Wayne Noel Maddeford faked documents to hide his past as a disgraced cop, armed robber and courtroom hostage-taker

A disgraced policeman and convicted armed robber tried to erase his past — and his role in an infamous Adelaide courtroom hostage drama — to keep his job as a labourer.

Wayne Noel Maddeford in September 1999, just minutes before he pulled out a knife and jumped the dock to take a court stenographer hostage.

A disgraced policeman and convicted armed robber tried to erase his past — including an infamous 1990s courtroom hostage crisis — to keep his labouring job, a court has heard.

On Monday, Wayne Noel Maddeford returned to the courthouse he brought to a standstill in September 1999 to face sentencing for fraud.

After passing through the very metal detectors and x-ray machines installed because of his offending, Maddeford asked the District Court for mercy — and understanding.

Eugene McGee, for Maddeford, said his client rebuilt his life after the siege but, when offered work on the RAAF base at Edinburgh, made a desperate choice for the sake of his family.

“He was required to produce a national police certificate … he was, as he later explained to his psychiatrist, boxed into a corner,” he said.

“If he produced a certificate unaltered, he would lose his employment with all the consequences for his family … his whole life revolves around his family.”

Maddeford, 50, has pleaded guilty to dishonestly dealing with documents in April 2014, when he worked for Urban Environs at Kilburn.

He further pleaded guilty to dishonestly dealing with documents between August and September 2015, when employed by Playford Council.

Maddeford, centre, in 1997 when he was arrested following his “inept” armed robbery.

Maddeford’s criminal history dates back to 1997, when he stole $12,000 from the John Martin’s department store.

Despite his then-lawyer dubbing the crime “inept”, Maddeford was jailed for six years — only to leap out of the dock brandishing a knife.

He held the weapon, which he had taped to his stomach, to the throat of a stenographer sparking an evacuation and tense five-hour siege.

On Monday, Mr McGee said Maddeford was released from prison in 2005 and worked in various roles until securing employment with Urban Environs.

Armed SA Police respond to Maddeford’s siege in 1999.

He said Maddeford’s time there ceased without discovery of his fraudulent certificate, which he submitted to secure full-time work with Playford.

“He was not required to produce the document as part of that process but he did, in any event, and the deal was done,” he said.

“It was disclosure by a fellow employee, who apparently found some material on the internet, that led to him being (discovered).”

Mr McGee asked the court to impose a simple bond or, at most, a suspended sentence.

“He’s embarrassed by finding himself engaged in this (court) process,” he said.

Prosecutors conceded Maddeford’s motives were “understandable” but deemed them inexcusable, urging the court to impose a prison term.

They said Maddeford made a “conscious and deliberate effort to erase the past”, saying convictions had no power if offenders were allowed to “lie about their own history”.

Judge Julie McIntyre will sentence Maddeford on Wednesday.

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