If you needed proof that Martin Bryant is a loser, you’ve got it

Intelligent people thought Martin Bryant enjoyed day release, was in a safe house, and that he hadn’t been the only one involved in the massacre. Ridiculous, all of it. And here is the proof.

I can’t tell you how many people said we wouldn’t be able to write a story about Martin Bryant.

From: “Good luck with that — nobody in Tasmania’s going to want to talk about Port Arthur,” to dire — though incorrect — warnings of powerful laws banning the mere mention of his name, it seemed everyone had a theory about why we couldn’t report on Australia’s worst mass killer.

CAGED MONSTER: SARAH BLAKE’S FULL MARTIN BRYANT INVESTIGATION

And there is one very good reason that gave us pause. Some who were touched by his crime and whose loved ones were among the 35 murdered and 23 injured in the 1996 massacre refuse to mention his name and don’t want him to receive any attention at all.

So please, if this is how you feel, stop reading now.

But for the rest of us, Sunday’s revelations of how he lives, the attacks he’s made on frontline prison staff and even photos showing how much he has changed, are not only important, they are a story many told me they wanted told.

And this is not just to draw attention to his continuing crimes and the risk those health and prison workers face every day. Or even the chilling fact that there are now as many firearms in Australia as there were before then PM John Howard’s powerful anti-gun laws and amnesty saw more than 600,000 weapons destroyed in the wake of the massacre.

It’s also because in the vacuum created by the Tasmanian government’s refusal to say anything about Bryant, a whole lot of really loopy conspiracy theories and urban myths have flourished. And it’s not just creepy blokes in darkened rooms gibbering on obscure threads about how Bryant was a patsy for the anti-gun movement.

Intelligent people have looked me in the eye and told me Bryant regularly enjoyed day release, was thought to be in a safe house as a reward for his part in the conspiracy, and most commonly, that he hadn’t been the only one involved in the massacre.

Ridiculous, all of it. But their easy response when the facts were pointed out has long been: “Where’s your proof?”

Well, here it is.

The last time we saw Martin Bryant, he looked like a fit, powerful, young man. Now, he’s a huge, middle aged, lonely and pathetic piece of work. An animal, caged in the prison where he will die.

And given we live in a world where some angry young men are increasingly turning to the same vile methods as Bryant did to draw attention to themselves, the images of a heavily-sedated lump who is wasting away could be considered a strong and important deterrent.

There’s no glory in being exposed as a loser, and that’s exactly what he is.

Twitter: @sarahblakemedia