 Good afternoon everyone. Thanks. We're all ready. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here this afternoon to appeal to all members of the public to help us try and locate wanted person Andrew Clive Ellis. Ellis is 29 years old. He is an absconder from the Wakehold Correctional Centre and he is classified as a dangerous prisoner under the Sexual Offences Act. We also now believe that Ellis was involved in an assault on a female at about 6.30 this morning in the Cinnamon Park 17 Mile Rocks area. We believe he is a threat to public safety. We asked the public if they see Ellis, not to approach him, but simply to contact police, either through crime stoppers, 1-800-333-000, or if it's urgent call us on 000 and we'll respond immediately. The police are actively investigating the assault this morning. We have a large team of detectives working on that assault. The victim involved is a female. She's okay, only received slight injuries and we're providing welfare support to her. But in addition to that, we have extra patrols, certainly all police in Brisbane know of this person, know what he looks like and we'll be able to respond quickly should we get advice from the public of Ellis's whereabouts. If any person knows Ellis and knows where he is, I would encourage you to advise Ellis to contact police immediately and to give himself up. We don't want any further offences or incidents involving him. Certainly we have also got extra patrols out and we will 24-7 continue to monitor particularly parks and areas used by women in particular to jog or to exercise. But I would ask people, all members of the public, to be very aware of their personal safety, whether out in a park, on a road or even in their homes. I'm happy to take questions. It was only a matter of hours after he escaped the latest assault. How likely is it that he will attack again in the next, say, five hours? Certainly we hope that there is no further incident involving this person. But the sooner we can get him back into custody where he needs to be, obviously the better for everyone. Why did the police alert the public sooner than he had escaped? Ellis escaped from custody this morning as I understand it around 1am or shortly before 1am. Police were involved in the search for Ellis early this morning, our Corrective Services Investigation Unit. The public, as I understand it, were first advised that this by Corrective Services this morning in a media release. How is he able to remove the bracelets? I have no information about that. Certainly that's something that you could perhaps ask Corrective Services. This will be the first of its kind that a bracelet like this has been removed or is now there a history of these devices being removed? Again, that's a question that Corrective Services could better answer. But surely if there is now a history of this, there's a law for the public that perhaps we're going to see a spate of sex offenders who are able to remove these bracelets because it's only going to give them more confidence that they can remove them. Certainly I am sure that Corrective Services in conjunction with us will look at that issue in particular. Does it alarm you though? It certainly concerns me that a prisoner, a person who is classified in this way, who is wearing one of these bracelets, can find a way to remove it, yes. If the police not consider him a threat to public safety this morning when he first escaped? Certainly he is classified as a dangerous prisoner under the Sexual Offences Act. Remembering that this happened at one o'clock this morning, my understanding is that Corrective Services quite rightly publicised the fact that he had absconded earlier this morning at around 6.30, 7 o'clock this morning. Prior to that though, prior to Corrective Services releasing that statement, the police wouldn't confirm that he escaped. I don't understand why they wouldn't even confirm that he escaped. I'm not aware of any questions to police on that issue, but certainly the police were involved in searching for him through the Corrective Services unit. Is there any indication that he had any help escaping? Not to my knowledge, no. Are you following any leads as to where he may be? At the moment we're using a number of investigative techniques. There is a large team of detectives involved in the investigation as well as a large group of uniform officers who are out patrolling in that general area, but we also put Metro North on alert to ensure that we're covering our bases. Was he like at a corrections house or does it his own house or where was he? He was at a correctional services facility. How long have you been there? I can't answer that question. Do they have lockdowns or times when the inmates at those houses should be inside? In those facilities, it's my understanding that the GPS bracelet that they wear advises where they are at any given time. So by leaving during a period when they're not meant to, an alarm is activated. What advice to young women exercising tonight in Brisbane? Well, I'd hope that anyone who is out there exercising jogging, particularly in the Metro South area, particularly out around that entire Jindali area, they do so in company with others, so friends, or they decide not to do it tonight, they stay indoors. But I also encourage people not just out and about jogging to look after their personal safety or consider it, but anyone. I mean, I want householders to lock up their homes properly tonight. We've got to consider all the angles with this person. Disarray your confidence in the devices? As I said, that's a question that certainly will be looked into in relation to the security of the bracelets themselves. It's not so much something which needs to be looked into. Currently now, is your confidence eroded with these devices? As I said, this issue will be looked into, no doubt, by Corrective Services and I'm sure that the Queensland Police will be very interested in the outcome of that, any review they do of the use of those bracelets. How would you describe the Smoins attack? Like, their violence involved? Certainly, it's my understanding that the male person, who we believe to be Alice, actually knocked the woman to the ground and she was able to fight him off. How old was she? In her 40s. Have she been jogging or something? Yes, she was. It's my understanding that she was out jogging. And you're satisfied that it was Alice who was responsible? We believe it was, yes. Is that his sort of modus operandi before he was in prison? Is that how he used to find victims? Normally we wouldn't talk about a prisoner's... Sorry, yes, a prisoner's a person in custody, their previous convictions. But in this case, Alice does have previous convictions. He is a random attacker from his previous M.O. And it is concerning that he has offenses involving young women in the past. What sort of police resources have been deployed to look them? We've got a large number of police resources including those in vehicles. We have motorcyclists out there. We have police on pushbikes and we have the police horses involved as well. We've got a large contingent. We have specialist search managers. Our search and rescue managers involved in the search of this person in that entire area. But we're not going to find him quickly unless we get help from the media, from the public and the media in getting this message out that if people see him that they should contact police. Are you confident that he's still in that area and hasn't sort of gone up a goal? No, I'm not confident of that. That's why we need the public to help us in this case. We, quite honestly, at the moment we don't know where he is and that's why we're appealing. Public though, this is not really good enough, is it? Like to put fear out there today, I know you're not creating the fear, but people wouldn't be worried about this now wouldn't they? It's very, very important that the public understand that we have a person out there who we regard as a threat to community safety and we want them to help us to put him back inside into custody where he should be. Are schools another area of concern? We made sure that before schools were let out this afternoon that we advised all of our patrols to make sure that they concentrated on where young people would be exiting schools but also it's not just schools, it's railway stations, it's bus stations, things like that. So we've asked our police to make sure that they keep an eye on anywhere, particularly where younger people, young women in fact congregate. How do you think he's getting around? Does he have any transport? Look, I can't answer that question, but certainly this morning he was on foot when the attack took place and we had no evidence of any other form of transport at that stage. Do you have any injuries as a result of removing the GPS tracker? Not to my knowledge. What level of security was there at the correctional services facility that he was at? My understanding of the facility is one where there is the use of the electronic bracelets and the alarming systems and also there is other security mechanisms at those facilities that I'm aware of. But these are places where prisoners do come and go because of the use of the bracelets. Does the alarm go off once the bracelet is removed or they could have stayed on the ground for an hour or two and then it goes out the front and the alarm goes off? My understanding is the alarm is made when the bracelet is removed. Could you be this concerned? You must have a lengthy record or history of this type of attack. So are we talking more than five in the past? No, we're not. But what concerns us is that his previous history is broad and it includes attacks on young women. So we can be safe to say that there's perhaps less than five of these attacks in the past, but... I haven't got his criminal history in front of me but, as I said, we are concerned enough to warn the public about this person. Can you cross the border in terms of violence? Again, I would simply say just this person may not be in Brisbane now and we need the whole of Queensland community to assist us to try and locate him. So you must say you must watch a person right now? At this moment I could say yes he is. For the mere fact that we need to get this person back into custody. Unless there's anything else, thank you very much. All the best.