News Service from House Harris

NSW: Ex-policeman admits he was stupid for stealing chopper

SYDNEY, Feb 6 AAP - A former policeman who stole a rare helicopter from a Sydney airport says he made a "stupid mistake" in hiding the chopper instead of handing himself in to police.

Mark Cavanagh, 49, has admitted stealing the $340,000 ex-military Kiowa chopper on April 25 after breaking into a hangar at Bankstown Airport and having it refuelled.

The next day he took it on a "test flight" to his home town of Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast.

When Cavanagh was told days later police were looking for the pilfered helicopter, he panicked and flew it to Taree where a friend helped him hide it in a hangar.

He says he needed to "distance himself" from it while he got his thoughts together before contacting police.

"I needed to think about what I had done and realise the severity," he told the NSW District Court in Sydney on Friday.

"I panicked about the whole situation - it had gone wrong.

"It was a stupid, stupid mistake and I wasn't thinking and I fell apart.

"I was out of my depth and I just didn't know what to do.

"I needed to talk to someone about it before I spoke to police."

Judge Mark Marion said given Cavanagh's police background he should have known keeping the chopper for so long was bound to incriminate him.

"With your experience as a police officer, you must have known that the longer you held it, the more it looked like you weren't going to give it back?" the judge asked.

"I would have (called), I should have - but I just panicked," Cavanagh replied.

"I wished I had, but I just didn't."

Prosecutors are trying to prove Cavanagh never intended to return the aircraft.

They have been pointing out inconsistencies in his behaviour after he took the helicopter and equipment used to move it, including hiding his face from security cameras.

Judge Marion asked Cavanagh why he told people at Port Macquarie Airport he had just bought the chopper on the cheap if he was only taking it for a "test flight" before purchasing it, as he claims.

"Why not say I have got this here because I'm about to take this helicopter for a test flight which, according to you, was the truth? Why did you lie?" Judge Marion asked.

"I don't know," Cavanagh replied.

The matter has been adjourned until March 13, when sentencing submissions will continue.