The real story of AUSTRALIA'S MOST NOTORIOUS ROBBER

CAN THE 'POSTCARD BANDIT' ESCAPE JAIL A THIRD TIME?

- By Emma Levett

Brenden Abbott was not your average bank robber. The man who was once Australia’s most wanted criminal and successfully escaped from two prisons, spent weeks planning each of his 40-plus heists.

The crim is estimated to have stolen more than $5 million from banks across the country during his heyday in the 1980s and ’90s, before his eventual capture and incarceration in Queensland.

Recognised as a “minor genius” for his meticulous planning, Abbott would stake out banks, observing staff, identifying weaknesses in security and memorising layouts. He then taught himself how to create convincing disguises with makeup and costumes, as well as creating fake IDs.

Abbott also reportedly helped carry out the country’s first ‘drop in’-style bank robbery, during which he and an accomplice held up the Belmont Commonwealth Bank in Western Australia after entering through the roof and threatening staff at gunpoint.