Escaped killer led police on a 130km/h car chase

A convicted killer who escaped from the maximum-security wing of a prison by using a set keys he’d been given to play with led police on a 130km/h car chase before crashing and rolling the vehicle six times.

Malcolm Morton, 26, who stabbed his uncle to death when he was 14, managed to escape from the jail in the Northern Territory town of Alice Springs in April 2017.

Morton escaped during a regular visit to a mental health specialist within the prison complex after a health department worker gave him a set of keys to occupy him, Sky News reported.

  

Malcolm Morton, who stabbed his uncle to death aged 14, escaped from Alice Springs jail in April 2017

The Aboriginal prisoner escaped during a visit to this mental health facility within the prison

The Aboriginal prisoner escaped during a visit to this mental health facility within the prison

The diabetic Aboriginal man, who has an intellectual disability, used the keys to steal a Health Department’s Landcruiser before leading police on a 30km chase.

A corrections officer who was heading back to the prison from the Alice Springs Hospital first spotted Morton speeding down Hatt Rd and alerted authorities, according to NT News.

‘They didn’t believe their eyes. He nearly cleaned them up,’ a source told the publication.

Morton ran at least one car off the road during the ordeal, terrifying the four passengers inside.

The high-speed chase ended when a bald tire on the Health Department’s Landcruiser blew out, causing the car to roll eight times, the NT News reported.

Morton spent the following week recovering from serious injuries in hospital.  

Two Department of Health public servants resigned over the escape while Northern Territory Health Minister Natasha Fyles ordered a critical incident review.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner confirmed the story and said it was unacceptable for the government to have withheld that information from the public for nine months.

‘The public should have been made aware of this incident as soon as possible. This didn’t happen and that’s not good enough,’ he said in a statement provided to Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.

‘We have asked that protocols about informing the public be improved to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

‘The public should expect to be notified when these sorts of incidents occur.’

Malcolm Morton, who has an intellectual disability, is housed in the secure wing of the prison

Malcolm Morton, who has an intellectual disability, is housed in the secure wing of the prison

A month before Morton’s escape, Mr Gunner taunted the previous Country Liberal government for presiding over the escape of convicted killer and rapist Edward Horrell from an Arnhem Land work camp in 2015.

‘We have not had a situation under Labor where an axe-murdering rapist has been on the loose,’ he told reporters in March 2017.

Northern Territory Opposition Leader Gary Higgins said the government had engaged in a cover-up about a dangerous killer being on the loose.

‘The question must be asked, why did the Labor government not tell Territorians and the media about the incident in April 2017?,’ Mr Higgins said on Wednesday.

‘Despite ordering a ‘critical incident review’, this government seemingly did what it could to conceal the issue and it is time for the minister responsible to explain herself and apologise to Territorians.’

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said it was 'not good enough' how it took nine months for the public to be informed

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said it was ‘not good enough’ how it took nine months for the public to be informed

Alice Springs Correctional Centre general manager Bill Yan said Morton was a high-maintenance prisoner who had special dietary requirements due to his diabetes.

‘His management is extremely complex. We have a specific management plan for Malcolm,’ he told Sky News.

‘His meals are individually cooked to make sure he’s not getting anything that may upset his blood sugar levels.’

Morton had been housed in a special cell in Alice Springs since 2009 because there are no other dedicated prisons in the Northern Territory for the mentally impaired.

In 2016, former Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs condemned the treatment of Morton, and 10 other intellectually disabled prisoners in the Northern Territory, who had been forcibly restrained.  



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