Border check surprise

Police nab alleged murderer

A COVID-19 border check has alerted authorities to a series of alleged bail breaches by a man charged with murder over the stabbing death of Gold Coast teenager Jack Beasley.

The 20-year-old, who is unable to be named for legal reasons, was stopped by officers performing Covid-19 compliance checks on train passengers from Sydney on June 1.

He is accused of failing to report to authorities from May 15 – the day after he was released from a short jail term for bail breaches.

The man is also accused of failing to report to police from June 1 and was arrested last week after being found allegedly hiding in a suburban backyard.

He was charged with a further breach of bail and contravening a direction.

The man is one of five people charged with murder after the death of Jack Beasley in Surfers Paradise on December 2019.

His Supreme Court bail for the murder charge was revoked on Friday. Court records show he has now been charged with 30 breaches of bail since the alleged murder.

In a statement police said they went to the man’s “nominated bail address” in Ipswich on July 20, but the residents said the man had not lived there since his release from custody.

Soon after they went to a Holmview property where a female resident claimed she had not seen the man for months.

“Police conducted a search of the dwelling where they located the man hiding at the rear of the house,” a statement said.

“The man was given a formal requirement to state his full and correct name and current address, which he allegedly declined.”

The man also allegedly failed to show up to Ipswich Magistrates Court on July 6 to hear 17 charges of breach of bail arising from June 1.

Police said the man had previously been fitted with a GPS tracker but it was removed when he was taken into custody on May 4.

It’s not the first time border restrictions have alerted authorities to his lack of bail compliance.

In November 2020 he was brought before the court and fined after breaching bail on six occasions. The man came to the attention of police after trying to sneak into Queensland from New South Wales, a Covid-19 hotspot at the time.

In May 2021 he was given a 21-day jail term for breaching curfew.

It triggered a suspended sentence for another breach of bail but he was back in the community on parole on May 14.

In February he was given 12 months’ probation for failing to report to police after officers found him riding an electric scooter without a helmet in Brisbane CBD.

In March, the man and his co-accused in the alleged murder had their charges committed to the Supreme Court.

The bail breaches were adjourned until August 18.