioning in relation to burglary at the
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police station in 1986 and in 1987 successfully stole $ 112,000 from the
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426: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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Australian Outlaw – The True Story of Postcard Bandit Brenden Abbott
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462:, by Derek Pedley. Abbott attended Eastern Hills High School in
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and was, as of March 2015, serving a 23-year sentence in
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from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially
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607:. In mid-2008, Abbott applied for an interstate transfer to
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police force was structured with each suburb having its own
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in 2008. However, former WA Corrective Services Minister,
833:"Postcard bandit" sues Qld Govt over mistreatment in jail
360:. He is reported to have stolen and hidden millions of
805:"'The Postcard Bandit' could be paroled within weeks"
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A 1994 warrant for questioning remains in place with
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No Fixed Address – The Hunt for Brenden James Abbott
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340:25 years' imprisonment (13-year non-parole period)
367:Abbott was held in a maximum-security prison in
866:. The Sunday Mail. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
532:used by Abbott, which was found to contain a
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942:WA police waiting for Brenden Abbott release
539:Media reports in the 1990s said Abbott sent
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64:Learn how and when to remove these messages
1044:Escapees from Western Australian detention
668:months' imprisonment for the 1989 escape.
379:. He will be eligible for parole in 2026.
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144:about living persons that is unsourced or
626:'s decision is pending. On 12 June 2011,
442:Learn how and when to remove this message
233:Learn how and when to remove this message
215:Learn how and when to remove this message
901:Postcard Bandit hopes for transfer to WA
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552:Sir David Longland Prison escape – 1997
736:(program transcript), 27 October 2003
601:Adelaide Criminal Prosecutions Branch
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424:adding citations to reliable sources
371:until he was transferred in 2016 to
641:Western Australian Attorney-General
1034:Escapees from Queensland detention
857:Postcard Bandit may be on the move
803:Waters, Carly (24 February 2016).
603:for one count of armed robbery in
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993:, HarperCollins Australia, 1999.
877:Postcard Bandit can move to Perth
770:Cartwright, Lexie (14 May 2016).
624:South Australian Attorney-General
353:(born 8 May 1962) is a convicted
45:This article has multiple issues.
940:Glenn Cordingley (15 May 2010).
784:from the original on 21 May 2016
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966:Postcard bandit denied computer
923:Hansen, Peter (11 March 2007).
813:. Seven West Media. Yahoo! News
745:Buchanan, Matt. (26 May 2003).
411:needs additional citations for
53:or discuss these issues on the
635:robberies in South Australia.
478:Fremantle Prison escape – 1989
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722:Nyst, Chris (defence lawyer).
957:. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
122:biography of a living person
1049:People convicted of robbery
855:Nigel Hunt (12 June 2011).
648:Queensland Attorney-General
620:Queensland Attorney-General
149:must be removed immediately
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925:Abbott faces parole limbo
914:(transcript), 7 July 2005
862:17 September 2012 at the
558:Sir David Longland Prison
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84:This article needs to be
1039:Criminals from Melbourne
729:16 December 2013 at the
605:Glenelg, South Australia
1019:Australian bank robbers
780:. News Corp Australia.
136:Please help by adding
27:Australian bank robber
970:Sydney Morning Herald
882:12 March 2007 at the
838:12 March 2007 at the
758:Sydney Morning Herald
752:13 March 2007 at the
702:Fremantle Prison riot
665:Fremantle Prison riot
588:Queensland Government
544:Reynolds outside the
468:Forgotten Australians
454:A former ward of the
382:A film about Abbott,
906:13 June 2013 at the
595:Attempts to transfer
420:improve this article
388:, was made in 2003.
351:Brenden James Abbott
273:Brenden James Abbott
263:Brenden James Abbott
251:Brenden James Abbott
142:Contentious material
18:Brenden James Abbott
1024:Australian escapees
947:18 May 2010 at the
777:Gold Coast Bulletin
724:"The Usual Suspect"
385:The Postcard Bandit
310:Remanded in custody
294:The Postcard Bandit
846:. 20 October 2000.
573:Fugitive 1997–1998
506:Fugitive 1989–1995
999:978-0-7322-6664-6
985:978-0-9775440-1-1
979:, Sly Ink, 2006.
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1014:1962 births
929:Sunday Mail
747:Born To Run
644:Jim McGinty
358:bank robber
302:Bank robber
1008:Categories
810:Seven News
708:References
622:, and the
583:Queensland
546:Dwellingup
530:Gold Coast
526:Queensland
369:Queensland
355:Australian
299:Occupation
283:8 May 1962
279:1962-05-08
175:newspapers
50:improve it
541:postcards
484:Nollamara
432:June 2024
205:June 2011
127:citations
56:talk page
945:Archived
904:Archived
880:Archived
860:Archived
836:Archived
782:Archived
750:Archived
727:Archived
680:See also
633:multiple
513:Adelaide
392:Personal
153:libelous
96:May 2016
888:The Age
817:15 June
788:15 June
362:dollars
189:scholar
86:updated
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579:Darwin
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964:AAP,
875:AAP,
534:pager
492:Perth
456:state
196:JSTOR
182:books
120:This
995:ISBN
981:ISBN
819:2024
790:2024
631:but
269:Born
168:news
129:for
560:at
528:'s
524:on
517:CIB
490:in
422:by
375:in
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