Ronald Ryan's escape partner back in jail

The man who escaped Melbourne's Pentridge Prison more than 50 years ago with Ronald Ryan - the last man hanged in Australia - will be behind bars for at least another two years.

Peter John Walker, 74, used a dead man's identity to set up bank accounts and buy a disused post office in Yaapeet in remote northwest Victoria that was used as a drug lab and guns cache.

He was arrested at Perth Airport in 2014, with a one-way ticket to London and more than $100,000 cash and, on Wednesday, was sentenced in the Victorian County Court to a minimum of four years and four months behind bars.

He has already served two years in pre-sentence custody.

The court heard that Walker went to Yaapeet in 2012, and a shipping container was delivered there soon after.

Police raided the place in 2013 after a neighbour reported sweet and pungent smells.

They found ammunition and numerous guns in the shipping container, precursor materials and methamphetamine.

The cache of guns was a firearm "safe house" for other criminals, though Walker used some for hunting.

He wasn't the only member of the operation and later told a psychologist he became involved after he was approached by mates.

Walker suffered a traumatic childhood and was institutionalised while young, likely leading to an entrenched belief he should help friends with their crimes, Chief Judge Peter Kidd said on Wednesday.

Walker has not committed any violent crimes since he and Ryan fled Pentridge in 1965.

Ryan shot and killed a prison guard in the escape and was hanged two years later.

Walker, who had been serving 12 years for bank robbery, shot a tow truck driver dead while on the run and was jailed for manslaughter.

He was released in 1984 and didn't come to police attention again until 2001, for using cannabis.