‘Personable fellow’: Fugitive Graham Potter gave alias during stunning police arrest
Australia’s most wanted fugitive has had his case heard in court after police revealed he had used an alias of “Josh Lawson” before he was sensationally arrested in the Far North on Monday.
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UPDATE, 3.30PM: Fugitive Graham Potter will be extradited back to Victoria to face two counts of suspicion to murder after having his court appearance heard by video link in Cairns Magistrates Court today.
Mr Potter’s case was heard just before midday where he was remanded in custody and his extradition to Melbourne ordered.
He is expected to travel from Cairns on Wednesday at 1pm.
Australia’s most wanted fugitive Graham Potter used an alias of “Josh Lawson” when approached by armed police before he was sensationally arrested in Far North Queensland on Monday.
Far North Det Acting Insp Kevin Goan said the man who has been on the run from Victorian authorities for 12 years had been co-operating with police since biometric testing revealed his true identity overnight.
Tablelands and Mareeba detectives and the dog squad swooped on a Ravenshoe property yesterday after receiving “credible information” he was holing out in a dilapidated shed.
Victoria detectives are expected to arrive in Mareeba this afternoon, where extradition proceedings were likely to occur and further investigations into how he has managed to evade capture since 2010 will ramp up.
The female owner of the property where he was arrested was taken into custody by police and was released without charge.
It’s believed he may have been frequenting the residence “over a number of years”.
Police had attended the property previously, but had no cause to “further any search of the residence.”
Mr Potter is likely to appear in the Mareeba Magistrates Court this afternoon where extradition proceedings are likely to be arranged.
“It’s likely he’ll be remanded into their custody to appear back in Victoria in the coming days,” Act Det Insp Goan said.
Mr Potter – who has already served 15 years for murdering and chopping up Kim Barry, 19, at Corrimal in 1981 – fled Victorian authorities in 2010 when facing two counts of suspicion to commit murder.
Det Acting Insp Goan described the accused hit man as a “personable fellow” who had “certainly been keeping a low profile” for more than a decade believed to be the Atherton Tablelands and Cassowary Coast regions.
“The person in question has provided false details to police, he has been taken into custody and transported to Mareeba where through biometric examinations his identity was confirmed,” he said.
“Detectives have reached out to Victorian Colleagues and they are en route to Far North Queensland now to seek his extradition of Potter back to Victoria.”
“Detectives have been involved for a number of years, they had reasonable cause to bring him into custody, do the biometric testing through the live scan machine and confirm … Josh Lawson was in fact Graham Gene Potter,” he said.
Det Acting Insp Kevin Goan said Far North police have been collaborating with Victoria for “over a decade” to apprehend Mr Potter.
“The exchange of information has been significant (and) on this occasion we were successful in his capture.”
Ravenshoe locals reacted with shock and disbelief that the 64-year old was holding out in a squalor on Asham Street.
Before he vanished, he had been accused of being hired as a hit man at the wedding Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto’s son, in 2008.
Mr Potter was also staring at federal charges over a $440 million ecstasy and cocaine bust in August 2008.
EARLIER: The arrest of Australia’s most wanted man this morning is the first sighting of him in Ravenshoe for almost seven years according to a local motel and bar manager.
Manager at the Club Hotel-Motel Ravenshoe Laith Pignatt said the arrest of Victorian man Graham Gene Potter in the tiny Far North town came as a surprise with the bar manager assuming he had disappeared after an encounter with Potter several years ago.
“I’ve only seen him once, we served him in the bottle shop attached to the motel, we didn’t realise who he was until the police came through and used our security camera footage to ID him,” he said.
“It was about six or seven years ago now and I ended up being interviewed by an Australia’s most wanted TV show about the incident.”
Mr Pignatt said he saw multiple police cars and the dog squad on Ascham St this morning but “only made the connection” that it was Potter’s arrest after seeing headlines.
“I thought he would have made a run for it after the police were after him last time, and obviously had been tipped off that he was in town,” he said.
“There’s no way he wasn’t walking around in disguise because we definitely would have noticed him before now otherwise.”
MONDAY: A man wanted on a Victorian warrant for conspiracy to murder since 2010 has been arrested in Ravenshoe in Far North Queensland this morning.
Acting on a tip-off, Tablelands Detectives, uniformed police and the Cairns Dog Squad attended an Ascham Street residence at approximately 8:45am where 64-year-old Graham Gene Potter was located and taken into custody.
A $100,000 reward was on offer for information leading to his arrest.
It is alleged Mr Potter failed to appear at a Melbourne court in February 2010 on charges of conspiracy to murder.
The 61-year-old vanished after failing to turn up to Melbourne Magistrates Court where he was charged with conspiring to murder a Victorian underworld figure.
Tablelands Detectives have had previous information regarding sightings of Mr Potter in the area, where it is alleged he evaded police in Tully in 2010.
In 2019, Tully police said the release of photos of Mr Potter prompted two calls from members of the public who believed they had seen the fugitive in the town.
Multiple law enforcement bodies throughout Australia have been attempting to locate him for the last 12 years.
Detectives from Victoria will travel to the Far North, to seek Mr Potter’s extradition.
The 64-year-old will appear before Mareeba Magistrates Court tomorrow, Tuesday February 22.
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