The man who tried to break out of jail with Milat

HE had already embarrassed the authorities with one audacious escape, and within weeks of his recapture he was plotting another. This time Ivan Milat was going with him.

IT was less than a year after he was jailed that Ivan Milat and another notorious prisoner hatched a plot to escape.

The backpacker serial killer and drug baron George Savvas were desperate and prepared to kill to get away, according to Ron Woodham, then NSW’s Corrective Services assistant commissioner.

It was in many ways a straightforward plan — no tunnels or hijacked helicopters — they were simply going to overpower their guards and go over the wall.

What they didn’t know was that police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption had been monitoring the plot for weeks.

“We were one step ahead of the prisoners at all times,” Mr Woodham said.

GEORGE SAVVAS

Milat’s co-conspirator had already escaped jail once — brazenly walking out of Goulburn jail 10 months earlier after donning a disguise under the noses of the guards.

George Savvas donned a blond wig as part of his disguise. (Computer-enhanced image)

Savvas carried out his quick change in a temporary visitors’ area, while officers were distracted by staged incidents and two men screened him from the cameras.

Cut free from his prison overalls, he slipped on tracksuit pants and a top, before completing his new look with a blond wig and dark glasses.

Then with the two men he simply walked to the exit and out to freedom. It wasn’t until the discarded overalls were found on a chair 20 minutes later that anyone even realised he had escaped.

The way George Savvas actually looks in a prison mugshot.

“Savvas is that rare combination of a criminal with financial clout and vast human resources to put to work on anything which takes his mind,” one official told The Daily Telegraph at the time.

Savvas only got to enjoy his freedom for eight months though — he was recaptured in a Sydney restaurant as he tucked into a Japanese meal with two female diners.

This time the authorities sent him to Maitland jail, saying he would face strict conditions, with visitors vetted, his phone calls monitored and his mail read.

But it seems Savvas wasted little time plotting his next escape with Milat in tow.

When the breakout was foiled on May 17 1997, the prospect of serving as many as 30 years over a plan to import heroin into Sydney proved too much.

He was found hanged in his cell the next morning.

Deputy State Coroner John Abernethy ruled he took his own life.

“Savvas was prepared to take enormous risk to escape from prison and probably realised that he was going to find it extremely difficult to serve his long sentence,” he said.

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IVAN MILAT

In the days after the 1997 escape bid was revealed, Milat’s brother Wally was quoted as saying Ivan was drawn into the plot because he could not get legal aid for an appeal and was depressed about spending the rest of his life behind bars.

This hacksaw blade that was found hidden in a packet of biscuits in Ivan Milat’s cell.

But just two years later it was revealed Milat had made several escape attempts. Amid news in January 1999 that a 10cm hacksaw blade had been found concealed in a packet of biscuits in Milat’s cell, Corrective Services Commissioner Leo Keliher indicated there were other escape bids the public did not know about. Only two of the attempts had been revealed, he said.

Milat denied knowledge of the hacksaw and said the biscuits weren’t his, prompting one Corrective Services officer to joke: “Next, he’ll be trying to sue the biscuit company for providing a contaminated product.”

Meanwhile, Sydney University psychological anthropologist Dr Richard Basham said Milat would keep trying to escape.

“He certainly doesn’t feel people have the right to lock him up in prison just because he’s murdered a number of people,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.

A handcuffed — and bandaged — Milat is escorted from hospital after cutting off his finger.

In 2001, the NSW Parliament heard Milat had swallowed razor blades, paper staples and a tiny metal chain as part of an escape plan.

Milat said he was merely trying to draw attention to his plight and had wrapped the items in tape so he wouldn’t be hurt. But Minister John Watkins said: “Corrective Services believes his real agenda is to be moved to a medical facility or another prison. He may be looking for an opportunity to escape.”

In 2009, there was another bizarre incident when Milat hacked off his finger and put it in an envelope addressed to the High Court. The stunt ensured a trip to hospital but under tight security. Corrective Services Commissioner Mr Woodham had no sympathy for the high-profile inmate and serial self-mutilator: “He probably couldn’t count to 10 anyway,” he said.

In October last year, Milat’s seventh application for a review into his convictions for the murders of seven backpackers was dismissed.

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The gates of Maitland Jail, where Savvas and Milat plotted their escape.

THE BREAKOUT PLAN

Savvas and Milat, with the help of two other inmates, had a detailed if desperate plan to escape Maitland jail after lunch on a Saturday.

The men were to make an excuse to visit the prison reception storage room where inmates’ personal items, clothing and court documents were kept, then overpower the guards and tie them up.

They would take the guards’ uniforms and lash small ladders stored in the room together to make a structure that would get them over the 7m external wall, according to reports at the time.

“Everything they needed was in that room,” Mr Woodham said.

The inmates planned to make their way to a spot under the unmanned southwest tower, out of sight of two occupied guard towers, to scale the wall. Once they reached the top they could jump down 2m on to the officers’ mess roof and then down to the ground.

From there it was a quick dash across a park and nearby railway lines to waiting getaway cars.

“I think they thought that if the officers ran out the gate, they wouldn’t see them go down the bottom of the hill, across the railway line, where people would be there with getaway cars and assist them to escape,” Mr Woodham said in one interview.

“We believe it would never have worked. It was a very desperate attempt, but they were prepared to take that risk because of their desperation.”

Milat is taken by police to give evidence at the inquest into Savvas’ death.

Milat was taken out of jail to give evidence at Savvas’ inquest but did not address the escape plan, saying that he and Savvas spoke of “nothing spectacular” when they were in the prison yard together on the day of the planned breakout.

But another inmate accused the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption of fabricating the Savvas-Milat plot. “I thought ICAC was there to beat corruption. They were just blatantly trying to set George (Savvas) … up,” he told the inquest.

However, in other evidence the hearing was told the plot involved at least nine people, with two former inmates and three civilians part of the plan to help the four maximum security prisoners escape.

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Ron Woodham addresses the media at Maitland Jail after the escape bid was exposed.

HOW THE PLOT WAS FOILED

Chief ICAC investigator William Beale told the Savvas inquest an investigation codenamed Bengal was launched in April 1997 after a tip-off about a planned escape.

The police, ICAC and Corrective Services then went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the inmates would not get away, with one report claiming undercover “plants”, listening devices and hidden cameras were employed to monitor their plans.

“We were well aware of this plan, and we decided to let it go, to see who else might get involved,” Mr Woodham said.

The jail courtyard from which the prisoners planned to escape.

“We were one step ahead of the prisoners at all times.

“Savvas can’t tolerate jail he’s already escaped once and Milat, we believe, has become increasingly desperate over his legal options.”

Newspapers reports detailed the massive security operation put in place for the day of the planned breakout.

“Police marksmen were rostered to stake out a nearby carpark; prison staff armed with high velocity firearms secretly took up wall-top positions; and revolvers were handed out to selected staff,” The Sunday Telegraph said.

George Savvas — a former local councillor, pictured here before his arrest for drug offences — was 46 when he died.

Another report said an assault team was lying in wait for the inmates in the prison reception area, and two guards were hidden in the normally unmanned southwest tower.

They were expecting things to kick off after noon, but it was later suggested that Milat and Savvas had got word they would be walking into a trap.

When nothing had happened by 4pm, the authorities decided it was time to move in, and Savvas and Milat were taken from their cells.

Milat reportedly tried to flush a note with details of the escape down his cell toilet, and there was talk of “clandestine papers” hidden in Savvas’ cell, but both men denied the plot.

Milat was never charged over the escape bid but was moved to the high risk security unit in Goulburn Jail.

Savvas was laid to rest on May 23 1997. “He had a good side and it was just a shame he got mixed up with the people he did,” one mourner said.

Originally published as The man who tried to break out of jail with Milat