2008 to return to the state to complete his sentence. In 2004 Queensland authorities approved an interstate transfer but Western Australian Attorney-General Jim McGinty refused to accept him. In early 2007, Abbott re-applied to be transferred to Western Australia and that was approved by the Queensland Attorney-General in 2008. However, former WA Corrective Services Minister, Margaret Quirk, promptly released a media statement rejecting Abbott's bid to return home. Abbott had unsuccessfully applied for transfer to Western Australia four times in response to outstanding warrants. In May 2010, Glenn Cordingley of The Sunday Times in Perth, cited an unnamed Western Australian police source who alleged that WA authorities "had a cell waiting" for Abbott, although there had been no official confirmation of such. On 4 May 2016, Abbott was extradited back to Western Australia to serve out his sentence of 16 years, nine months and two days that he was serving for armed robberies and his role in the Fremantle Prison riot at the time of his escape in 1989 (12 years, six months and 24 days plus an additional one-third penalty of four years, two months and eight days in forfeited remissions for escaping custody under the law then extant). On 16 January 2017, Abbott was sentenced to an additional and cumulative five months' imprisonment for the 1989 escape. In June 2019, Abbott had a bid for freedom unanimously rejected by the WA Court of Appeal. Lawyers argued the sentence should be reduced because he already spent 17 years in prison in Queensland for crimes committed before he escaped Fremantle Prison in 1989. The court said the original sentences were appropriate, and it would not intervene on the basis of mercy, noting Abbott had also deliberately committed subsequent crimes that led to his imprisonment in Queensland. He will be eligible for parole in Western Australia in July 2026, and his Western Australian sentence will expire in July 2033. If no further charges are laid against him, he will remain on parole in Queensland until July 2040, when he will be 78 years of age. See also Fremantle Prison riot References AAP, Postcard bandit denied computer, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 March 2006 Pedley, Derek, Australian Outlaw – The True Story of Postcard Bandit Brenden Abbott, Sly Ink, 2006. Pedley, Derek, No Fixed Address – The Hunt for Brenden James Abbott, HarperCollins Australia, 1999. 1962 births Australian bank robbers Australian escapees Living