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Horriifc ... Robert James Hennessey, 49, was just 14 when he murdered his elderly aunt. Source: Supplied
A KILLER who had been hiding out in Australia for 17 years under a stolen identity after having escaped from jail in Britain is back behind bars in the UK.
Robert James Hennessey was just 14 years old in 1978 when he murdered his elderly aunt, Mary Webber, stabbing her 70 times.
He was sentenced to life — making headlines as one of the youngest people ever in the UK to be sent to a secure mental facility — but escaped in 1998 after being placed in an open prison.
He was not heard of again until 2013 when he was arrested on the Sunshine Coast by Queensland police investigating credit card fraud.
In hiding ... Robert James Hennessey fled to Queensland after escaping an open prison in Britain. Source: Supplied
It has since been revealed the 50-year-old Briton stole the identity of a brain-damaged New Zealander to secure a false passport and travel back and forth to Britain, New Zealand, Malaysia and Thailand but keeping his base at various addresses in Queensland including Bridie Island, Gold Coast and Tewantin on the Sunshine Coast where he was arrested.
The Briton, who also went by the name Simon Dominic Hennessey, was formally taken into British custody at Heathrow Airport last week and has now appeared in Bristol Magistrates Court to be formally charged with evading custody. He was remanded in custody to appear again in court next month.
Avon and Somerset police had launched one of its biggest ever manhunts after Hennessey’s escape and said now they had never given up hope of finding him but were as stunned as detectives from Queensland’s organised crime squad when he was arrested by chance running a credit card skimming racket. Hennessey, who is believed to have a wife in New Zealand, served some time in Queensland for the fraud before his extradition to Britain.
Hennessey had escaped jail before in 1981 and was on the run for six months before being arrested again by chance attempting a robbery in Brighton and again in 1993 after a guarded visit to a public library in his hometown of Plymouth.
He was described by British authorities as a smooth, intelligent and calculating criminal.