Ray Watson Bandits and thugs encountered over a long career
Police burst into the Deer Park house of sleeping crook Peter Gibb and pressed a shotgun barrel to his forehead. His response: “What’s happening boys?” These are the types of “colourful” characters Ray Watson dealt with during a career in the armed robbery squad.
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It’s hard to imagine now because they are so rare but, in 1987, there were more than 500 bank robberies across Australia.
Dangerous bandits like Chris Binse, Brendan Abbott, Peter Gibb and outfits like the Sledgehammer Gang were regularly pulling in big sums with dramatic heists.
Through the 1980s and 1990s I was a member of the Victoria Police armed robbery squad and eventually served as its officer-in-charge.
Some of the criminals under investigation were made even more dangerous by holding a belief that police had executed some of their outlaw comrades.
The notion was ill-founded but the truth is we were playing rugby league, not rugby union.
Most armed robbers said nothing, or only confessed when confronted with overwhelming evidence.
But I was blessed to work with colleagues like “The Gull” and “Mr Nasty”, who would not back down to any crook.
The armed robbery squad was a tough, precise environment and there was no place for clock watchers.
Here are some of the more colourful thugs and robbers we encountered.
PETER GIBB
I recall vividly performing a raid in the early hours one morning in 1990 looking for Peter Raymond Gibb.
He was asleep in a bedroom in Deer Park when we charged into the house first thing, wanting to arrest him over a supermarket payroll holdup.
A shotgun barrel was pressed against Gibb’s forehead with some force and I’ll never forget his response.
He said: “What’s happening boys?”
Gibb expressed no fear or any other emotion, only adding: “Are you going to use that?”
He was a nasty crook but one of the coolest customers I ever encountered.
In 1993 – with the help of his prison guard lover Kath Parker and some explosives – he escaped with Archie Butterly from the Melbourne Remand Centre.
Butterly was shot dead in the High Country while on the run with Gibb, who was captured soon after with the lovestruck Parker.
Gibb died in Frankston Hospital in 2011 in the period after being assaulted by a group of men at Seaford.
MICHAEL DEVLIN
He did not have the profile of Binse or Gibb but I never met a worse criminal.
Devlin was lower than a snake’s belly with no redeeming features and a long criminal history of drug use, violence, attacks on women and general thuggery.
In 1989, I was asked by a detective from another crew, whose sergeant was on leave, to assist with the arrest of Devlin, who was a suspect in a bank robbery in the northern suburbs.
We met the other crew at Greensborough the next morning and, at about 5am, parked near the suspect’s house, and were joined by a senior constable with a long-haired german shepherd dog.
Devlin came from a boxing background and we knew he wasn’t reluctant to use his fists.
I sent a crew to the rear of the house while we sledge hammered the front door and went in, finding Devlin asleep on a mattress on the floor.
Despite our indications of police attendance, he leapt to his feet and “came out swinging” before being knocked to the ground and, after a great deal of manhandling, handcuffed and arrested.
His rottweiler had exited the front door, looked in the direction of the police dog and bolted into some bushes nearby.
The police dog was sent to track it down, later returning covered in blood. The rottweiler didn’t make it back.
Devlin was taken back to Russell St and released after not being charged.
He then went home and beat his partner, who fled to her father on the other side of town.
Devlin became aware of this and confronted the father, who opened fire, killing the younger man.
The world is a better place without this criminal.
CHRISTOPHER DEAN BINSE
Binse was an armed robber and escapologist known for goading investigators with cards and letters.
I remember receiving one from Binse relaying best wishes to “Crazy” Ray Watson, Mark “Francis the Talking Mule” Harris and “Dirty” Dave Brodie.
Early in the 1990s, we grabbed Binse and charged him with a number of bank robberies in Victoria.
I was later approached by a detective sergeant who asked if he could bring Binse back to the squad because he wanted to confess to more bank hold-ups.
I agreed and signed the necessary paperwork for him to be conveyed from the cells but, after a short time, it became apparent he was going to make no further confessions and I ordered his return to Pentridge.
I spoke to Binse while he was at the squad and quickly formed the opinion he was a liar and malcontent.
Binse committed many crimes in Victoria and New South, escaping spectacularly in both states.
He was finally captured at a remote farmhouse at Glenlyon, near Daylesford.
I always had the opinion that Binse was constantly looking for a means to escape no matter where he was.
He was clever, or maybe just sly, and would tell you anything he thought you wanted to hear.
A more disagreeable person I have never met.
VICTORIA SOLOMON
Vicky was a class act who I remember vividly as Australia’s first lone female bank robber.
It was a hot Melbourne Christmas Eve in the late 1980s with almost no one in the armed robbery squad offices in St Kilda Rd, bar myself and detective Senior Sergeant Neil Edwards.
About midday, we received a report via D24 that a lone gunman had robbed a bank in Clarendon St, South Melbourne.
I reluctantly volunteered to attend, knowing I had little choice as the lowest ranking detective available.
At the scene were a lot of confused customers and mystified bank staff and I quickly ascertained that a lone male offender of average build, brandishing a pistol and riding a red motorcycle had been able to get away with a lot of cash.
Detectives “Mr Nasty” and “The Gull” arrived soon after and we were able to ascertain that the man in the suit was, in fact, a female.
We checked a number of the local police stations and discovered a woman in her 20s who looked like a good suspect.
Victoria Solomon was a motorcycle-riding drug addict of average build with a long criminal history.
After finding she had given a false address for her bail, we eventually were able to track her to a home in Windsor.
No one was home so we waited inside.
Vicki finally returned to her sanctuary and was taken by surprise when we emerged from hiding, identifying ourselves.
She immediately reacted, trying to punch the nearest detective, which was probably not her brightest idea.
Vicki was quickly brought to the ground and handcuffed before admitting she had hidden some cash in the hand tubing of some weights she regularly used.
She also admitted robbing the bank in Clarendon St and told us the handgun and other accessories had been placed in a safety deposit box in the Commonwealth Bank in Swanston Street.
Vicki pleaded guilty and served a term of imprisonment.
She is the only known female bank robber who acted alone.
THE VIOLET TOWN BANDITS
It was a case of Dumb and Dumber when two bandits struck at the Violet Town branch of the Commonwealth Bank in the late 80s.
The pair dressed up as women, one carrying a small, grey plastic box which had a flashing red light and nothing else protruding from it.
Upon entering the bank, the manager was handed the box and warned it would explode if the robbery was not successful.
The manager immediately threw the so-called bomb into the main street where it smashed to pieces on the road.
Strangely, one of the crooks had bought a chocolate milk before the crime and both were seen by everyone in Violet Town before they hit the bank.
Both were arrested at a police station in the northern suburbs the next day and later pleaded guilty.
– with Mark Buttler
MORE RAY WATSON:
QUIET BEER WITH THUG BEFORE ‘HOSTILITIES RESUMED’
POLITE, OLD, HEAVILY ARMED: THE HUNT FOR ‘GRANDPA HARRY’
Ray Watson was a member of the armed robbery squad at a time of 500 bank hold-ups a year nationwide.
He offers Herald Sun readers a unique insight into the squad’s pursuit of the bandits and killers behind the heists.
You can hear his stories on Andrew Rule’s Life and Crimes podcast.