Graham Potter arrest: Tully police officer Rod Stanley relieved ‘dangerous man’ finally in custody
A Far North police officer involved in the original hunt for Graham Gene Potter has revealed his guilty pleasure in seeing the horrendous life the fugitive was leading after putting “people through hell”.
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A FAR North police officer involved in the original hunt for Australia’s most wanted man has revealed his guilty pleasure in seeing the horrendous life the fugitive was leading while on the run.
Graham Gene Potter was escorted by federal police to the Cairns Airport for his extradition back to Victoria on Wednesday.
Under heavy police guard, the alleged Melbourne hit man now sporting a bushranger-style beard was rushed by photographers as he walked through the terminal.
Looking dishevelled, he remained tight-lipped after being bombarded with questions from reporters.
However he did utter a telling line, giving insight into life while evading capture for more than a decade, after being asked what he had been doing while on the run.
“Avoiding being killed,” he said.
Tully Police Officer in Charge Rod Stanley, 55, admitted feeling “satisfied” the fugitive had been afraid and living rough.
He was a sergeant at the rural police station in 2010 when they discovered his hide-out in the Greenway Caravan Park.
The night prior, the 64-year-old had evaded police during a random breath test after he fled into thick rainforest in the pouring rain.
“It was impossible for them to track him down with the reaction time they had,” he said.
“He could have gone three metres into the scrub and they would have had no chance in finding him.”
Despite numerous sightings in the Atherton Tablelands and Cassowary Coast regions in the following 12 years, law enforcement failed to locate him again.
Until now.
“You just think about the stress and the conditions he was living in for 10 years, it’s pretty satisfying,” Sgt Stanley said.
“The trauma he has put other people through and the families through, and the fear that they experienced initially and then the ongoing stress.
“It is satisfying that he had to live under those conditions when he has put those people through hell.”
Mr Potter will now face court on conspiracy to murder charges and be forced to confront his grisly past.
That past includes the murder of 19-year-old New South Wales shop assistant Kim Barry in 1981, with the court hearing he cut off her head and fingers after trying to seduce her on his bucks night.
He received a life sentence, serving 16 years before his release.
He will now face charges relating to allegations he was hired to kill underworld figure Mick
Gatto’s associates in 2008 at his son’s wedding, along with federal cocaine trafficking charges.
Neither Mr Gatto nor his son are suspected of wrongdoing.
Sgt Stanley said the master of disguise was a “dangerous man” and it was a relief to have him in custody.
He was also proud of Far North officers who played an instrumental role in his capture when they swooped on a ramshackle property in Ravenshoe.
“He was a dangerous man and that’s why he was number one (most wanted) there for a fair while and that’s why we never stop hunting these people,” he said.
“He’s had to live a life that is pretty ordinary.
“And to finally, in the end, be caught and to have to go through the whole process again.
“As they say, do the crime, do the time. But he didn’t want to do that.”
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Originally published as Graham Potter arrest: Tully police officer Rod Stanley relieved ‘dangerous man’ finally in custody
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