19 Most Dangerous Prisoners Locked Up In Australia

19 - Christopher Binse

Known as "Badness" and at times as "Christopher Dean Pecotic," Christopher Binse is an Australian career criminal, notable for his history as an armed robber and prison escapee.

Binse is a convicted armed robber, having been convicted of the crime seven times. He pleaded guilty to a string of seven unsolved armed robberies that occurred between 1988 and 1991.

One of his recent convictions stems from a 2012 armed robbery of a Melbourne hotel where he stole $235,000 and was involved in a 44-hour siege at his home where he fired shots at police officers.

His crimes also include shooting at police, methamphetamine abuse, and being an expert escape artist. By the age of 24, he had accumulated 96 convictions.

He has attempted to escape from custody six times and succeeded twice and gained notoriety for taunting police while on the run, even sending Christmas cards and placing advertisements in a newspaper.

Binse has spent the majority of his life since age 13 in custody. It has been reported that he has spent 29 of the past 33 years in prison. For the 2012 armed robbery and shooting at police, he was sentenced to a maximum of 18 years and two months in jail.

He is currently incarcerated in HM Barwon Prison in Lara, Victoria, where he is reported to be serving a lengthy sentence in complete solitary confinement.

18 - Brian Keith Jones

Born in 1947, Jones was also known as Brendan John Megson and was nicknamed "Mr. Baldy" because he would often shave his victims' hair during his attacks.

Convicted of the abduction and assault of six people, he pleaded guilty to 17 charges, including six of assault on a male under 16, six of abduction, two of burglary, and two of theft.

Shortly after being paroled, he attacked a young victim and abused the victim's six-year-old brother within weeks. He was convicted of three counts of assault.

A judge referred to him as an "absolute menace" from whom "no child was safe." During a prior incarceration, he had sent tape recordings to another child molester about a plan to "establish a community in an isolated area involving a "secret society."

He was sentenced to 14 years jail with a non-parole period of 12 years for the 1979-1980 offences. He was paroled in 1989 after remissions. Following the parole breaches, he was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 12 years.

He was eligible for parole in August 2003 and was eventually released from HM Prison Ararat in July 2005 with "the strictest parole conditions ever given to a Victorian prisoner."

In August 2006, he was arrested and imprisoned indefinitely for multiple breaches of his parole conditions after being caught wandering the streets of Ararat in breach of his supervision order.

17 - Evangelos Goussis

Australian former boxer and kickboxer Goussis was found guilty of the murders of two victims of the Melbourne gangland killings.

For the murder of Lewis Caine on May 8th, 2004. Goussis claimed self-defense at trial, stating Caine had fired a gun that jammed, which prompted Goussis to shoot him in the head. Goussis was convicted by a jury on May 3rd, 2006.

For the murder of Lewis Moran on March 31st, 2004, at the Brunswick Club. Goussis was found guilty by a jury on May 29th, 2008.

He was also under investigation for the murder of Shane Chartres-Abbott, but a jury found Goussis and two other co-accused not guilty for that murder on July 8th, 2014.

Goussis was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years and he is currently imprisoned and serving time in the Acacia unit at Barwon prison.

He and his lawyers have sought to argue that prosecutors and police breached legal disclosure obligations when he stood trial for the murder of Lewis Moran.

16 - Gregory Brazel

Brazel has been convicted of 37 offenses from fifteen court appearances between March 1983 and August 2000 and the most serious of these include three murders, false imprisonment, armed robbery and contempt of court.

In 1982, Brazel shot and killed Mildred Hanmer during an armed robbery at her hardware and gift store. Brazel voluntarily confessed to this murder in August 2000.

Brazel murdered sex worker Sharon Taylor in 1990 while on early release from prison before attacking and killing another sex worker, Roslyn Hayward later that year.

Brazel is currently serving three consecutive life sentences with a non-parole period of 30 years and became eligible for parole in 2020 but, as of 2024, is still incarcerated at HM Prison Barwon in Victoria, Australia.

Brazel has been described as one of the most manipulative and violent prisoners in Victoria's prison system and has continued to regularly offend while incarcerated.

In November 1991, he took a staff member hostage at HM Melbourne Assessment Prison, has been assaulted by fellow inmates and, in 2006, he was caught collecting personal information related to senior prison staff.

15 - Ashley Coulston

Coulston was convicted of multiple offenses, most notably a triple murder in 1992, and earlier crimes that occurred throughout his life.

On April 19, 1971, at the age of 14, Coulston abducted two female school teachers, Halinka Watson and Carol Scott, at gunpoint with a .22 rifle. He planned the abduction in advance, kept the teachers under surveillance, stole money, and forced them to drive him interstate toward Sydney.

On July 29th, 1992, in Burwood, Coulston murdered three people: Kerryn Henstridge, Anne Smerdon, and Peter Dempsey. The victims were hogtied using cable ties and shot "execution style" in the back of the head with a sawn-off .22 rifle fitted with a home-made silencer.

On September 1st, 1992, in inner Melbourne, Coulston attempted to abduct a couple on St Kilda Road, using the same weapon and cable ties from the earlier murders.

He took money from the couple, but the male victim overpowered him, allowing the couple to escape and alert security guards. Coulston fired at the guards, hitting one in the hip, before being arrested by police.

No motive was established for the murders, as Coulston exercised his right to remain silent during the trial.

Coulston was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences, to be served with an additional seven-year sentence for the remaining offenses. He is detained at HM Prison Barwon.

14 - Bandali Debs

Bandali Debs was convicted of four murders that took place between 1995 and 1998 and was also convicted of armed robbery. His murder of Donna Ann Hicks occurred in April 1995 in New South Wales and he was linked through DNA analysis and was convicted of her murder on December 12th, 2011.

The murder of Kristy Mary Harty occurred in June 1997 after she had met with Debs, and the two drove to a secluded track. DNA evidence again matched Debs.

Two Victoria Police officers were shot and killed in Moorabbin, Victoria, on August 16th, 1998, while conducting surveillance as part of an armed robbery investigation and Debs was convicted of both murders in February 2003.

He was noted for recruiting young individuals, including his daughter's boyfriend, to assist him in a series of armed robberies.

He and his accomplice would point loaded weapons at customers and staff, force them to lie face down, and have their hands and feet bound while taking possessions and restaurant takings.

Bandali Debs is currently serving a sentence of four consecutive life sentences plus 27 years without parole. Each of the four murder convictions resulted in a consecutive term of life imprisonment.

Debs is detained at HM Prison Barwon in Victoria. He has also given evidence from Goulburn prison in New South Wales for a re-trial in one of his cases.

While imprisoned, Debs has undertaken psychology classes, life skills, and computer training, and is employed as a prison carpet cleaner. He has also been considered a suspect in numerous other unsolved crimes.

13 - Dante Arthurs

On June 26th, 2006, Arthurs , an employee at the Livingston Shopping Centre in Canning Vale, Western Australia abducted eight-year-old Sofia Rodriguez-Urrutia Shu who was shopping with her family.

Arthurs followed her and grabbed her after she left the female toilets, dragging her into a nearby disabled toilet cubicle and locking the door before attacking her.

In November 7, 2007, Arthurs was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 13 years for the murder of Sofia Rodriguez-Urrutia Shu. He was also sentenced to two years for the unlawful detention charge.

As of June 2023, Arthurs is imprisoned in Casuarina Prison and has been warned by Justice McKechnie that he "may never be released," and has "no entitlement to release, merely an entitlement to consideration for release."

Due to issues with forensic analysis being unable to conclude if the assault occurred before or after death, and a judge ruling his confession inadmissible due to overbearing police interview techniques, Arthurs pled guilty to the lesser charge of of murder and unlawful detention.

As of June 2023, Arthurs is imprisoned in Casuarina Prison.

12 - Bevan Spencer von Einem

Von Einem first came to public attention on May 10, 1972, when he rescued a man named Roger James, who had suffered a broken leg after being thrown into the River Torrens. Another man, Dr. George Duncan, drowned in the incident.

On June 5th, 1983, Richard Kelvin, a 15-year-old Adelaide teenager and son of a local television personality was abducted and later found deceased on July 24th, having died of massive blood loss.

Traces of four hypnotic drugs were found in his bloodstream. Von Einem, an accountant by profession was convicted of the murder in 1984 and is the only suspect to be charged in connection with the series of crimes known as "The Family Murders."

While convicted only for Richard Kelvin's murder, von Einem is a suspected serial killer linked to other victims including Alan Arthur Barnes, Neil Fredrick Muir, Peter Stogneff and Mark Andrew Langley.

Von Einem was charged with the murders of Alan Barnes and Mark Langley in 1989. However, the prosecution discontinued the criminal charges when crucial evidence was ruled inadmissible by the presiding judge.

Sentenced to life imprisonment, his minimum non-parole period was initially 24 years, later extended to a 36-year term. He is currently serving his sentence at Port Augusta Prison having been inside Yatala Labour Prison for decades.

11 - Erin Patterson

Erin Patterson was convicted for the murder of three people and the attempted murder of a fourth person by poisoning them with death cap mushrooms in a beef Wellington meal served at her home in Leongatha, Victoria, Australia, in July 2023.

The victims of the murder conviction were her former in-laws, Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson with Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson surviving the attack after spending weeks in the hospital.

Patterson was arrested on November 2, 2023. She was initially charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder, which included four counts of attempted murder against her estranged husband, Simon Patterson.

The trial took place in the Supreme Court of Victoria, sitting in Morwell. On July 7, 2025, the jury convicted her on all remaining charges: three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

The judge stated that the motive remains a mystery, as only Patterson knows why she committed the crimes.

The judge cited aggravating circumstances including substantial premeditation, her pitiless behavior after the lunch, the suffering of the victims, her elaborate cover-up, and the "enormous betrayal of trust" as her victims were relatives by marriage who had been good to her.

On September 8, 2025, Justice Christopher Beale sentenced Erin Patterson to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years. She received three consecutive life sentences for the murders and 25 years for attempted murder. Her sentence is backdated to her arrest on November 2, 2023.

She will be 82 years old when she becomes eligible for parole in November 2056 and has been held in solitary confinement in the Gordon unit of the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, Victoria's maximum-security women's prison, since her arrest.

She is classified as a "notorious" prisoner and must be kept separate from other inmates for her own safety often spending approximately 22 hours a day in her cell due to ongoing lockdowns.

10 - Peter Dupas

Covering a significant criminal history spanning more than three decades, Dupas's crimes involve serious and violent offenses that escalated to murder.

Dupas has been convicted of three murders, and is a suspect in at least three other murders in the Melbourne area between the 1980s and 1990s. His crimes, which spanned from 1985 to 1999, have been described as particularly gruesome.

He was convicted of the stabbing murder of Margaret Maher in 1997, for the murder of Mersina Halvagis that same year and Nicole Patterson in 1999.

His earlier criminal history dating back to 1972 includes nine years' imprisonment for breaking into a woman's home in 1974 and stabbing a next-door neighbor in the face, neck, and hand after requesting to borrow a knife.

In 1994, less than two years after a release, he was arrested for false imprisonment after following a woman at a toilet block while wearing a hood and armed with a knife.

Peter Dupas is currently serving three life sentences without the possibility of parole for his murder convictions and is primarily considered a serious habitual offender.

9 - Michelle Burgess

Often referred to as one of the country's most infamous "black widows," Michelle Burgess was convicted of murder after plotting to eliminate both her husband and the wife of her lover.

Alongside her lover Kevin Matthews, Burgess attempted to hire a hitman, David Key, however This murder was foiled by police intervention before it could be carried out.

The second target was Carolyn Matthews, the wife of Michelle's lover, Kevin Matthews, who was a mother of three, later killed in her home.

Michelle Burgess and Kevin Matthews were both convicted in 2005, reportedly given some of the longest non-parole periods in South Australia's history at the time of their sentencing.

Michelle Burgess is currently incarcerated in South Australia and its been reported that male guards at Adelaide's women's prison are said to be fearful of Burgess and one officer has quit due to an attempted affair.

As of 2024, the prison where she currently resides has been forced to enforce new rules, in which male prison guards aren't allowed near her alone.

8 - Michael Kanaan

Born on May 23rd, 1975 Kanaan's criminal activities, which occurred in Sydney between July 17th and December 22nd, 1998, included multiple murders and other violent offenses.

Kanaan was a powerful drug dealer and a lieutenant to organized crime figure Danny Karam, and a member of the gang known as "DK's Boys." The gang's main criminal activity was the distribution and sale of cocaine in the inner-Sydney suburb of Kings Cross.

Following a verbal altercation outside a hotel, Kanaan produced a gun and fired shots. Two men, Michael Hurle and Adam Wright, were shot and later died. A third man, Ronald Singleton, was shot in the arm and survived. The crime became known as The Five Dock murders.

On October 13th, 1998, Kanaan and an associate, Jamal, shot Elias "Les" Elias in the buttock following a dispute over a gun in what became known as The Greenacre Shooting.

Kanaan was involved in arranging for the people who stabbed 14-year-old Edward Lee to be transported to Queensland and in creating alibis for them.

In the early morning of November 1st, 1998, 17 shots were fired at the Lakemba Police Station and Kanaan was charged in relation to this drive-by shooting but was later found not guilty.

Kanaan was later convicted for the murder of his own underworld boss, Danny Karam, another two counts of murder and received sentences of life imprisonment plus 50 years and 4 months without the possibility of parole.

7 - Sef Gonzales

An Australian man of Filipino descent, Sef Gonzales was convicted of the triple murder of his immediate family in 2001 and victims included his father, mother, and sister at their home in North Ryde, Sydney.

Gonzales, who was 20 at the time, called emergency services to report that he had discovered the bodies upon arriving home. To divert suspicion, he attempted to stage the scene as a break-in and painted racist graffiti on the wall.

The primary motives established for the murders were a mix of greed, entitlement, and fear of parental retribution and disappointment after Gonzales was reportedly failing his medical exams.

When his parents discovered his deception, they allegedly threatened to withdraw privileges, such as the use of his car, and potentially disinherit him.

The police quickly became suspicious of Gonzales due to the inconsistencies in his story and the lack of forced entry or signs of a typical robbery. The truth eventually unravelled during the investigation.

Gonzales was convicted of the triple murder and was sentenced by the Supreme Court of New South Wales to life imprisonment for the three murders.

Sef Gonzales is currently incarcerated in an Australian prison. He has continuously maintained his innocence and has attempted to appeal his life sentence on various grounds.

6 - Matthew Johnson

Primarily recognized for the murder of fellow gangland figure Carl Williams while they were both incarcerated, Johnson has a lengthy history of violent offenses.

Johnson's criminal history began in his youth and includes over 167 convictions for various offences before the murder of Williams.

His record includes convictions for burglary, armed robbery, and serious violent offences. For instance, in 1998, he was given a six-year prison sentence for a series of armed robberies, including an incident where he held an elderly couple at knife-point.

Johnson gained a reputation for extreme violence within the Victorian prison system. In 2000, he was involved in an attack on contract killer Gregory Brazel in Barwon Prison's Acacia unit, for which he was later convicted of seriously injuring the victim using the stem of a bike seat and other weapons.

The crime Johnson is most known for is the murder of high-profile drug dealer and multiple killer Carl Williams on April 19, 2010.

Johnson murdered Williams inside the maximum-security Acacia Unit of HM Prison Barwon, where they were both inmates. He approached Williams from behind while the latter was reading a newspaper.

During his trial, Johnson claimed the killing was an act of self-defence, asserting that Williams planned to attack him with billiard balls inside a sock. However, the sentencing judge rejected this claim as "fanciful."

He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 32 years for the murder of Williams. This sentence was added to his existing 16-year prison term, meaning he would have to serve a total of 32 years before being eligible for parole consideration.

Johnson remains incarcerated at HM Prison Barwon in Victoria, Australia.

5 - Bradley Robert Edwards

Edwards was a former Telstra technician and a "predator" who targeted young women in Perth, Western Australia.

Edwards was charged with the wilful murder of three women who disappeared from the Claremont entertainment district including Jane Rimmer, Ciara Glennon and Sarah Spiers in what became known as The Claremont Serial Killings.

In addition to the murders, Edwards pleaded guilty to two other non-fatal, sexually-motivated attacks that proved crucial in his arrest and conviction.

Evidence linked Edwards's job as a Telstra technician to the murders including him driving a white VS Holden Commodore station wagon and fibre evidence.

Edwards was arrested in December 2016. His lengthy, judge-alone trial in the Western Australia Supreme Court ran from November 2019 to June 2020.

He was found guilty of the murders of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon on September 24, 2020 and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 40 years.

Edwards is currently imprisoned and will be approximately 92 years old when he becomes eligible for parole. The judge stated there was a "high likelihood" that Edwards would die in prison.

4 - Lindsey Robert Rose

Lindsey Robert Rose was convicted of the murder of five people in New South Wales, Australia, between 1984 and 1994.

Prior to becoming a serial killer, he had various occupations, including working as a paramedic, fitter and turner, and later as a private investigator and criminal involved in drug dealing and running a brothel.

Rose shot and killed Edward John "Bill" Cavanagh and Carmelita Lee, allegedly for revenge after Cavanagh assaulted one of Rose's friends. He then murdered Cavanagh's girlfriend to eliminate her as a witness.

In 1997, Rose broke into a wealthy businessman's home with the intent to burglarize it. He was surprised by the businessman's de facto partner, Reynette Holford, whom he stabbed multiple times with a screwdriver and a vegetable knife, causing her death.

He shot and stabbed Kerrie Pang to death at her massage parlour, with the murder arranged by her de facto partner, Mark Lewis. Fatma Ozonal, who was also present, was shot and killed simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In addition to the five murders, Rose confessed to a number of other serious crimes, including robbery, kidnapping, malicious wounding and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

On September 3, 1998, Lindsey Robert Rose was sentenced in the Supreme Court of New South Wales after pleading guilty to all five murders.

Rose received five consecutive sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He is currently incarcerated in an Australian prison, reportedly in the maximum-security facility known as Goulburn Supermax.

3 - Paul Denyer

Known as the "Frankston Serial Killer," Denyer's crimes took place over a two-month period in 1993 with his victims selected at random and the court concluding that his crimes were motivated by a deep-seated hatred of women.

Victims of Denyer's crimes include Elizabeth Stevens, Murdered on June 11th, 1993, while on her way home from the library and Deborah Fream, abducted and murdered on July 8th, 1993 after she had left her 12-day-old baby with a friend to run out for milk.

Natalie Russell was killed by Denyer on July 30th, 1993, while walking home from school. Denyer had been stalking women since the age of 17. His earlier actions included stalking women, 'accidentally' ramming women and children with shopping trolleys, and the killing of pets.

Denyer attempted to abduct Rosza Toth on July 8th, 1993, the same day as Debbie Fream's murder. Toth fought him off and was rescued by a passing car.

Denyer was arrested on July 31st, 1993, the day after the final murder. His confession to police was noted as being "cocky and boastful," detailing the crimes with a note of pride and a lack of emotion.

In December 1993, the sentencing judge initially handed down three consecutive sentences of life imprisonment and declined to fix a non-parole period. He applied for release on parole in 2023, but his application was denied by the Adult Parole Board of Victoria.

2 - Julian Knight

Best known for the Hoddle Street massacre in 1987, Julian Knight was a 19-year-old former staff cadet at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, who had been discharged for an earlier incident.

The mass shooting occurred on the evening of Sunday, August 9, 1987, in Hoddle Street, Clifton Hill, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Knight began firing indiscriminately at passing motorists and civilians using two rifles and a shotgun. The shooting spree lasted for more than 30 minutes, followed by a police chase, before he was apprehended in nearby Fitzroy North.

The shooting resulted in the deaths of seven people and serious injury to 19 others and Knight later pleaded guilty to seven counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder.

In 1988, Knight was sentenced to seven concurrent sentences of life imprisonment. The sentencing judge, Justice George Hampel, also fixed a minimum non-parole period of 27 years. This period would have made Knight eligible for parole in May 2014.

Knight is incarcerated in the maximum-security Port Phillip Prison near Melbourne and has been described as a difficult prisoner.

In 2014, shortly before Knight's non-parole period expired, the Victorian Parliament passed the Corrections Amendment that was enacted to directly prevent Julian Knight's release.

As a result of this specific legislation and the High Court's ruling, Julian Knight remains in prison and is expected to die in custody unless he meets the strict, narrow criteria for release due to terminal illness or severe incapacity.

1 - John Bunting

The ringleader of the group responsible for the infamous Snowtown murders, John Bunting was identified as the leader of the group, which included Robert Joe Wagner and James Spyridon Vlassakis, with Mark Ray Haydon convicted for his role in covering up the crimes.

The crimes gained international notoriety in May 1999 when police discovered bodies stuffed into barrels of hydrochloric acid inside a vault of a disused bank in Snowtown, South Australia.

Bunting and his accomplices preyed on vulnerable people, often those they knew, including friends, acquaintances, and even family members. Victims were often targeted because Bunting perceived them to be "weak" or for imagined infractions.

Hatred of various groups, including pedophiles, homosexuals, drug addicts, and obese people. Bunting kept a "rock spider wall" of names of people he suspected of being pedophiles or homosexuals.

The group would often continue to collect the welfare or pension payments of the deceased victims for financial gain and the murders were often described as ritualistic.

Bunting was arrested on May 21, 1999, and his subsequent trial was one of the longest and most publicized in Australian legal history.

John Bunting was found guilty of 11 counts of murder and was sentenced to 11 consecutive sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Bunting remains incarcerated and his co-accused, Robert Joe Wagner, also received multiple life sentences without parole.

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