Bank robber. Fugitive. Womaniser. Comedian. Conman. Chameleon. How the Postcard Bandit put his stamp on Australia... and paid the price.
Shortlisted for the prestigious Ned Kelly crime writing awards, Derek Pedley's authorised biography of notorious professional criminal Brenden Abbott chronicles his extraordinary life on the run.
He escaped custody three times and was a fugitive for more than six years, using sophisticated disguises, fake identities and a series of safehouses to become the nation's most successful and feared bank robber, reaping millions of dollars.
They called him the Postcard Bandit, after a series of photos emerged of Abbott living the high life of a rich tourist at iconic Australian locations, and a cheeky snap he took of an accomplice outside a police station.
But when he escaped from a Queensland prison amid a hail of gunfire in 1997, police declared him public enemy No. 1. And when they finally caught him, he was cast into a specially built solitary confinement cell, and furious authorities set about trying to break his spirit with endless years of isolation.
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