Alleged 'Pam the Bird' graffiti artist charged over bridge stunt

An infamous alleged graffiti artist has been charged with 13 offences after Melbourne’s tallest bridge tower was vandalised in what led to an hours-long police standoff.

Police were called to Bolte Bridge over reports of a suspicious loiterer inside the tower before 3am on Tuesday.

The man, 22-year-old Jack Gibson-Burrell, is alleged to have abseiled from the top of the tower and spray-painted a large rendition of the notorious “Pam the Bird” graffiti tag.

Staff from Transurban, which operates the bridge, noticed the trespasser about 2.15am and alerted police.

“He forced entry into the east side tower and climbed up through the existing system of ladders and things that are in there,” Acting Inspector Darren Wallis said.

He allegedly remained at the top of the pillar from 3am to 11am, with images showing him sitting on the edge with his legs over the side.

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Police allege Gibson-Burrell refused instructions to return to the ground.

At various points he was obscured by low cloud, with the pillar reaching 140 metres into the air.

Just before 9am, he is alleged to have abseiled partway down the pillar to wave at assembled onlookers, before climbing back up.

The east lane of the bridge – one of the main arterials in and out of central Melbourne – was closed and the remaining lanes were crawling at 40km/h while police negotiated with Gibson-Burrell.

People were warned traffic would be affected through the morning.

Significant police resources were deployed, including uniform officers, highway patrol, water police, the critical incident response team, and search and rescue.

“It was a particularly precarious situation, quite dangerous to the accused person as well as to police,” Wallis said.

Footage showed Gibson-Burrell exiting the bottom of the tower about 11am.

He walked with his hands raised to meet waiting police.

On instruction, he stopped, turned around, and was arrested.

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Gibson-Burrell was charged with a slew of offences, including contravening conditions of bail, committing an indictable offence whilst on bail, burglary, criminal damage, conduct endangering life and conduct endangering serious injury.

He was also charged with a number of graffiti-related offences.

The 22-year-old was expected to face court on Tuesday evening as police applied to have him remanded in custody.

The stuntman is already accused of a two-year spray-painting frenzy across Melbourne, in which heritage-listed landmarks including Flinders Street Station were scrawled with Pam the Bird.

In February Gibson-Burrell pleaded not guilty to more than 200 charges for graffiti stunts, car thefts and serious violence including allegedly stabbing a man with a kitchen knife.

His grandmother paid a $30,000 surety to secure his bail conditions, which included staying with her and abiding by a curfew.

It’s unclear when the graffiti clean-up will begin, but Transurban said it would cost tens of thousands of dollars.

“It’s unacceptable. I mean it’s a taxpayer’s site, and it’s going to cost the taxpayer to repair, in addition to the extraordinary police response and the number of police resources that were utilised,” Wallis said.

Gibson-Burrell posted several videos showing his view from the top of the tower on social media.

In one recent post, the author - presumed to be the graffitist - wrote, “I’ll be down at 12pm peacefully” and that he was waiting for the tide to go out.

In earlier videos posted to social media, he demanded lower taxes and for a drone to deliver them food.

“I’m not coming down ’til they lower the taxes,” a man’s voice is heard saying.

The posts have been popping up with relative frequency, with another suggesting he could use a “blankey” against the cold.

“I want a peanut butter and jam sandwich and a glass of milk or I’m not coming down,” he said in a video posted at about 8am.

He doubled down on that demand, posting a masked photo of himself atop the pillar with the caption “patiently waiting for my pb & j sandwich”.

Popular social media accounts purporting to show behind-the-scenes Pam the Bird content have attracted tens of thousands of followers.