Mongols bikie Shane Bowden leaves jail in stretch limousine with an entourage
After five years in prison, senior Mongols bikie Shane Bowden’s first steps of freedom led him straight into luxury, with a contingent of Mongols escorting him from the jail.
VIC News
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Senior Mongols bikie Shane Bowden walked straight from jail and into a stretch limousine this week.
Bowden was met by a contingent of Mongols – including Toby Mitchell – when he was released from Loddon Prison, near Castlemaine.
They travelled from Melbourne to central Victoria in convoy on bikes and with the stretch limo to collect Bowden.
Bowden had been in jail since 2015 over a home invasion in South Yarra.
Wearing night-vision goggles, dressed in camouflage gear and brandishing a knife, he kicked one victim in the head and stomped on his face before being given $700.
Bowden’s spell inside made headlines in 2017 when raunchy photos of a prison guard were found in his cell at maximum security Port Phillip Prison.
A corruption probe was launched after the pictures were found by Corrections Victoria staff.
The officer in the images was suspended and later resigned.
Loddon is a medium-security prison housing many inmates nearing the end of their sentences.
Bowden has spent most of the past two decades in jail, both here and in Queensland.
In 2006, while a member of the Finks, he shot Melbourne CBD killer Christopher Wayne Hudson in an infamous bikie brawl at a Queensland kick-boxing tournament.
The 47-year-old was once an accomplished cyclist who was admitted to the Australian Institute of Sport.
The Mongols backed Bowden during his latest stint in custody, via their Brothers Behind Bars support program.
His release comes at an interesting time for the gang.
They have been feuding with the Finks outfit, friction which has led to a series of shootings and drive-by gun attacks in the past year.
The Mongols were in January the target of a sweeping series of raids by homicide detectives investigating the drive-by shooting murder on EastLink last November of fruiterer Paul Virgona.
Two members were charged with his murder.
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