Career Criminal Back Behind Bars

0:00It's March 24th, from your city to your ears. This is Adelaide News today, powered by AI. I'm Cory with the story. A 76-year-old career criminal known for murder, bank robberies, and prison escapes is back behind bars. Alexander Robert McDonald just finished a 22-year sentence in Queensland for nine armed hold-ups when police arrested him on Monday as he walked out. He's now been extradited to New South Wales to face charges from nearly 30 years ago. Those charges stem from two bank robberies in 1996. First, on October 28th in Cone of Arbran, west of Tamworth, he allegedly burst in with a shotgun, grabbed cash, and took a female customer. Hostage, until he reached his getaway motorcycle. Three months later, in Laureatin on the mid-north coast, he did it again, this time holding a staff member until he could drive off. McDonald's rap sheet goes way back. In the 1980s, he got 22 years in Queensland for those nine robberies.

1:00He escaped in 1995, robbed another bank in Western Australia, and then murdered a man named Ron Williams in early 1997, taking his identity before getting caught. After a life sentence in Western Australia, with a 25-year minimum, he finished that term and returned to Queensland to complete his original sentence. But those old New South Wales warrants from 1997 caught up with him right away. Police charged him Tuesday with two counts of armed robbery and two counts of unlawful detention. Bale was denied, and he'll be in court today as his long legal saga continues.