Revealed: When Barwon Prison’s most dangerous criminals will be released
Barwon Prison is home to some of Geelong and Victoria’s highest-profile criminals who were behind some of the most heinous acts. Here’s when they will taste freedom.
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Barwon Prison is home to some Geelong and Victoria’s highest-profile criminals behind some of the most heinous acts. Here’s when they will taste freedom.
MATTHEW ROBERT WALES
Wales gained notoriety in April 2002 when he murdered his mother and stepfather in what became widely known as the Society Murders.
The 34-year-old had invited millionaire socialites Margaret Wales-King, 69, and her husband, Paul King, 75, over for dinner with his wife and young son.
During the evening, Wales drugged the two victims by serving them vegetable soup with crushed blood pressure tablets to make them drowsy.
He then killed the pair as they left the house by clubbing them to the back of the neck.
The killer – the youngest of Wales-King’s five children – later attended the couple’s funeral where he was seen weeping. He confessed to the murders three days later.
Wales was sentenced to 30 years jail, with a minimum of 24 years, which will see him become eligible for parole in 2026.
He has served much of his time behind bars at Barwon Prison where he has been described as a model prisoner who is docile, helpful and obedient.
ABDUL BENBRIKA
Benbrika, a convicted terror cell leader, is one of the most notorious criminals who call Barwon Prison home.
The Algerian-born inmate has been locked up since November 2005 when authorities captured 17 men in Sydney and Melbourne and charged them with planning terrorist attacks in Australia.
A court heard Benbrika was involved in plotting bombings on Crown Casino and the MCG.
Benbrika, 61, was found guilty and sentenced to a 15-year jail term that expired in November 2020.
He remains in prison under an interim order that was made after the federal government made an application to the Supreme Court over a belief that he continues to pose an unacceptable risk to the community.
The detention order will see Benbrika locked up until at least 2023.
In November 2020, it was reported Benbrika had been moved to a new prison apartment-style block with a BBQ garden.
The $21m Piper detention facility was built to keep the state’s highest risk offenders behind prison walls after serving their term.
FRANCESCO MANGIONE
The 64-year-old is another infamous crook understood to call the maximum security prison on Bacchus Marsh Rd his home.
Mangione was convicted of the 2002 murder of his 26-year-old cousin, Denis Giunta, at the victim’s Williamstown home.
Giunta was killed after emerging from the shower and stepping into his bedroom where his wife lay sleeping.
The victim did not know Mangione was also there waiting with a homemade sword which he used to murder Giunta.
Mangione denied being responsible but was found guilty of murder after his DNA was found on the handle of the sword.
The stoush between the two relatives – both ice cream van operators – was linked to a 1993 fallout between their families that escalated a turf war between them.
Mangione, originally from Sicily, was jailed for up to 22 years, with his sentence to expire in 2024.
He was due to become eligible for parole last year.
JOHN HIGGS
Higgs is a veteran crook and one of the nation’s most notorious drug criminals.
The 74-year-old is housed at Barwon Prison after being convicted in 2012 for attempting to possess 15 million ecstasy tablets imported into Australia.
The drugs were hidden in 3000 tomato tins smuggled aboard a cargo ship that docked in Melbourne’s port in June 2007.
Higgs, known as “Teeth”, was a member of the so-called “Tomato Tins” syndicate that has been swept up in the Lawyer X fiasco.
He is appealing his conviction after it emerged authorities had been tipped off to the massive drug importation by lawyer-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo – aka Lawyer X – just weeks before it arrived.
Higgs has already served nine years of a minimum 14-year prison sentence.
He has spent much of his adult life behind bars. In 1999, he was jailed for conspiracy to traffic amphetamines and was also jailed for 12 years in 1970 for killing a man.
CHRISTOPHER ‘BADNESS’ BINSE
Binse is one of Australia’s most notorious criminals who has courted attention over several decades for armed robberies, shooting at police and escaping jails.
The 52-year-old is incarcerated at Barwon Prison where he is serving an 18-year sentence in complete solitary confinement.
Binse – dubbed “Australia’s weirdest criminal” by some media outlets – has been locked up since 2012 when he stole $235,000 from Armaguard officers and repeatedly shot at police during a 44-hour siege.
In 2016, his life story was published in a book authored by Australian writer Matthew Thompson.
He is understood to be housed in Barwon’s maximum-security Olearia unit.
In 2018, he had two weeks added to his jail term for hiding a computer stick containing “lesbian wrestling” videos in his cell.
Binse, who also goes by the name Christopher Pecotic, is expected to become eligible for parole in 2026.
GAVIN PRESTON
Preston is a convicted killer who is regarded as one of Victoria’s most dangerous prisoners.
Dubbed by police as “wrecking machine”, Preston is doing an 11-year term for shooting dead a drug dealer in an execution-style killing in February 2012.
Preston has made numerous enemies in the criminal world, including Christopher ‘Badness’ Binse, with the pair’s tumultuous feud believed to date back to 2006.
When Binse was released from jail in September 2011, he was told that Preston was set to kill him and others, including outlaw bikie Toby Mitchell.
In 2016, Preston was stabbed nine times in a vicious attack at Barwon Prison that is believed to have been carried out by notorious gang Prisoners of War.
Preston, 48, has been in and out of jail most of his adult life.
His current prison term is due to lapse in 2023, but he was expected to become eligible for parole earlier this year.
* The Department of Justice and Community Safety does not confirm the placement of individual prisoners “for safety and security reasons”, meaning one or more of the above prisoners may have been recently moved without public knowledge.
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