A convicted murderer has received another prison sentence for conspiring with another member of a neo-Nazi group in Perth to get him out of prison, in a plan that included extortion, coded messages and the purchase of firearms.
Key points:
- Edhouse was recorded in prison discussing extortion plans
- A coded message was also discovered to get him out of jail
- He claims to be no longer a member of the Ayran Nation
Robert Wayne Edhouse drew up the plan while serving a life sentence in Casuarina’s maximum security prison for the 2016 murder of his lover’s partner.
His alleged co-conspirator, another member of the white supremacist group Aryan Nation, had also been implicated in the murder trial, but was found guilty of accompanying the crime and had completed his prison sentence.
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and is due to stand trial next year.
The district court was told the break-in plan began in October 2020, when Edhouse was recorded in prison phone calls discussing with the man the need for money for the Aryan nation’s clubhouse.
More phone calls recorded Edhouse talking about a plan to extort money from a man he said owed him money.
In one of the calls, Edhouse was heard telling his alleged co-conspirator that he was demanding $ 5,000 from the man “in exchange for a life of happiness.”
The coded letter revealed the plot of the prison rupture
Edhouse also revealed in telephone conversations that he had sent a letter to his co-defendant that was coded using “cheat codes” from a video game called Red Dead Redemption.
“If you are my brothers, I need you to buy guns and get me out when I go to the hospital for my operation,” it was said when it was decoded.
This was a reference to knee surgery that the court knew Edhouse needed, but had not yet scheduled.
Edhouse later said they needed at least $ 15,000 to “get the job done,” while the co-defendant responded by referring to the “werewolf battalion,” a group of loyal Nazis established toward the end of the Second World War. World War.
State Attorney Hannah Flynn said the mention was a veiled reference to the “guerrilla warfare tactics” used to break Edhouse.
When the plan was discovered, a search of Edhouse’s cell found notes containing the name, address, and telephone number of the intended extortion victim, as well as the code he used in the letter to his co-defendant.
The lawyer claims that Edhouse is resigning from the Aryan group
Edhouse’s lawyer, Felicity Cain, said that at the time the plan was drawn up, her client was in “a rather dark place” and “mentally troubled”.
He said he had been told he could not do any further study or work outside of his unit, which he said had “contributed to the decline in his mental health”.
“This was really a plan for despair from Edhouse’s perspective,” he said.
Assassins Robert Edhouse and Melony Attwood, and victim Alan Taylor (right). (ABC News)
After being charged, Edhouse spent six months in the special handling unit at Casuarina Prison, where Ms. Cain said she was “essentially isolated.”
He said that since his release from this unit in the main population, Edhouse had matured and was now working with other inmates who needed support.
The court said he was no longer a member of the Ayran Nation group and had not yet had surgery on his injured knee.
Judge Timothy Sharp said Edhouse’s crime was aggravated by a number of factors, including the purchase of a firearm and a plan to forcibly leave custody while in hospital.
He also said Edhouse was the “driving force” of the conspiracy.
But he noted that Edhouse, who appeared in court via a video link from prison, had pleaded guilty in the first instance, meaning no lengthy trial was needed.
Judge Sharp was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison; the deadline will be met at the same time as Edhouse’s life sentence.
Posted 9 hours 9 hours agoTh 23 June 2022 at 05:08, updated 8 hours ago 8 hours agoSun 23 June 2022 at 06:36