Dead Australian outlaw Kelly still eludes authorities

By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's most notorious outlaw Ned Kelly, dead for 126 years, is again eluding authorities.

Kelly, who became a folk hero of Australia's colonial past with his gangs' daring bank robberies and police shoot outs, was hanged for his crimes in 1880 and buried in a mass prison grave.

But now authorities say Kelly has again gone missing -- his remains that is. It seems Kelly's remains were dug up during drainage works in the 1950s and discarded.

Recent archaeological tests of the mass grave area of Pentridge Prison in the southern city of Melbourne failed to find any remains, said Ray Tonkin, head of Heritage Victoria.

Kelly was hanged at the Old Melbourne Gaol in 1880 and his remains, together with those of other executed prisoners, were moved to Pentridge in the 1920s and 1930s and buried in a mass grave. Until recently, authorities believed all executed inmates were buried in a designated area within the prison grounds.

"Based on the information available to us, we now believe these remains were probably removed in the 1950s or 1960s, as part of the installation of large service pipes that took place at the prison at the time," Tonkin told reporters on Monday.

Kelly is Australia's most famous outlaw or bushranger.

After evading police for two years, he and his gang were finally trapped in bushland in the southern Victoria state on June 28, 1880. In a defiant last stand the pistol-wielding Kelly, dressed in homemade armour hammered out of plough blades, walked towards police with guns blazing.