Back To Jail With A Hitch For Ex-inmate

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday November 20, 2007

By DONNA SHARPE

HAVING spent two years behind bars at Maitland Gaol, one would think former inmate Dave McGarry could not get far enough away from the place.

On Saturday he will be behind those huge stone walls again but this time in a suit instead of prison greens.

Mr McGarry, who works as a tour guide at the gaol, will tie the knot with his sweetheart Rennai Buchanan.

The Abermain couple will exchange vows on the lawn in the old exercise yard before a gathering of 50 relatives and close friends. They will hold their reception in the gaol's new chapel.

Mr McGarry, 54, and Miss Buchanan, 25, have been together for two years.

They met when both worked as St John's Ambulance officers.

The couple's initial plan was for the wedding to be held at Maitland Park.

"But we decided the gaol would be a lot more fun," Mr McGarry said.

Miss Buchanan said she wanted a traditional wedding but did not want to marry in a church.

"It will certainly be a lot of fun, very different and something no one will ever forget," she said.

Mr McGarry served time at the gaol in the mid 1970s.

He said never in his wildest dreams did he think he would return to the building as an employee, let alone get married there.

He did time with some of the state's most notorious criminals, including armed robber and escape artist Darcy Dugan.

Former inmate and tour guide Peter Fraser and gaol history buff and musician Steve McLennan will be two special guests at the wedding.

". . . and it will be jailhouse rock when Steve's band plays at the reception," Mr McGarry said.

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home