There must be an art to disappearing. To go, as they say, off the grid. We live in a world with phones, credit cards and CCTV. Daily we leave an electronic footprint bigger than a woolly mammoth in snow.
And then there is fugitive Graham Gene Potter who (until Monday) managed to evade police for 12 years. Whether he will tell police his tricks will be a matter for him and whether police will tell us how they caught him, a matter for them.
Officers arrest wanted fugitive Graham Potter in far north Queensland on Monday.Credit:Queensland Police
The raid was conducted in far north Queensland based on what police say was “information received,” which means someone may be eligible for the $100,000 reward on offer. There have been hundreds of alleged sightings, dozens of police appeals and just as many TV specials dedicated to finding him. But as is often the case, it came down to one phone call.
What we do know is that as an alleged would-be hit man Potter knew how to fly under the radar. For a headline act, Potter knew how to be average. Clearly he was not the type to have a Facebook profile or to want to be an Instagram influencer.
Judging by the squalid conditions in the house he was living in, prison will be a welcomed upgrade.
As is usual when he was arrested, Potter denied he was the wanted man although when the fingerprints matched he basically said to the cops, “OK, you’re too good for me”. Sometimes for the fugitive it can be a relief. Aged in his mid 60s, life on the run couldn’t have been much fun.
In August 2008, he was charged with drug trafficking and eight months later with three counts of conspiracy to murder. He jumped bail on February 1, 2010. That was six Prime Ministers ago.
As he has been remanded and will be extradited to face these charges it will be up to juries to decide the merits of the case. Suffice to say that if the police allegations are true, Potter was a better escapee than hit man because on two occasions on his way to jobs his car broke down.
Police will allege he was recruited as a hitman by a mafia identity after they met when Potter was serving 16 years for killing and dismembering Wollongong teenager Kim Barry in 1980.
He was arrested at a little town called Ravenshoe, just 128 kilometres from where he was last seen, at Tully on August 28, 2010. Back then he was moments from arrest when he bolted during a routine car check by police. He was one of three drifters camping at a nearby caravan park who teamed up that night to go to a concert. When police stopped the car, they ran. One was grabbed at the scene, a second was arrested a short time later and the middle-aged man dressed only in a pair of jeans escaped into the tropical scrub. It was Potter.
There was speculation he was eaten by a crocodile or killed by a mafia hit team. Yesterday his arrest was more routine.
The conditions he was living in and his immediate future in a police cell seem to indicate that for Potter, crime certainly didn’t pay.
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2022-02-21 08:40:15Z
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