Australian Story: Russell Manser (ABC TV Mon 30 May 2022)

When 14-year-old Russell Manser stole his first car for thrills in Sydney’s Mt Druitt he had no idea he would spend most of his life at loggerheads with the law.

“He was just a happy kid, but he started hanging out with a different crowd in his teenage years,” says his childhood friend Sarah Johnson who watched his descent into a life of crime.

By his early 20s, Manser was addicted to heroin and holding up bank tellers at gunpoint to finance his habit.

“It was like a rocket ship, I just couldn’t get off it,” Manser says of his repeat offending. “What I’ve done was terrible but for a long time I didn’t realise that.”

What he also didn’t realise – until an epiphany in jail – was the role hidden trauma had played in fuelling his destructive behaviour.

Manser went public about his shocking experiences as a teenager in a boys’ home and then prison. Sharing his story led to an official apology and compensation.

This validation empowered him to set up a business to help former prisoners and other institutional sex abuse survivors who are seeking justice.

Now Corrective Services New South Wales have recognised the value of his unusual story.

“It’s fantastic to learn from people who’ve managed to move beyond their criminal life,” says Deputy Commissioner Luke Grant, who has invited Manser back into jails to share his experience with prisoners.

Former bank robber John Killick sums up the dramatic changes in his friend’s life: “It’s one of the great turnarounds. It’s a million to one chance.”

Producers: Jennifer Feller and Deborah Cornwall.

Airdate: Monday 30 May 2022 at 8.00pm on ABC TV.