Gold Coast crime: Public tip-off leads police to alleged hotel quarantine escapee

A woman accused of fleeing a Gold Coast Covid-19 quarantine hotel has been arrested north of Brisbane after a major search.

• Hundreds of cars checked in police lockdown blitz
• Exclusive: Council’s financial lifeline for small businesses smashed by lockdown

A WOMAN accused of fleeing a Gold Coast Covid-19 quarantine hotel has been arrested north of Brisbane after a major search.

Jessica Heath, 24, allegedly escaped the Sofitel Hotel at Broadbeach on Wednesday two days after being placed into quarantine.

After four days on the run the 24-year-old was found about 3pm Saturday in Caboolture after a tip off from the public.

Police are currently speaking with her.

Police located a 24-year-old woman who absconded from a Gold Coast quarantine hotel on August 3.

Earlier on Saturday, Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski urged the woman to hand herself in.

“Please give yourself up, because we’re not stopping until we find you,” he said.

Mr Gollschewski previously said large amounts of resources were being used to track down the woman.

Heath had received a negative covid-19 test while in quarantine, but authorities said earlier on Saturday “further testing is required to confirm her Covid-19 status”.

She appeared in Southport Magistrates Court on Monday charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle, unlicensed driving, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and drug and other offences after she was arrested at a Gold Coast border checkpoint on July 31 in an allegedly stolen car.

Heath was granted bail and directed into quarantine as police said she had come from regional NSW.

Police became aware of the major breach on Wednesday afternoon when the woman was found to be missing from the room.

It’s believed she allegedly forced her way out of the locked screen door of her fourth floor room, and scaled the balcony to escape.

She left her property behind, only taking her phone.

Asked about the incident on Saturday, chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said it was a “concern”.

“But I understand she’s already tested negative once and police will find her and then we’ll be able to test her again and that will definitively say whether there’s been any risk,” she said.

“That’s why people on the Gold Coast … people who live along that border zone, it’s really even more important, if they have any symptoms at all, that they come forward and get tested, because although police are doing absolutely first class job at managing that border we know people can slip through.”

Follow @MileyJacob

Originally published as Gold Coast crime: Public tip-off leads police to alleged hotel quarantine escapee