Fugitive Stewart's Facebook following

William Stewart's legacy lives on through a Facebook group, T-shirts and a song, despite his capture in Canterbury today after three months on the run.

Facebook fan page 'William Stewart' had 1510 members this morning, with some joining after the news of his capture .

Stewart was caught around 1am after a farmer in Mayfield, 35km northwest of Ashburton, disturbed an intruder allegedly trying to steal a quad bike and called police.

He was arrested a short distance away on a prison recall warrant, issued in October, following more than 100 days on the run since police began their manhunt in February.

Some fans on the Facebook page congratulated Stewart for evading police for so long, with one saying "Billy was caught this morning! Well done Billy, your time is over, its been fun, enjoy the meals at Pap (Paparua Prison)".

Others applauded his capture, with one commenter writing "Yippee Ki Yay the Tosser has been caught".

Others had earlier encouraged him to "keep on runnin' buddy" and suggested he be given a reduced sentence because of his "evasion skills".

When news of his arrest broke, a Blair Stewart commented: "Sad to see it end Uncle Bill, but you will be free soon".

Ashburton-based Trade Me seller `madbazza' began selling "Where's Billy?" T-shirts last month, with the names of towns where Stewart had been spotted crossed out.

At least 17 of the shirts were sold on Trade Me, for around $25-30 but one early auction fetched $42.10.

The response to the shirts was mixed, with `magx' accusing the seller of "exploiting the media hype of such a druggie scumbag", but two other users commented "Go BILLY BOY you GOOD THING" and "Has NZ lost their sense of humour???? GO BILLY!!!!!"

Timaru man Robbie Robertson wrote a folk song called Billy the Hunted One - a nickname Stewart had given himself and carved into a table at a property he allegedly stole food from.

The lyrics talked about Stewart's evasion skills, knowledge of Canterbury and his nickname.

Mr Robertson said he wrote the three minute song in three days, and had hoped for airplay during New Zealand Music Month in May.

Canterbury police district commander Superintendent Dave Cliff said it was "really very disappointing" for police that Stewart was being painted as a folk hero.

Stewart appeared in Christchurch District Court this morning.

- NZPA