Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), Tuesday 15 April 1952, page 1


Convict Murderer Killed

In Escape Bid; Companion Hurt

Melbourne, Monday.

One of two convicts in a desperate' bid to

escape from Pentridge gaol was shot dead by a warder this morning. The other convict was knocked back into the gaol ward from a 12 foot

wall and broke an ankle.

The dead convict is Kevin Joiner, 25, who was serving a life sentence for murder

The injured convict is Maxwell Skinner, 23, who sensationally escaped from the same gaol last November. He was at large for one month before being recaptured at Fitzroy

At 10 45 am today Skinner and Joiner stuck up a warder with a toy pistol and took the warders gun. They then ran 50 yards to a wall, carrying a long rope ladder, and with Joiner

going first got to the top of the wall.

A warder scaled the ladder after them, and grappling with Skinner on top of the wall knocked him back into the gaol yard. Skinner broke an ankle

in the fall.

Meanwhile, Joiner, carrying the rifle, had jumped from the wall near Sydney Road and

Church Street.

More than 100 persons saw Joiner stagger and drop the rifle

when he was shot by a warder

in a nearby tower.

Joiner picked up the rifle again and staggered-40 yards into the grounds of St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church. He died on a bed of lilies grown for church decorations.

The gaol chaplain, Father Norris 'who was returning from Mass at the gaol, administered the last rites, and the body was carried back into the gaol on a stretcher.

The men are believed to have taken one of several ladders left inside the gaol over the Easter period. The ladders are being

used to instal a new boiler in

the gaol.

Joiner was employed as a kitchen hand where the boiler is being installed, and had easy

access to the ladders.

Joiner was sentenced to death in 1945 for the murder of a soldier

at Mt. Martha guest house. He was then l8. His sentence was commuted to imprisonment" for life without benefit of remissions.

At the trial it was alleged that the shooting occurred after Joiner, the victim, Clarke, and another youth, had broken into the guest house, where Joiner

was employed.

Witnesses' said that after the robbery Joiner shot Clarke in the side as they left the house.

Clarke screamed and ran. Joiner'

fired again, followed Clarke into -the scrub, and fired a third Shot at such close range that it set

fire to Clarkes clothes.

Skinner has escaped four times from custody-twice from subur-

ban-watchhouses. He was serv-ing- nine months ' imprisonment for escaping from Pentridge,

last November in addition to ten ? months for escaping from Rich-mond and illegally using a car.