At 6.36pm on a balmy Monday evening, amid huge secrecy, the WikiLeaks founder 'left the jurisdiction of England and Wales' as the luxury plane lifted off from Stansted Airport's runway.
With its hand-stitched leather upholstery, mahogany 'stateroom' and the fine dining on offer, Julian Assange's private jet must have seemed like a little taste of heaven after his prison cell.
Earlier in the day, in a clandestine operation signed off by the High Court, Assange had been escorted from his nine-square-metre cell at Belmarsh high-security prison in South-East London and driven to the Essex airport, without a word being uttered to the public who have been shouldering the enormous financial and reputational cost of his stay in Britain.
Waiting for him in Sydney to start a 'quiet' new life were his wife Stella and their two sons, whom he fathered as a fugitive from justice while holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy. Gabriel, seven, and Max, five, have never met their father outside his incarceration. Their mother said she had not yet informed the boys of the release plans, for fear of the information leaking. She told the BBC: 'All I told them was that there was a big surprise.
But Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, who has been lobbying for Assange, told his parliament: 'Regardless of the views that people have about Mr Assange's activities, the case has dragged on for too long.' Fast-forward to 2010 and bleached-blonde Assange was a self-styled cyber-messiah feted by swooning supporters.
Assange, variously described – including by his own former conquests – as a self-absorbed 'misogynist' and 'womaniser', had two separate sexual assignations with female WikiLeaks fans. What was to have been a triumphant, rock star-style blast of booze, adulation and sex turned sour. Swedish authorities issued a European Arrest Warrant and Interpol put him on its 'red notice' list. Assange presented himself to Scotland Yard on December 7 and was remanded in custody at London's Wandsworth Prison.
It would include a chapter on 'Women', until his then girlfriend told his ghost writer, in front of Assange: 'He's got such appalling, sleazy stories about women.' She added: 'He openly chats girls up and has his hand on their a**e. And goes nuts if I even talk to another guy.
Nothing apparently deterred high-profile fans from being dazzled by Assange's idealism. He enjoyed visits from Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, singer Lady Gaga, designer Vivienne Westwood, American actors John Cusack and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Yoko Ono and her son Sean, and even former Manchester United star Eric Cantona.
In 2017, Assange became engaged to Ms Moris. Their sons were born in 2017 and 2019. It is said Assange watched both children being born in London hospitals via live video link.
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