Champion body builder facing deportation to UK
A champion Melbourne body builder is facing deportation to the UK, with police using a detailed dossier of the Mr Universe winner’s activities to allege he is of bad character.
VIC News
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A Melbourne Mr Universe title winner faces deportation from Australia after being arrested in recent days.
Muscle man Gary Lewer – a three-time world champion body builder – is languishing in immigration detention following his arrest in Melbourne last Thursday.
Mr Lewer, 64, is set to be sent back to England, the country he left as a child.
Victoria Police is believed to have provided Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton with a detailed dossier on Mr Lewer’s activities.
These were used to support allegations he is of bad character.
He was in 2013 charged over what police at the time believed was the biggest-ever seizure of precursor materials in Victoria.
Police arrested him over an operation involving the substance sodium 3-oxo4 phenylbutanoate, which they alleged had the capacity to produce ice worth $500 million.
The investigation centred on an enormous importation of chemicals from China.
The charges against Mr Lewer, and his co-accused, nephew Shaun Cousens, were later withdrawn by prosecutors.
But Federal authorities locked him up last week on what are believed to be “character” provisions which allow deportations to be carried out under some circumstances.
A Change.org petition put together by Mr Lewer’s supporters says he has been admitted to hospital seven times in the past year with antibiotic-resistant septicaemia.
The petition – put together by Shaun Cousens – says he is facing a “death sentence” in immigration custody because of the risk of coronavirus.
“He has nothing in England and nowhere to go there,” the petition said.
Mr Lewer has long been of interest to law enforcement.
But his supporters say there is no evidence supporting the allegations presented to Mr Dutton.
“Gary arrived here when he was 5 years old, a “ten pound pom” as many thousands of Australians did,” the petition argues.
“He inspired thousands of people into fitness and good health.”
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