This week on True Crime This Week, host Vanessa Richardson explores two of history’s most legendary escape artists who turned their jailbreaks into folklore.
First, meet Jack Sheppard, the 18th-century London thief who outsmarted authorities time and again with four daring escapes from England’s toughest prisons — before his death turned him into a working-class hero.
Then, travel to colonial Australia to follow Joseph Bolitho “Moondyne” Joe Johns, a convict whose cunning and persistence made him the most famous prison escapee in Australian history. From digging through cell walls to vanishing into the outback, Joe became a national icon for defying authority and refusing to give up.
From the back alleys of London to the wilds of Western Australia, these stories prove that some legends are born behind bars.