She is the gun-toting Russian librarian who hijacked a helicopter and plucked her convicted lover from a prison exercise yard.
He is the infamous armed robber who joined her on the run, eluding authorities until their luck ran out in a Sydney caravan park six weeks later.
Lucy Dudko and John Killick wrote themselves into Australian criminal folklore when they pulled off the most daring jailbreak in Australian history. Now the pair are penning explosive books about their decade-long Bonnie and Clyde-esque affair. There's just one catch: Neither knows exactly what the other is intending to reveal because 15 years on from their last encounter in the back of a prison van, they are banned from "all contact" as part of Killick's parole conditions.
The Sun-Herald can reveal that, next Friday, Killick will front a NSW Parole Authority hearing to request that a 24-hour electronic monitor be removed from his ankle and the order relating to Dudko be "rescinded" on the grounds that it is an "imposition" of his basic human rights.
Should that bid fail, a reunion would not be permitted until September 2022 – when he is 80 and she is 64.
"I want to talk to her about the books we are separately writing. But, if nothing else, we need to clear the air," said Killick, adding: "A lot has happened. I hope it would help both of us."
Of the parole board's decision to continue to keep them apart, he said: "We both served our time. My risk of reoffending was assessed as being 1 out of 22 – the lowest possible mark. This isn't about Lucy and I being a threat to society the moment we catch up for coffee; this is about revenge. For what happened in that prison yard … for embarrassing them."
Killick was no stranger to prison, having been jailed for armed hold-ups in 1966, 1972, 1981 and 1985, all of which were fuelled by a chronic gambling addiction.
In 1999, three years after his "intense" romance with Dudko began, he wound up in custody again after robbing a bank and shooting at an off-duty police officer. Killick pleaded guilty and was being held on remand, awaiting sentence, when, on March 25 that year, "Red Lucy" booked a $360-an-hour helicopter and, at gunpoint, forced pilot Tim Joyce to land in the exercise yard of Silverwater prison, in Sydney's west.
In a scene that mirrored the 1975 Charles Bronson movie Breakout, which Dudko had rented on video days before, the chopper swooped for Killick then fled through a hail of bullets. After 46 days in each other's arms, the lovestruck sweethearts were caught napping at the Bass Hill Tourist Park Motel, where they had booked a cabin under the names Mr and Mrs M G Brown.
"We cherished every moment," said Killick of those dramatic weeks on the run. But he added: "We were also desperate. There was no Plan B. The publicity was overwhelming. The media kept speculating it was only a matter of time before I robbed another bank – but that wasn't on the agenda. At one stage, I tried to get a job washing dishes in Melbourne … just so we could lie low and stay together, longer."
After their arrest, Killick was relocated to Goulburn jail and Dudko sentenced to a maximum 10 years at Mulawa women's prison. But the couple went to extraordinary lengths to keep their love alive.
On May 9, 1999, Killick scrawled a handwritten note to Dudko marked "No.1". It was the first of a staggering 4500 letters that were individually numbered and exchanged, between them, during the next six years. In one of her earliest communications, Dudko expressed relief after false rumours were put to bed about Killick having committed suicide in his cell: "I know this is not your style … but when something like that is told, all reasoning died away and nothing is left except horror," she said, adding: "Jesus, I love you".
In 2000, the jailbirds had a formal marriage request refused by prison authorities. And in 2003, The Sun-Herald revealed how, in letters penned from jail to her Russia-based parents, Dudko confessed she was still in love with Killick and would wait for as long as it took, so they could be together once more. In one, she labelled him "my lover, my general and my soldier" and portrayed the criminal as a gentleman, telling her parents: "Every morning he brought me coffee in bed".
She added: "I will stay in Australia when I'm released … I will wait for the moment he gets out of jail and we can be together. Nothing will make me change my mind".
After spending seven years in jail for her crime of passion, Dudko was released in 2006. But Killick would wait eight more years before he tasted freedom, last month.
He said he remains "in the dark" about where they stand today, after she contacted him in May 2005 and revealed she had "rediscovered" her faith.
"She sent a minister to see me in jail and I told him I didn't buy most of the stuff in the Bible. Two weeks later, she told me the relationship was over."
While Killick hoped to see another of Lucy's letters, he confirms the next time he saw her words on paper was in a 2009 edition of The Sun-Herald.
"My life was like a soap opera back then but slowly I've managed to put it all behind me," she said then, adding: "It doesn't help to relive what happened, so I try not to. I've moved on."
When the letters and fortnightly phone calls from Dudko dried up, Killick enrolled on a year-long Violent Offenders Therapeutic Program to finally tackle the "worst regret" of his life: gambling. "Twelve of us joined up but only five made it through, he said, adding: "I felt so proud, not just for myself but for the psychologists and counsellors who stood by me."
Killick believes that had it been him released early, as opposed to Dudko, he would have remained "loyal to Lucy" arguing "otherwise, what was it all for?".
"I don't know what her life is like these days … and it is not for me to intrude. But of course I would like to see her again, even once, not just to talk about the books and what should or should not remain private … I'd like to see her because we waited so long for the moment.
He added: "I still believe there is a unique bond there. And I would need her to look me in the face and say there is not … for me to ever believe otherwise".
Dudko did not respond to messages left by The Sun-Herald last week.
Forbidden love:
- 1995: Lucy Dudko meets convicted armed robber John Killick. After leaving her husband, they become inseparable lovers.
- 1999: Dudko hijacks chopper and plucks Killick from Silverwater jail while he is awaiting sentence over latest armed robbery. They are caught after 46 days on the run. From behind bars, they exchange the first of more than 4500 love letters.
- 2000: The pair share a tender moment in the back of a prison van. It remains the last time they saw one another. Later that year, prison authorities deny a request from the couple to marry.
- 2006: Dudko is released from jail and turns to God. Killick, still in jail, declines to follow the same path.
- 2009: Lucy tells Fairfax she has "moved on".
- 2015: Killick finally walks free with a catch: He is forbidden from communicating with Dudko until 2022. He will challenge the order next Friday.
