Escaped prisoner caught just north of Daintree River

A man who famously escaped from Lotus Glen prison on a red tractor about a month ago has been captured in Cow Bay.

Michael Graeme Rennie, 43, was taken into police custody at 12.45am last night (Wednesday, June 2) after being on the run from Lotus Glen Low Custody Correctional Centre near Mareeba since June 1.

Rennie, who was serving about six years in jail for offences since 2020 involving assault, theft, drugs and weapons, has been charged with escaping lawful custody and the unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

Rennie is 174cm tall, 56kg, lightly built, with a fair complexion, fair hair and blue eyes and has a range of tattoos including a gun on his left shoulder, a dragon and skull on his right shoulder and a clown with a gun on his left ribs.

When he escaped, police released a photo of a red Massey Ferguson tractor, believed to be worth about $100,000, with an attached front bucket similar to the one Rennie was last seen driving at the prison farm when he escaped - but that tractor has not yet been found.