McNeill on his way to Sydney jail, after Norfolk stop over

Glenn McNeill

SYDNEY - Norfolk Island murder accused Glenn Peter Charles McNeill will make only a fleeting return to the tiny South Pacific outpost before being shunted on to one of Australia's most notorious jails.

NZPA understood the 28-year-old Nelson chef, charged with the murder of Sydney waitress Janelle Patton, 29, in 2002, is bound for Sydney's Long Bay jail, where he will be held until his trial starts on Norfolk.

McNeill was arrested in Nelson last week in a joint operation by New Zealand and Australian police.

His departure from New Zealand yesterday was shrouded in secrecy, as he was whisked on to the Nelson Airport tarmac in an unmarked car -- out of sight of waiting photographers.

Australian Federal Police were similarly tight-lipped when asked if the father-of-two was headed for Long Bay, the historic jail overlooking Sydney's eastern beaches.

Norfolk Island has only two cells, and moving a prisoner from there to Sydney was not without precedent.

Leith Buffett, the 25-year-old son of Norfolk Island's deputy chief minister, was transferred to Long Bay's maximum security hospital after being charged with fatally shooting his father Ivens in July 2004.

The New South Wales government amended the Crimes Act 1999 to allow Norfolk Island authorities to transfer Buffett into NSW custody in September 2004.

Long Bay, one of the state's oldest correctional facilities, was considered NSW's hardest jail to escape from, until the supermax facility at Goulburn added a high risk management unit in 2001.

Its high security reputation was tarnished last month when Robert Cole, a convicted armed robber and sex offender, slipped out of the prison hospital after losing 20kg to reduce his weight to 56kg.

He succeeded in scraping out the brickwork outside his cell window before squeezing through bars.

He eluded state-of-the-art video surveillance and heat detection systems but was recaptured three days later while shopping in Bondi.

- NZPA