Escaping from prison is no easy feat, but these 3 Aussies managed it – using some of the most bizarre methods you can imagine!
Darko Desic: the 30-year fugitive
First is Darko Desic, who spent 30 years on the run after escaping Grafton Jail in 1992. He was 13 months into a sentence for growing weed when he sawed his way out of his cell with a metal hacksaw blade.
After decades of living a quiet life as ‘Dougie’ in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Desic handed himself over to police in 2021.
Want to know what happened next? Our new investigative series, Secrets We Keep: Jailbreak, unravels the unbelievable true story of Australia’s most puzzling fugitive.
Start with episode 1, or search ‘Secrets We Keep’ wherever you get your podcasts.
Jack Karlson: the Aussie icon
Then there’s Jack Karlson. Not only was he an Aussie icon, but he was a serial prison escapee. In 1966 he jumped off a moving prison-transport train, in ‘67 he convinced a fishing boat operator to carry him off French Island’s prison, and in ‘68 he waltzed out of the cells of Sydney’s Central Local Court by impersonating a detective!
But he wasn’t just an opportunistic escapee. Karlson would often act ‘mad’ when being arrested, sometimes exposing himself to officers, in the hopes of being sent to a mental institution – from where it was much easier to escape.
John Killick: the helicopter plot
And then there’s John Killick. Evidently a big cinema fan, Killick enlisted his girlfriend to re-create the prison break from the movie ‘Breakout’.
She booked a helicopter ride and held the pilot at gunpoint, forcing him to land in the Silverwater Prison’s exercise yard.
Killick jumped on board, followed by a few other eager prisoners, while guards fired at the aircraft. The couple were successful – at least at first – until they were re-captured 45 days later.