Tony Dwaine Morgan faces Toowoomba Magistrate Court on driving offences

A convicted murderer, who was handed a life sentence in 1999, and had his parole suspended after he crashed his car east of Toowoomba, has faced court.

A convicted murderer who was once one of the most wanted people in the country following a daring prison escape has once again faced a magistrate after crashing a car while on ice.

Tony Dwaine Morgan, 41, appeared in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to two charges of driving a motor vehicle without a licence (demerit point suspended) and driving while a relevant drug was present in his system.

The court was told police responded to reports of a motor vehicle crash on Grantham-Winwill Road about 5.15pm on July 3 last year.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Alister Windsor said when police arrived they found a vehicle crashed and Morgan was taken to Toowoomba Hospital as a result, where further checks revealed that he had been driving on a suspended licence.

A blood sample taken by the hospital also revealed methylamphetamine in Morgan’s system at the time of the crash.

Just one month later Morgan was stopped by police in Toowoomba again driving on a licence that had been demerit point suspended.

Sergeant Windsor said Morgan told police he thought he had a “good behaviour” licence, and the only reason he was driving was because he was taking a passenger to Toowoomba Hospital.

Morgan’s solicitor Ryan McCullough, of MacDonald Law, said his client was on parole after he was convicted and sentenced in 1999 of murder in Bundaberg, and the driving offences saw his parole suspended.

Magistrate Graham Lee disqualified Morgan from holding a driver’s licence for 13 months, and he was convicted but not further punished for the offences.

In 2014 Morgan made headlines across the country when he and another man escaped from a Capricornia Correctional Centre farm and spent three days on the run.