Brenden Abbott: Notorious Aussie bank robber dubbed the ‘Postcard Bandit’ after taunting cops while on the run makes a new bid for freedom

Notorious bank robber and fugitive Brenden James Abbott is seeking to have his detention declared illegal and is also suing the Western Australian government for wrongful detention.

Forbes Kirby Lawyers, which acts for the career criminal known as ‘the Postcard Bandit’, filed judicial review proceedings in the WA Supreme Court on Tuesday in an attempt to have Abbott’s prison sentence invalidated.

Abbott, 62, who escaped from Fremantle prison in 1989, claims criminal laws introduced in November 1996 do not apply to him and that his prison sentence in WA expired while he was in custody in Queensland.

The infamous robber has an extensive criminal history and earned his nickname by taunting police with postcards while on the run.

He is also seeking to challenge the constitutional validity of the laws, which require a prisoner returned to prison after an escape to serve an additional prison sentence equal to one-third of the time he was free, on top of the time that he had. still to serve in escaping.

Abbott (pictured), 62, who escaped from Fremantle prison in 1989, claims criminal laws introduced in November 1996 do not apply to him and that his prison sentence in WA expired while he was in custody in Queensland

Abbott claims that imposing a sentence without the intervention of a court “affronts” the strict separation between the judiciary and the legislature at the federal level.

His lawyers say the case may ultimately have to be decided by the Supreme Court.

Abbott’s counsel, Matthew Crowley, said the real question “is not whether we like Mr. Abbott or not.”

“Opinions will differ on that, just as they did on Ned Kelly 150 years ago,” he said.

“The real question is what constitutional power the state has to keep people in prison after their sentences have ended – without trial, judgment or conviction – even if they don’t like them.”

Mr Crowley said if Mr Abbott’s action were successful it would mean he had been falsely imprisoned in Washington since May 2016.

Abbott is a maximum security inmate at Perth’s Casuarina Prison, where he is serving a 14-year sentence for bank robbery, a prison riot and the 1989 Fremantle prison escape.

He was extradited to Perth in May 2016 after serving 18 years in Brisbane prisons following his recapture in Darwin in May 1998.

He had escaped from Sir David Longland Prison in Brisbane in November 1997, where he was serving a sentence for bank robberies on the Gold Coast.

Abbott had been arrested on the Gold Coast in March 1995, five and a half years after escaping from Fremantle prison and starting a secret life as a fugitive, suspected of robbing banks in WA, SA and Queensland for up to $5 . million.

Abbott will technically be eligible for parole in WA in October 2026. But as a prisoner who has served more than 25 years but has not received a life sentence, his situation is unique.

There is a real prospect that Abbott will never be granted parole and will not be released until his maximum term expires in January 2033, which would be 34 years and eight months after his recapture in Darwin.

Abbott remains subject to the High Security Escort classification, meaning that if he needs to leave prison for reasons such as a court appearance or medical care, he will be subject to strict security measures.

Inmates with such a classification are automatically held in maximum security, meaning they are not eligible for transfer to a self-care unit or for participation in the prison’s rehabilitation program.

The infamous robber (pictured) has an extensive criminal past and got his nickname by taunting police with postcards while on the run

Abbott is pictured being escorted to the Brisbane Police watchhouse after he was refused bail at the Brisbane Magistrates Court on April 12, 2016.

This program is generally reserved for prisoners serving a life sentence.

The WA Corrective Services Department protocol states that rehabilitation programs for inmates serving fixed-term sentences are “often discouraged because they are generally eligible for release planning activities as a sentenced inmate if and when they achieve minimum security status and placement ‘. ‘.

But Abbott cannot achieve minimum security status because of his classification and prison authorities insist he remains an escape risk despite no escape attempts since his 1998 recapture.

In 2017, he was sentenced to a concurrent five-year prison sentence for the 1989 Fremantle Prison escape.