Part way through a four-year sentence for shopbreaking and theft related to his favourite Jaguar cars, he scaled the 10 metres (33 ft) high wall[3] that day and was not recaptured until 21 July.
Wilder escaped again six months later on 29 January 1963, this time from Mount Eden Prisons in the heart of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.
Eventually, after evading police for 172 days, Wilder was captured again on 17 July 1963 in a hut at Rununga Bush, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) off the Napier-Taupo highway.
[3] A popular musical group, the Howard Morrison Quartet, released a single called "George, the Wild(er) New Zealand Boy" in September 1963 about him, which, despite being banned by New Zealand's state owned broadcasters,[5] went immediately to number 1 in the charts and stayed there for some ten weeks.[when?
][citation needed] Restored to life in prison, Wilder made one more attempt at freedom but this, his final escape, was short-lived.
After three hours, the trio surrendered to the Armed Offenders Squad and Wilder went back into custody, where he remained until he was paroled in 1969.