The Capture
There are many techniques used to catch Ronald Ryan. To begin with, the police began early morning raids of houses all over Melbourne and soon on Christmas eve, the Victorian government announced a £5000 reward for information that may lead to the capture of the escapees.
There was an extensive operation led by the homicide squad detectives to capture Ryan and Walker. One method they decided to use was to appeal to Ryan’s ex-wife Dorothy, for help. With the consent of Dorothy, on the 28th December the homicide squad detectives placed an advertisement in the personal columns of The Sun newspaper, using Ryan’s affectionate name for Dorothy, Little Lady. The ad was a constructed story of regret and concern about the children and a plea for ryan to go to Melbourne GPO to pick up a letter addressed to George Norman Russ, an alias that Ryan had used in Sydney. It was constructed to lure the escapees into a trap, the ad read
There was an extensive operation led by the homicide squad detectives to capture Ryan and Walker. One method they decided to use was to appeal to Ryan’s ex-wife Dorothy, for help. With the consent of Dorothy, on the 28th December the homicide squad detectives placed an advertisement in the personal columns of The Sun newspaper, using Ryan’s affectionate name for Dorothy, Little Lady. The ad was a constructed story of regret and concern about the children and a plea for ryan to go to Melbourne GPO to pick up a letter addressed to George Norman Russ, an alias that Ryan had used in Sydney. It was constructed to lure the escapees into a trap, the ad read
R.J.R., made mistake, children
fretting, am very worried, contact
GPO, letter for Russ. Little Lady
But this trap did not work as Ryan suspected it was a trap as Ryan and Dorothy long ago decided to use the initials R.E.R for Ronald Edmund Ryan instead of R.J.R if they ever had to use the column.
ERI – Eric 91-4668. Di
in hope that if Ryan called they could trace the call and get a fix on Ryan’s whereabouts.
Soon the police squad figured out that the two escapees were in Sydney. The Sydney police soon started a massive operation to recapture the escapees. The Sydney policed also quickly advised the homicide squad detectives in Melbourne that Ryan and Walker were in Sydney. Thus to deceive the escapees, the homicide team with the cooperation of the Melbourne press released a story that they believed they were still hiding in Melbourne. The story appeared in the Melbourne Herald as a page lead ‘Escapees in City- Police’
Back in Sydney, the operation to recapture was led by Detective Inspector Ray Kelly of Sydnery CIB, New South Wale’s most famous and feared police officer. Kelly and his team of 50 detectives and 5 women police officers were included in this stakeout to capture the escapees. A operational plan was prepared by two officers Detective Sergeant Maurie Wild and Detective Jack Whelan, under Kelly’s supervision to rendezvous arranged for 9:00pm of Wednesday, 5 January. They worked out all possible points of access and exits near the escapee’s intended meeting point, Concord hospital areas. They used aerial and council maps for more in depth detail. They walked around the sites and identified the positions of the police in the operation. This operation was going to be difficult according to them, as they believed there was so much open ground.
At 7:30pm of the same night, the recapture of Ryan and Walker operation was set and the police disguised in casual clothing were gathered in their designated positions in and around the hospital.
The key to the operation was the positioning of the two women decoys at the gate. The plan was for the two, Del Fricker and another woman who was associated with Ryan to wait until the escapees’ car pulled up, and then to drop Fricker’s handbag as a signal to the police. But as time passed 9:00 to 9:20, hope that Ryan and Walker were going to come faded and the two female decoys were ordered to leave the area and come shortly afterwards, in case the criminals were watching and thought them suspicious. But shortly after a car drove into the driveway and exited Ryan. Telling Walker he was going to make a call, he entered a delicatessen to make the call.
It was this moment of separation between Walker and Ryan that was crucial to the capture. As Ryan had entered the delicatessen a vehicle had driven into Hospital Road and was moving fast towards Walker. It was an unmarked police vehicle and it parked in front of the escapee’s car As Ryan emerged from the delicatessen, police piled out from the van and arrested him and within seconds arrested Walker.
Back in Sydney, the operation to recapture was led by Detective Inspector Ray Kelly of Sydnery CIB, New South Wale’s most famous and feared police officer. Kelly and his team of 50 detectives and 5 women police officers were included in this stakeout to capture the escapees. A operational plan was prepared by two officers Detective Sergeant Maurie Wild and Detective Jack Whelan, under Kelly’s supervision to rendezvous arranged for 9:00pm of Wednesday, 5 January. They worked out all possible points of access and exits near the escapee’s intended meeting point, Concord hospital areas. They used aerial and council maps for more in depth detail. They walked around the sites and identified the positions of the police in the operation. This operation was going to be difficult according to them, as they believed there was so much open ground.
At 7:30pm of the same night, the recapture of Ryan and Walker operation was set and the police disguised in casual clothing were gathered in their designated positions in and around the hospital.
The key to the operation was the positioning of the two women decoys at the gate. The plan was for the two, Del Fricker and another woman who was associated with Ryan to wait until the escapees’ car pulled up, and then to drop Fricker’s handbag as a signal to the police. But as time passed 9:00 to 9:20, hope that Ryan and Walker were going to come faded and the two female decoys were ordered to leave the area and come shortly afterwards, in case the criminals were watching and thought them suspicious. But shortly after a car drove into the driveway and exited Ryan. Telling Walker he was going to make a call, he entered a delicatessen to make the call.
It was this moment of separation between Walker and Ryan that was crucial to the capture. As Ryan had entered the delicatessen a vehicle had driven into Hospital Road and was moving fast towards Walker. It was an unmarked police vehicle and it parked in front of the escapee’s car As Ryan emerged from the delicatessen, police piled out from the van and arrested him and within seconds arrested Walker.