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INFAMOUS AUSTRALIAN CRIME figure turned author Mark “Chopper” Read died today after a lengthy battle with cancer, his manager said.
Read, who shot to worldwide fame after the 2000 film “Chopper”, starring Eric Bana, about his violent life, was being treated at the Royal Melbourne Hospital for liver cancer. He was 58.
“I am deeply saddened to confirm the death of Mark Brandon Read, known widely throughout Australia and the world as ‘Chopper’,” manager Andrew Parisi said in a statement.
Read in the past has claimed to have been involved in the killing of 19 people but was never convicted of murder. He first revealed his illness in April 2012.
“Looks like the big C has finally bitten. Let’s see how we go,” he tweeted at the time.
I’ve got liver cancer. They say there’s no way out of it.
Read, who spent 23 years of his life in jail, was a celebrity in Australia after retiring from a life of crime to write novels, including 1993′s “How to Shoot Friends and Influence People”.
During his criminal career, he says he was stabbed seven times, shot once, run over by a car, had a claw hammer embedded in his head, and was made to dig his own grave.
(BlackBalin2/YouTube)
His most notorious act was persuading a fellow inmate to hack off both his (Read’s) ears so he could gain access to a prison’s mental health wing during a war between rival factions.
Parisi said that despite his criminal history, Read had lived quietly in Melbourne for more than 15 years with his wife and two young sons, working as a writer, painter and public speaker and paying his taxes.
“At the time of his death, we ask that people reflect on how Mark was able to overcome his past and, after more than 23 years in prison, find a way to re-enter ‘normal’ society,” Parisi said.
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“May” be pursued?
Should be hounded!
@Michael Kavanagh: indeed. And points on his licence.
@John Moylan:
Yup.
Railway points – and he has to carry them!
@John Moylan: I think a minimum ban of three months – he also drove on the wrong side of the road, and without due care and attention. It should be a dangerous driving charge by right.
I’ve noticed an increase in the amount of plonkers who decide to stop in a yellow box on Irish roads.
@Luke Lee: agree, in the Uk they have cameras on yellow boxes. Drivers who stop in the yellow box are recorded & a fix fine is imposed.
There is a yellow box there for a reason….ya big eej1t
Must have been a cyclist driving…only cyclists don’t stop at red lights.
@Vincent Harris: ha good one
@Vincent Harris: ha
@Vincent Harris: Incorrect. A MAJORITY of cyclists don’t stop at red lights.
@MK76: have you figures or statistics to back that up? In the recent Luas report into emergency stops motorists were by far and away the biggest single cause of the Luas emergency brakes bring applied.
What a dope.
@Paul Furey: man murdered someone and is fighting against how he was convicted?!! Sorry what?!!
As much of a tool as the lorry driver is “significant delays” surely all it takes is a couple of flag men to man the crossing until the barrier is repaired no?
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH: Did you see that lorry hit the barrier? Would you want to be the one standing there with a flag?
@BAINNE ATHA CLIATH: unfortunately there is microswitches to ensure that all barriers are intact and also fully lowered, missing one will not allow the signals to clear and thus even with flagman the train has to be given authority to pass the signal at red at a snails pace this the knock on effect
The 2 monsters beside this story… Christ
egit…….
I think he thought it was a backstop
@Earl of Daventry: This place can be so vile at times. No wonder they close the comments, especially when dealing with legal issues.
Could have killed someone.
@LYNDALAND: yes – escaping by swerving onto the wrong side of the road in the face of oncoming traffic….hugely dangerous driving that is becoming everyday in Dublin in recent years
There were three clowns in the yellow box.
Imbecile
@Rory Mahon: if he had two brains he’d be twice as thick.
Special Kind of Stupid
This has never happened before..
Oh wait it has..
Put the Dart underground, problem solved.
Funny
have your say