Prison escapee and serial criminal Jason Burdon suffered two cracked ribs during his arrest, court told

He escaped jail with a bedsheet ladder and admits 45 separate crimes – now Jason Burdon claims police were too rough when taking him back into custody.

After months of amalgamation, the complete extent of a prison escapee’s crimes can be revealed as he finally faces sentencing submissions on dozens of charges

But the focus of court discussion diverted from Jason Burdon’s crimes when it came to the subject of his arrest by STAR Group officers on December 2, 2020 last year.

Burdon, 34, escaped from the Adelaide Remand Centre in a brazen breakout where he slipped down a tied sheet and jumped two storeys to freedom. He remained on the run for a day and half.

Jason Burdon has pleaded guilty to a lengthy crime spree.

In the District Court on Monday, Greg Tonkin, for Burdon, said police had used “excessive force” in their arrest.

The court heard officers had broken a passenger window and dragged Burdon through it during the arrest.

Mr Tonkin claimed Burdon had been struck to the head multiple times by officers while he was sitting in the car.

Video footage played to the court of Burdon in the back of an ambulance showed blood streaming down his face as he begged a paramedic to wash pepper spray out of his eyes.

Karen Ingleton, prosecuting, said the arrest could be described as “heavy-handed” and that Burdon had been injured, but she said it was not the prosecution case that there was excessive force.

Broken glass and blood can be seen on an Eden Hills driveway – the spot where Adelaide Remand Centre escapee Jason Burdon was arrested. Picture: Gabriel Polychronis

Mr Tonkin said Burdon has spent almost a year in solitary confinement following his arrest.

However, Judge Simon Stretton said the decision to keep him in strict conditions was not surprising given Burdon’s previous escape.

Ms Ingleton pointed to established case law which noted that if a prisoner’s solitary confinement was a result of their own behaviour, it was not to be a mitigating factor at sentence.

Burdon pleaded guilty to a significant number of outstanding charges.

His total number of offences before the court include:
■ 3 counts of using a motor vehicle without consent.
■ 1 count of aggravated commit assault.
■ 21 counts of dishonestly dealing with property without consent.
■ 1 count of driving under disqualification.
■ 3 counts of dishonestly receive property without consent.
■ 3 counts of serious criminal trespass.
■ 2 counts of aggravated serious criminal trespass.
■ 1 count of unlawfully on premises.
■ 1 count of making off without payment.
■ 2 counts of failing to comply with bail.
■ 5 counts of failing to hold a learners licence.
■ 1 count of robbery.
■ 1 count of escaping from custody.

Jason Burdon escaped from the Adelaide Remand Centre using this makeshift ladder made out of bedsheets. Pic Tait Schmaal.

Burdon slipped through this ceiling vent in a toilet to get into the Remand Centre’s crawlspace.

The court heard that Burdon had stolen heirlooms and jewellery which were considered priceless from a home in the inner southern suburbs on October 15, 2020.

He made off with almost $60,000 worth of jewellery, only a fraction of which was recovered.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the owner of the property said her sense of security in the house had been shattered and priceless memories stolen.

“It was our dream home. We had saved and sacrificed to afford it and then spent more than a year renovating it,” she wrote.

“I literally felt like I had died on the inside. I was emotionally crippled. You took away our sense of home.”

Burdon was found guilty of carjacking and violently assaulting a man at Clarence Gardens in May 2019 following a trial in the District Court.

He admitted having committed a break-in and stolen another car – which he drove dangerously – earlier that night, in a spree that ended in a rooftop stand-off with police.

Burdon will be sentenced in December.