An Irish man who escaped immigration detention in Brisbane by climbing down a rope of bedsheets has been recaptured and jailed.
The 26-year-old arrived on an international flight on March 13 and presented a fake UK passport to Border Force officers. He was detained, but two days later, tied bedsheets together and scaled down the side of a building.
He evaded police for more than four months before being arrested by New South Wales Police in Sydney on July 31. He was subsequently extradited to Queensland, where he was charged with providing false documents, giving misleading information, and one count of escaping from detention.
He was later sentenced in the Brisbane District Court to 12 months in prison, with a four-month non-parole period backdated to time already served.
AFP Detective Superintendent Anthony Conway said the man’s sentencing marked the end of months of work by police in two states.
“He committed serious offences by entering Australia with a fake passport and escaping from immigration detention,” Conway said.
Similar escapes have been attempted before. In 2020, a New Zealand arrival broke COVID-19 quarantine the same way, and a Brisbane man tried the method a year later. Both were caught after scaling four storeys.
Safety experts warn that bedsheets are no substitute for climbing ropes and can tear easily under load.
