Man turns himself in 29 years after escaping Australian prison

A 64-year-old man who allegedly used a hacksaw blade and bolt cutters to break out of an Australian prison nearly 30 years ago has handed himself into police, authorities said on Wednesday.

The man escaped from a correctional centre in Grafton, some 600 kilometres north of Sydney, between July 31 and August 1, 1992 allegedly using "tools including a hacksaw blade and bolt cutters," New South Wales police said in a statement.

"At the time, efforts to locate the man were unsuccessful," the statement added.

The man, who was 35 at the time of the prison break, has since been charged with escaping from lawful custody.

He surrendered himself to police in Dee Why, in Sydney's northern beaches, on Sunday.

Undetected since 1992

Local media reported he had served just over a year of a three and a half year sentence when he escaped. The man was originally convicted of two counts of cultivating a prohibited plant, they reported.

According to local reports the man had lived undetected in Sydney's northern beaches since 1992.

On Tuesday he was formally refused bail to reappear in court on September 28.