Australia’s most wanted man may not look like a dangerous criminal but he has a shocking record of violence and police have been unable to find him for eight years.
Graham Gene Potter’s most notorious crime was the murder of 19-year-old shop assistant Kim Barry, whose head and fingers he cut off after trying to seduce her on his buck’s night in 1981.
Having served 15 years for Kim’s murder, the ‘head and fingers killer’ went to work for senior mafia player Paquale Barbaro, after meeting him inside.
Potter is now wanted for conspiring to murder two underworld figures and for his alleged involvement in a 4.4 tonne $440million ecstasy haul.
Graham Gene Potter (pictured in 2009) is Australia’s most wanted man. He is wanted for two counts of conspiring to murder. Potter served 15 years in jail for murdering Kim Barry in 1981

Shop assistant Kim Barry was 19 when she met Graham Gene Potter, 23, at a Wollongong disco on Potter’s buck’s night in February 1981. He murdered her then cut off her fingers and head


Killer Graham Gene Potter captured on CCTV at a caravan park in Tully, far north Queensland, on August 23, 2010. Potter ran from police who pulled his car over in Tully just five days later
The average-looking Potter has been described as a master of disguise and despite regular nationwide pleas from police has managed to evade capture since skipping bail in 2010.
There have been reported sightings of the now 60-year-old in several Australian states including rural New South Wales.
Unconfirmed sightings were made of Potter in Griffith in the state’s Riverina district in July 2016, one in a shop and another in a gym.
Earlier unconfirmed sightings at Tocumwal in the southern Riverina and Cobram on the Victorian side of the Murray River led to a larges scale search in 2013.
Potter is accused of planning to murder two men, including an associate of Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto, over disputes within a drug syndicate.
He is also wanted on federal drug charges over a 2008 ecstasy haul of 15 million tablets smuggled inside tomato tins.

Graham Gene Potter served 15 years in prison for Kim Barry’s murder. He skipped bail in February 2010 on two charges of conspiring to murder and over a $440million ecstasy haul

Police say Graham Gene Potter, pictured on CCTV, is a master of disguise who could be camping in the bush. There have regularly been unconfirmed sightings of the fugitive
Potter was arrested in Tasmania, extradited to Victoria and granted bail for those charges, with many believing he had been assisting investigators by turning on his co-accused.
Police have said Potter was capable of living rough but could be staying in caravan parks or remote camp sites. It has been suggested he has sometimes found work picking fruit.
Victoria Police’s Detective Superintendent Peter De Santo said last year it was possible Potter was living in the outback.
‘With the passage of time, he could have put on weight, his hair could have receded, his hair could have grown,’ Detective Superintendent De Santo said.
Potter is back in the news after being named as one of 10 fugitives wanted under Operation Roam: Rogue Radar, a public appeal coordinated by Crime Stoppers with the help of state police.
And while Potter is just one of the targets who appear in that annual appeal, for police he is always top of the list.


Graham Gene Potter pictured in police mugshots when he was 18, five years before he murdered 19-year-old shop assistant Kim Barry in his home at Corrimal, south of Sydney

Graham Gene Potter went to work for mafia figure Pasquale Barbaro after his release from prison. Barbaro was jailed for a minimum 30 yeas for his role in a $440m ecstasy importation
‘He’s number one across the nation and we want him,’ Detective Superintendent De Santo said last year.
Potter is Caucasian, 175cm tall, with a medium build, with fair complexion, brown eyes, brown, greying hair and has sometimes worn a ginger beard.
Also calling himself Josh Lawson and Peter Anderson, the bespectacled Potter has been known to wear a gold sleeper in both ears and a gold chain around his neck.
In the past he has used the aliases John Page, Jim Henderson and Peter Adams.
Potter should not be approached. He is considered extremely dangerous.
While on the run Potter has dyed his hair and worn layers of clothes to make himself look heavier.
There has been at least one close call for the fugitive. He was pulled over by Queensland police in a routine stop at Tully in the state’s north in August 2010 but ran from the car and escaped.
After another set of reported sightings in August last year Detective Superintendent De Santo described how Potter had managed to avoid arrest for so long.
‘It’s the disguises, it’s his criminal entity network and it’s his ability to blend into the community,’ he said.

‘Head and fingers killer’ Graham Gene Potter has used his average looks to blend into his surroundings for the past eight years. He is a master of disguise and extremely dangerous
‘This man is dangerous… he has a significant criminal history.
‘He has significant organised criminal connections, he has priors for murder, he is wanted in connection to a large commercial quantity of drugs.’
Kim Barry’s murder was horrific.
Potter, then a 23-year-old coal miner, knew Kim from dance classes they both took and ran into her at the Crown Gardens disco in Keira Street, Wollongong, during his buck’s night on February 6, 1981.
The pair went back to Potter’s Corrimal flat where he bashed her to death before returning to the disco. Police believe Kim may have rejected Potter’s sexual advances.
The next morning Potter used a hacksaw to cut off Kim’s head and fingers.
Her body was found near a mountain lookout at Jambaroo and her head and fingers were located inside a garbage bag about 1km away three weeks later.
Potter was sentenced to life and served 15 years before being released in October 1996.
Anyone who knows the whereabouts of Graham Gene Potter is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.