This week on Classic Crime Jack covered the story of Percy Lee, also known as The Elusive Pimpernel. Lee was imprisoned in Boggo Road Gaol in 1926 for stealing. After only three months he was ready to get out. When he was told that he past as a pickpocket in New South Wales had caught up with him (the New South Wales police force waiting for him to finish his sentence in Queensland before extraditing him back south) it only furthered his resolve to escape.
While working on the fence at Boggo Road he was able to pass a message to the outside. Slowly in the underworld plans were made and funded. John Roberts and Joseph Leveng were the men that would help Lee escape. On 16 August 1926 they hired a Russian cab driver to 'drive them on a series of errands'. Before departing the licence plate was wrapped in cloth to prevent detection. Another man was collected and they were driven to Boggo Road Gaol, the stretch of fence-line that Lee was working on.
The men directed the driver towards the fence and as they drew nearer Lee leapt onto the car's running board. As the car drove off the warders who were watching over the work fired two shots at the car, which struck its body. Not surprisingly the taxi driver asked what was going on and received a curt, 'never mind, keep driving' in reply.
It seemed that the Elusive Pimpernel had escaped. Shortly afterwards, however, Roberts was arrested in Brisbane and was picked out of a lineup by the Russian cab driver, he confessed the whole story. Both Leveng and Roberts were charged with aiding escape and sentenced to Boggo Road.
Percy Lee managed to make it to New Zealand, the only man to ever truly escape Boggo Road as he never returned there. However, once in New Zealand, he was arrested for stealing yet again and was extradited back to his native New South Wales, where the police were waiting for him.
Percy Lees' story along with other tales of escapes from Boggo Road Gaol can be found in ESCAPE from Boggo Road Gaol
