Barkly mayor Jeff McLaughlin recounts moment prison escapee appeared in his backyard

A LOCAL mayor has recounted the moment a prison escapee who sparked a five-day manhunt appeared in his backyard and asked to bum a cigarette.

BARKLY Mayor Jeff McLaughlin has recounted the moment a prison escapee who sparked a five-day manhunt appeared in his backyard and asked to bum a cigarette.

Police say three men – Richard Henwood, 37, Maximus Cutta, 20, and Ezra Austral, 23 – escaped the Barkly work camp on Saturday night after removing their electronic monitoring ankle bracelets.

Henwood and Cutta were arrested in Tennant Creek on Thursday evening and Austral was arrested a few hours later.

Mr McLaughlin was having a beer after knocking off work on Thursday when he heard a loud bang on his backyard fence.

Barkly Mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin did not expect the loud bang at his fence to be prison escapee Richard Henwood.

He initially thought it was his dog, but soon discovered it was in fact a man who police allege was 37-year-old Henwood..

“There was a dude in a black hoodie, like winter wear, and I was like ‘that’s not the right attire to wear in the middle of summer,” he told ABC Radio.

“I went ‘Oi!’.

According to Mr McLaughlin, the man said “I’m on the run!” to which the mayor responded with something to the effect of “No s**t Sherlock”.

The man proceeded to ask to bum a cigarette off the mayor, to which Mr McLaughlin obliged.

The mayor said he initially considered launching a taekwondo attack on the man but ultimately decided to give him a smoke to tell him “(F**k) off”.

By Mr McLaughlin’s account, he then went over to his neighbour, who is a cop, and called triple-0.

L-R, Richard Henwood, Maximus Cutta and Ezra Austral escaped the Barkly Work Camp in Tennant Creek. Picture: Supplied/NT Police

“My wife was actually inside and I think she was pretty much grabbing the kitchen knife and I was just like, ‘that’s my backup plan’,” he said.

“We yelled ‘Oi!’ to my neighbour … then I ran out and then watched him go towards someone else’s house and I thought ‘Nup!, I’ll just follow him’. I stayed on the phone to triple-0 and then when they came out they were backed up by the best as citizens were on patrol there.”

Mr McLaughlin said the Tennant Creek community was relieved after being on edge for some time over the prisoners being on the loose.

As part of a five-day hunt, police used K-9 dogs, drones and tactical response officers to search for the escapees.