Feuding crims Gavin Preston and Chris Binse share special date

Not many in the underworld hate each other as much Gavin Preston and Chris Binse — but they have one thing in common. Andrew Rule and Mark Buttler with the latest crime buzz.

There’s no love lost between Gavin Preston and Christopher Binse.

Andrew Rule and Mark Buttler with their weekly dose of scallywag scuttlebutt.

BINSE AND PRESTON BIRTHDAY BUDDIES … NOT

Not many in the Australian underworld hate each other as much as Gavin Preston and Chris Binse.

The pair have been badmouthing one another for years. At one stage, Binse tracked Preston around town with a harebrained plan to kill him.

Police had a long, hard look at Preston over the shooting of Binse’s mate Toby Mitchell in front of the Bandido bikies clubhouse in 2011 — an offence he denies.

But it turns out the natural-born enemies have one thing in common — the same October birthday.

Binse gestures at photographers as he is led out of the Supreme Court. Picture: AAP

Gavin Preston (right) with notorious prisoner Matthew Johnson.

You can get extremely long odds against the proposition that they’ve ever shared the big day together with a nice sponge cake and party hats.

It emerged last week that Preston has an eye on parole and Deadline has been told he has been transferred to a less restrictive area of the prison system.

He is in the final stretch of a sentence for shooting North Melbourne drug dealer Adam Khoury.

The call on whether to parole Preston might generate a few grey hairs for those who have to make it.

He has a long history of violent crime and has made more enemies than Tim Smith.

FRANKLY, THEY DON’T GIVE A DAMN

In a world where statues are toppled and famous names removed from institutions, it’s interesting to see someone still managing to defy community standards.

Like former Geelong mayor Frank De Stefano, who still has a street named in his honour, according to our sources in Sleepy Hollow.

De Stefano Drive in North Geelong remains 18 years after the man after which it was named was sentenced to a maximum 10 years in jail for stealing $8.6m, including $5m from a quadriplegic victim.

Most of the money was blown at Crown casino, but some of it went towards school fees, a renovation and donations to the Geelong Football Club and the Liberal Party.

Apparently, it will take a formal request from the public and a suggested alternative name for Geelong council to consider making a change.

Frank De Stefano.

De Stefano leaves prison alongside his family in 2009.

FUNDS FROZEN

In the world of crime, some things never change. Take the eagerness of crooks to hide their cash in the freezer, which probably seemed like a new idea about the time decimal currency came in.

Police again found plenty of currency behind the crinkle-cut chips and Orange Frosties when they made a recent bust in the southern suburbs.

Maybe the crims like cold, hard cash or perhaps they delude themselves that the freezer won’t be one of the first places the cops look.

The method has even been immortalised in celluloid, thanks to Mark Brandon Read relieving Neville Bartos of his loot in Chopper.

Aussie crims freezing cash was immortalised on the big screen in Chopper.

A SAD REALITY

Amid an avalanche of annual reports the state government released last week was a survey giving stark insights into the background of young offenders in custody.

Alcohol, drugs and abuse affected the lives of many, if not most, of Victoria’s youth justice detainees.

Two thirds of the 145 young offenders surveyed by the Youth Parole Board had been the victims of abuse, trauma or neglect and almost half of them had experienced family violence.

More than half of them had been subject of a child protection order and 47 per cent had received mental health support.

Two-thirds of the 145 had a history of alcohol abuse and 89 per cent had a background of abusing illicit or prescription drugs. More than half had committed offences while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

A quarter had a history of self-harm or thoughts of suicide.

There were 134 parole orders made in 2020-2021, compared with 160 the previous year. This decline is not because the parole board is getting more lenient but because the courts are locking up fewer young offenders than in previous years. A fact of little comfort to those who have been robbed or bashed or carjacked.