Prison escapee Jason Melbom sentenced after three-hour crime spree
While performing grounds maintenance within prison walls, a Sydney prisoner asked a correctional services officer about the potential for off-site work.
He was told he had to “prove himself” first.
Less than two hours later, Jason Neil Melbom used a chair to scale a ten-foot fence and escape from Long Bay Correctional Facility. Less than three hours later he went on a terrifying crime spree in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. It involved invading or attempting to invade nine houses and attacking unsuspecting locals; this includes tying up one woman with a laptop cable and kidnapping another.
The now 46-year-old was sentenced in district court on Friday to eight years in prison with a non-parole period of five years and six months for the attack on August 14, 2023.
At the time, he was serving a 22-year sentence at the Malabar facility for previous serious crimes and would be eligible for parole in 16 months.
The escape occurred between two meetings with the prisoners at 11:00 and 12:30. Melbom was there the first time, but mysteriously absent from the second.
‘As a frightened woman tried to escape, the man grabbed her arm and hair and pulled her back into the lounge.’
Unbeknownst to them, he had jumped a fence and escaped, in what a judge described as “unsophisticated and opportunistic” behavior.
The fugitive wasted no time in helping him escape.
He ran to a nearby house, stole a knife from a Tupperware box outside, and unsuccessfully demanded that a resident hand over his car keys.
He then entered another house and encountered a man with a knife and his daughter. He stole the keys to the family’s Mazda 2 and drove it to Little Bay, abandoning the Mazda and stopping by another house to steal cigarettes.
The fugitive stole the car keys from inside another house and ran outside. He encountered the citizen sitting in the driver’s seat. As the woman screamed for help, the man fled on foot, leaving the knife, cigarette and sunglasses behind.
From there the violence increased.
Melbom occupied another house in Little Bay. As a frightened woman tried to escape, he grabbed her arm and hair and pulled her back into the living room.
During the fight, the woman’s head hit the oil heater. Melbom told her to “stay quiet” while pulling her hair, punching her and taking her car keys.
The woman ran into Melbom’s study, where she tied his hands with a laptop cable and fled in his Hyundai Santa Fe. He drove to a house three doors down.
Covered in blood and with clenched fists, he threatened a woman shopping in her driveway, saying he had just gotten out of prison and had shot people before, but he wouldn’t hurt her if she drove him away.
He had to because he feared for his safety.
‘Dripping blood and clenching his fists, he threatened a woman who was opening her shopping bag in the driveway.’
The woman drove for about 40 minutes before Melbom told her to pull into an alley in Beverley Park. While reading the agreed facts, Judge Tom Jones noted that he had said they were “going to break into the house”.
This was the woman’s chance to escape; He parked the car and ran away. He gave up the chase when Melbom screamed.
At this moment the police were on the hunt. Melbom broke into another house, stealing keys and Ugg boots and threatened to stab a man before police found him in the backyard.
This was followed by a pursuit in which Melbom attempted to break into another house. The woman, who was left alone at home with her baby, pushed the baby away and closed the door on her handle. He was arrested a short time later.
Melbom pleaded guilty to escaping from lawful custody, kidnapping, assault with a weapon, five counts of breaking and entering, and several similar counts that were taken into account.
He appealed for sentence from Goulburn’s High Risk Management Correctional Center (HRMCC), known as “Supermax”. It is Australia’s highest security prison.
His mother attended the court in person.
Jones said his escape was “essentially simple and opportunistic” but involved an abuse of trust by prison officials that allowed him to perform “relatively unsupervised and unstructured” work.
He added that his motivation was to obtain resources that would help him escape.
The judge noted the remorse Melbom showed in his letter to the court. He acknowledged that his judgment was impaired by various mental health disorders, long-standing substance abuse and a troubled upbringing that “left its mark.”
But he said the attacks would be “shocking and horrifying” for their victims and it was crucial that the community was protected.
Jones found special circumstances because of Melbom’s risk of hospitalization and the extended supervision he would need upon release.
Since his sentence was backdated based on time he has already spent in custody, he will be eligible for parole in October 2029.
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