As the relentless hunt for alleged triple murderer Julian Ingram grinds into its second week under scorching 40-plus degree sun, a veteran police officer who knows Australia’s most infamous manhunts intimately warns isolated properties could be a target for food and shelter.

Ben Besant, a former member of the Tactical Operations Unit involved in the capture of Malcolm Naden, believes Ingram is already employing the same survival tactics as the notorious “master bushman” – preying on remote farmsteads as the manhunt intensifies.

“Naden raided local farms and houses for food and other supplies before disappearing back into the bush,” Besant told news.com.au, warning Ingram, who knows the region well, could be doing precisely the same.

“There are a great many similarities between the hunt for Malcolm Naden, Australia’s most wanted man, who was on the run from police for seven years,” Besant said.

“He too was an Aboriginal man from the bush, wanted for multiple murders of family members, had a good knowledge of the bush and bushcraft, and capacity to survive in very adverse conditions.”

Julian Ingram also known as Pierpoint, aged 37, is wanted on an outstanding warrant for murder in Lake Cargelligo NSW. Picture: Supplied

Police are now focused on the Mount Hope area in their hunt for Julian Ingram. Picture: Supplied
Besant’s own experience tracking Naden provides a terrifying blueprint for what police are now facing.

Naden trekked more than 340 kilometres through dense bushland, evading capture for years.

His eventual downfall began when a tracking device, cleverly stitched into a sleeping bag, was stolen from a local farmstead he was frequenting. This crucial theft triggered the deployment of the Tactical Operations Unit.

The search through the rugged terrain soon yielded undeniable evidence of Naden’s presence: food scraps, including empty baked bean cans and plastic bread wrappers, were discovered near a cold campfire site. A cache of high-powered weapons was found hidden in a PVC pipe.

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The small TOU team was closing in, but the situation was deemed too perilous and six more members, including Besant, were called in.

Pregnant Lake Cargelligo woman Sophie Quinn was shot inside her car. Image: Supplied

Tactical police in the central west NSW town of Lake Cargelligo where three people were shot dead. Picture: NewsWire/ Klae McGuinness

Former TOU officer Ben Besant says keeping the lockdown in place is the best chance of catching the wanted man. Picture: Klae McGuinness
“The boys were filthy and looked exhausted,” Besant recounted, describing his initial colleagues as “covered in leeches” – a testament to the brutal conditions they had endured.

After days of sleeping rough in the bush and waiting patiently, the reinforced team finally surrounded Naden before a TOU operator named Brad was shot and seriously wounded by Naden who was waiting in ambush.

“Fortunately Brad survived but was ever the same again,” Besant said.

“This provoked a large scale response from the NSW Police Force before the TOU managed to arrest Naden months later, stalking through the bush under night vision goggles late at night surrounding him in a remote hut,” bringing to an end his seven-year reign as a fugitive.

While the terrain around Lake Cargelligo might not be the same dense, mountainous rainforest that swallowed Naden for years, Besant cautions that the Australian bush, in any form, can be a perfect sanctuary for a skilled survivor.

“Although in contrast to the hunt for Naden … the Australian bush, although harsh in nature, can provide a very good place to evade police if you know how to survive in it,” he explained.

Former NSW Tactical Operations officer Ben Besant was involved in the arrest of Malcolm Naden who was on the run for years. Picture – Supplied

Ben Besant says the Australian terrain is good for hiding. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
“And scouring bushland in full tactical attire in such heat would be very physically taxing for prolonged periods, and police dogs’ capabilities would be significantly limited.”

Locals agreed.

A long-time resident and council gardener, Ingram possesses intimate knowledge of the community and the sparsely populated landscape around Mount Hope – about an hour northwest of Lake Cargelligo – which is one of the areas where police tactical units are now focused. Kiacatoo was also a hotspot after reports of a man acting suspiciously on Wednesday.

“As he is a local man, there is also a reasonable possibility that he is being assisted by others in the area,” Besant said.

Locals agree.

“If the city police go running around there they won’t know how to follow the tracks,” one local, who asked not to be named, said.

“It’s like city people with no bush experience trying to catch a bushman. Not gonna happen.”

Police searched for fugitive Malcolm Naden for years. Picture by Rob Stewart

Finally TOU officers surrounded Malcolm Naden. Picture: NSW Police Media.
They say there are a number of disused mine shafts in the area, as well as numerous camps used by teams of brush cutters.

Ingram has worked extensively in the Mt Hope area cutting brush used for fencing.

“Most properties are between 50 to 80 thousand acres, some are bigger and mostly covered with scrub,” another said.

“There are plenty of goats for food and plenty of cover.”

Besant said police were also faced with the possibility their target had already slipped out of the area.

The best chance of success, he said, was locking down the area as much as possible – using road blocks and searching cars and monitoring close accomplices.

“I speculate that at this stage of the search police will continue in their attempts to locate Ingram and best chance in my opinion is through keeping the local area locked down as best possible and carefully combing the area,” he said.

Julian Ingram also known as Pierpoint, aged 37, is on the run. Picture: Supplied
“Police will also have to methodically assess and investigate an overwhelming amount of tips and reports from the public, most of which will be false or misleading, and use further police resources to follow up on potentially viable reports.

“Police will more than likely only realise the cordon and current operational plan if a verifiable report eventuates of Ingram being sighted in another area.”

Ingram, 37, is on the run after allegedly gunning down his pregnant ex-partner Sophie Quinn, 25, her new boyfriend John Harris, 32, and Sophie’s aunt Nerida Quinn, 50, in a horrific triple killing in Lake Cargelligo last Thursday afternoon.

He was on bail for alleged family and domestic violence offences, due in court for an AVO hearing, when the alleged rampage occurred.