Read Online Crime Time: Australians Behaving Badly by Sue Bursztynski - Free Book Online Page B

as a con artist? In some ways, yes, for he did fool a lot of people. But then, he also kept being caught!

    DID YOU KNOW…?

    Double trouble…? Most identical twins have fun confusing their teachers, parents and friends. Identical twin robbers, Peter and Doug Moran (known as the After Dark Bandits) worked together to fool police and witnesses in the late 1970s. They dressed alike and gave each other alibis. It worked for two years, but in 1979, they were caught after Peter almost killed a policeman at a bank in Heathcote, Victoria. Both got long jail sentences.

RONALD RYAN

    LAST PERSON TO HANG IN AUSTRALIA

    R onald Ryan was a small-time crook whose death made him a lot more famous than his life ever had. People are still arguing over whether he actually did murder a prison guard, the crime for which he was executed. Still, his death changed Australia forever.
    Ronald was born in Melbourne in 1925, to a poor family. His mother couldn’t look after him properly, so he and his sisters were taken away and put into homes for neglected children. Ronald did well at the boys’ home where he was living, but he ran away when he was fourteen. For several years, he worked honestly to support his mother and sisters, but then he began to commit crimes. Several times he went to jail for robberies and forgery, but each time he came out, he fell back into crime.
    In December 1964, he was in jail again at Pentridge Prison, serving fourteen years for armed robbery. For his wife, this was the last straw. She was going to divorce him. Now, Ronald made the decision that would end up costing his life and the life of a prison guard. To save his marriage, he would escape from Pentridge. He would take his wife and three children to Brazil, where they would be safe from the Australian law.
    Ronald arranged his escape with another prisoner, Peter Walker. After overcoming a guard, Helmut Lange, and stealing his rifle, the two men ran for it, alarms sounding loudly. Then the tragedy happened. Another guard, George Hodson, was running just behind Peter Walker. At this point, we’re not sure exactly what happened. Ryan might have shot Hodson to protect Walker. Later, a guard said he had fired a shot from a tower, but changed his story. Anyway, whatever really happened, Hodson died.
    Ryan and Walker were on the run for nearly three weeks. While they were hiding in Melbourne, Walker shot and killed someone who recognised them. Finally, they escaped to Sydney, where they were hoping to get help from a criminal called Lennie McPherson. McPherson promised to arrange their escape to Brazil, but then he turned them in to the police instead.
    Back in Melbourne, Peter Walker was sentenced to twelve years for the manslaughter of the man he had shot before they went to Sydney.
    Ryan was now on trial for the murder of George Hodson. There was a lot of argument over whether or not it would have been possible for him to shoot Hodson, but the jury found him guilty. Justice Starke, a judge who was against the death penalty, was forced to condemn Ryan to hang. Starke never forgave himself.
    Now the fuss began. Appeals were made and rejected. There were protests and petitions. Barry Jones, who would later become a federal Minister for Science, led a committee against Ryan’s execution. Three newspapers which usually supported the government campaigned for mercy.
    Even some members of the jury begged the State Premier, Henry Bolte, to use his power to stop the death sentence. Most of the jury had wanted to find Ryan not guilty, but had been persuaded to change their minds. After all, nobody had been executed in Australia since 1951. Since then, death sentences had always been changed to life imprisonment. They had really believed that this would happen now.
    But Henry Bolte wanted this execution to go ahead. A few years before, he had been stopped from executing another criminal. This time, he would show who was boss! Perhaps he believed that being firm on this matter