Fugitive William Stewart was caught this morning after more than 100 days spent evading police. 47-year-old Billy Stewart took to the Canterbury back-country in February after allegedly threatening a police officer with an iron bar. Today he faced charges including breach of bail, possession of cannabis and possession of utensils. The latter is obviously a precursor to charges such as threatening behaviour with a spoon.
Police captured Stewart after a farmer near the rural town of Ashburton called them after disturbing an intruder who made off with a quad bike. Stewart was captured a short distance away after, seeing himself surrounded, he seemingly chose the safe option and gave himself up. After more than three months on the run, with long hair and a bushy beard, he may have felt it was time to return to civilisation.
Police chided the rural Canterbury population for inadvertently helping Stewart avoid capture for so long by their lax security around homes and vehicles. Stewart appeared well-fed and is thought to have broken into many houses and shops for food. He knows the back country of Canterbury well and presumably was able to find shelter.
His prolonged run from police has sparked much national interest and made him something of a folk hero. Police, however, are taking a dim view of this and had warned that Stewart was a drug addict, armed and dangerous.
But there has been a song written about him called Billy, The Hunted One, the name he carved into a tabletop in a house where he stole food, there are Where’s Billy t-shirts with a list of towns where he’s been seen, and he has his own Facebook group.
Nice to see the recession isn’t the only news in NZ.