Clyde jailbird who conned prison guards so he could illegally call his girlfriend given more time inside
He made the wrong call – 18 times – when ringing his girlfriend from custody when he knew he wasn’t allowed to. The Clyde mechanic is back inside, and this time guards are more likely to keep a closer eye on exactly who he phones.
South East
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A cunning crook who conned a prison guard into allowing him to use a jail phone to illegally ring his girlfriend is back behind bars.
Michael Allsop was in custody over a series of assault, driving and court order breaches when he unlawfully called his partner 18 times.
The Clyde man told the guard he was ringing his male pal but instead was contacting his female friend.
Allsop pleaded guilty to driving offences and court and corrections order breach charges at Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The court heard on June 24 this year he was at the Melbourne Assessment Prison awaiting a court hearing when he asked a guard to make a call on his behalf.
He gave the officer the name of a mate but it was really his girlfriend’s number and the officer didn’t realise who was at the end of the line.
Over the next few weeks Allsop used the same ruse to ring the same woman again and again.
He was released from custody on July 27 onto a community corrections order, but just two weeks later he was seen by police riding an unregistered Harley Davidson in Clyde.
He was disqualified at the time, and the bike hadn’t been registered since 2017.
The owner of the Harley is deceased and investigations are continuing over how he came into possession of the bike.
Allsop also lied to the court by saying he was living at his father’s Crib Point address, but his dad didn’t want a bar of him staying there.
He has spent a majority of the last 18 months in jail, including a nine-month stretch last year, and breached community corrections orders four times.
Allsop, a diesel mechanic, told the court he had been on a “downward spiral” of ice and cannabis since a relationship break-up in 2017 and he “wants to correct that issue now”.
His lawyer said these offences were of a nonviolent nature and low level in seriousness.
But magistrate Julian Ayres disputed that, saying they couldn’t be more aggravating.
“It is repeated, recent and in circumstances where he knew he wasn’t allowed to.
“He didn’t care about the law whatsoever.”
Allsop was jailed for four months, minus 17 days he had already spent in custody.
He was also fined $750 and disqualified from driving for six months.
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