a story The longest a prisoner in Australia (40) years in prison

a story

The longest a prisoner in Australia (40) years in prison



  Bobby Veen

He spent more than 40 years in prison but just 18 months after finally being released, Bobby Veen has died at the age of 62.



Veen was one of Australia's longest serving prisoners, sent to jail for the killings of two men in separate incidents in the 1970s and 1980s.



He died of a heart attack on Saturday on the New South Wales Central Coast.



Born in Bourke, he was taken from his Aboriginal family as a baby and later adopted by the Veen family of Albury.



"They were a beautiful family and I was raised up good. My father was stern, strict. My mother used to take us to church every Sunday," he said.



But when he was 11-years-old, Veen said he was abducted and molested by three men.



 They were a beautiful family and I was raised up good. My father was stern, strict. My mother used to take us to church every Sunday.





In 1975, he committed his first murder.

Bobby was found guilty of manslaughter and ended up serving eight years in jail.



Just months after his release in 1983 Bobby committed a strikingly similar crime, stabbing another man to death.



Bobby says he recognised the man from his days working the streets of Kings Cross.



"I just stabbed again. I was angry," he said.



This time, he was sentenced to life in prison.





It wasn't until last year, when doctors found a tumour on Bobby's oesophagus, that he was granted parole. He will stay on parole until he dies.



After spending two thirds of his life in jail, Bobby was released on June 16.