Russell St killer Craig Minogue secretly moved ahead of jail release
UPDATE: EVIL Russell Street bomber Craig Minogue is gearing up for freedom after being secretly moved to a pre-release country jail.
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UPDATE: RUSSELL Street bomber Craig Minogue is gearing up for freedom after being moved to a pre-release jail.
Evil Minogue has secretly been shifted to a country prison that focuses on preparation for release and drug rehabilitation.
The mother of Prue Bird, the teenager who police suspect also died on the orders of Minogue, said she was dismayed at his transfer.
“I’m not happy about him getting out,” Jenny Bird said.
Minogue has been shifted to medium security Loddon Prison, near Castlemaine.
Loddon is the last correctional system stop for many criminals nearing the end of long sentences.
Minogue has served 29 years in jail for the 1986 bombing, in which 21-year-old Constable Angela Taylor died.
Many others were injured when a car packed with explosives was detonated outside police headquarters.
Minogue bashed to death fellow inmate Alex Tsakmakis early in his jail term, but received no extra time.
Minogue could be eligible for parole within nine months.
Senior investigator Gary Eyers arrested Minogue in Swan Hill in 1986, and has questioned whether the community will be safe if he is released on parole.
“It doesn’t leave a good taste in your mouth,” he told 3AW.
He said it would be difficult for the family of Constable Taylor to hear that Minogue could soon be on the streets.
“How can you get over something like that? An innocent girl walking across the road and gets blown up for no reason at all except that they hate coppers,” he said.
In May, Minogue was banished to the state’s most secure jail, Barwon Prison, after being accused of urging violence on staff at Marngoneet Prison, where he had been on a program to prepare him for pre-release.
The Herald Sun understands Minogue spent just weeks at high security Barwon, before being transferred to Loddon.
Minogue remains a suspect in the 1992 murder of Prue, a 13-year-old schoolgirl from Glenroy.
Police reignited the investigation several years ago, convinced he organised the murder while in jail.
It was carried out by notorious murderer Les Camilleri, they suspect as revenge for her grandmother being in a relationship with a key bombing prosecution witness, Paul Hetzel.
Prue’s mother Jenny Bird said she accepted Minogue’s status as a suspect could not be considered at his parole hearing, but the situation was galling.
“I’m not happy about him getting out. If he is involved, him and the others have got away with it,” Ms Bird said.
Apart from the Tsakmakis killing, Minogue has had a clean record marked by academic achievement for the past two decades.
These factors are expected to weigh in his favour when the Adult Parole Board comes to make a decision on his release.
But in February the Herald Sun revealed police anger that he would effectively get a “freebie murder” for the Tsakmakis killing if he was granted parole at the earliest possible date.
The State Government website describes Loddon Prison as “a mainstream prison focusing on release preparation and drug rehabilitation.”
Corrections Minister Wade Noonan said community safety was the key to any release.
“Parole decisions are the responsibility of the independent Adult Parole Board,” Mr Noonan said.
“In all decision-making, the Board’s most important consideration is community safety.”