Bruce Lehrmann’s mad dash out of Sydney just moments after he was branded a rapist – and the unlikely ally he turned to for help

Bruce Lehrmann sped up the freeway and out of Sydney moments after he was branded a rapist by a federal court judge, seeking refuge from the media at a police station.

Lehrmann found out he lost his lengthy defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson on Monday morning when Judge Michael Lee handed down his 324-page judgment.

The judge found it probable that Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins inside the Parliament building in the early hours of March 23, 2019 – despite his insistence to the contrary.

The results were an unexpected blow to Lehrmann, who brought the case against himself and apparently couldn’t wait to get out of court on Monday.

Along with his lawyers, he charged from court, avoiding television cameras and reporters with microphones and refusing to answer questions such as, ‘How humiliating is this for you?’ and ‘was it worth it?’

He was chased across the road on foot and into his solicitor’s office before leaving the office and jumping into a borrowed Mazda CX9 and driving to the Central Coast.

A freelance photographer told TheWSTNews Australia that Lehrmann knew he was being followed and drove around Lane Cove and the M1 motorway trying unsuccessfully to lose the cameras.

Bruce Lehrmann sought refuge inside Gosford police station (pictured)

After a chase around Sydney’s lower north shore, the pair ended up traveling along the North Connex before a woman in a white tool appeared to try to block the photographer’s view.

According to the freelancer, the goal was to block his view so he couldn’t see Lehrmann exit the highway.

But that didn’t work either.

Eventually he was tailed all the way to Avoca, which is about 100km north of Sydney.

“He came up to north Avoca, passed a police shop, then shouted at some officers who were passing by and did another round,” the photographer said.

“He went up the road and around a dead end, then drove past the police station again and continued like that.

Lehrmann then pulled up to a police officer for help before the photographer shouted out his car window: ‘We’re news and this is Bruce Lehrmann.’

He said: ‘The officer looked at me and looked at him and he didn’t care.’

Lehrmann then left the car in a No Stopping zone outside Gosford Police Station and bolted inside before officers drove him to an undisclosed location for his own safety.

Brittany Higgins wore a white pencil dress (pictured) the night she claims she was raped. Bruce Lehrmann is pictured standing next to her in a light blue shirt

Police later called the photographer to confirm he was a news media rather than a dangerous stalker.

Asked how Lehrmann was doing, the officer said, ‘Yeah, he’s okay.’

The police are not investigating the case.

The situation unfolded in the hours after Lehrmann’s libel case backfired.

Lehrmann sued over an interview Ms Higgins did with Wilkinson on Network Ten’s The Project in February 2021, in which she aired her rape allegations against him for the first time.

He was not named in that broadcast but claimed that friends and colleagues were able to identify him as Mrs Higgins’ rapist. He vehemently denied raping Mrs Higgins and launched defamation actions in an attempt to clear his name.

But on Monday, Justice Lee found that Lehrmann brought Ms Higgins back to a ‘secluded place’, which was the ministerial suite, after a night out with colleagues with the intention of having sex with her.

He said Lehrmann was ‘hell intent’ on having sex with Ms Higgins, that he knew she was very drunk and did not consider whether she consented to intercourse.