Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), Friday 23 November 1951, page 4


GAOL ESCAPEE SAYS HE HAS REFORMED

MELBOURNE, Thursday.

A letter received by a news- paper to-day from a person claiming to be gaol escapee Max-well Charles Skinner, said he had now reformed, but no one would believe him.

Skinner, 23, escaped from Pentridge on Sunday.

Police say the letter has a ring of authenticity.

It was Skinner's fourth gaol

break.

The writer said that he would not have escaped again if the Indeterminate Sentences Board had not stated it was going to detain him after he had served his 15 months' sentence for allegedly using a car and escap-ing from custody.

The letter claimed that the writer was a neglected child, and had been in an orphanage for

seven years.

He had nowhere to go, and broke into houses to clothe and feed himself.

The letter added: "Reforma-tory is a place where criminals are made. I went as a lad and came out a hardened criminal."