‘Acting out of love’: the 80-year-old builder and the dash across the Australian outback that almost ended in tragedy

Ralph 'Terry' Gibbs believed he was "acting out of love" when he made an ill-fated dash across the Australian outback to bring his partner with dementia home, but the 80-year-old ended up with a suspended jail sentence and a two-year restraining order.

Gibbs took his partner of 15 years, Carol Lisle, on 4 January from a nursing home in Mandurah - an hour south of Perth. The builder said he wanted to take her back to their Queensland home near the beach.

Police found the pair in unforgiving 43C heat, deep in the harsh and remote Western Australian desert - just an hour from the Northern Territory border.

After two days on the lam, the 84-year-old, wheelchair-bound Lisle was reportedly found distressed, smelling of urine, and still in the same trousers and floral top she was wearing when taken.

Gibbs, who the court heard had not slept properly for days, was interrogated, arrested and placed in jail.

He was charged with deprivation of liberty and endangering Lisle's life, but on 9 February he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful detention.

This week, wearing thongs and supported by a bare wooden crutch, Gibbs hobbled into Perth magistrates court and was sentenced to seven months' jail, suspended for 12 months.