Belanglo butcher says he’s a victim
IVAN Milat, one of Australia’s most notorious serial killers, claims he is baffled by the nation’s fascination with him. In a letter sent to True
Crime Australia from jail, the backpacker killer, convicted of the murders of seven young people in the Belanglo State Forest between 1989 and 1993, said he was shocked when his letters showed up on TV.
“I watched one of those morning programs, the TV breakfast personality a handful of pages written by me (sic), such a quizzical expression on her face as she reads stuff that would not raise her grandmother’s eyebrows,” he wrote.
Sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences on July 27, 1996, Milat (above) has spent more than two decades behind bars, kept in a solo cell at Goulburn’s high-security “Supermax” prison.
Much of his correspondence deals with his claim to be a victim himself.
“Those banks and other financial companies and, in particular, the churches in Australia, are novices when it came to conspiracies, to protect the system, the Supreme Court judiciary are the masters in protecting the system,” he wrote.
Milat said he followed coverage of his case closely.
“I refer to the Sunday, July 8, 2018 True Crime (Australia) story, missing females in the Newcastle region, how did I get involved in it?” he asked, referring to a Daily Telegraph story in which Milat was mentioned as a suspect in the disappearance of Amanda Robinson, Leanne Goodall and Robin Hickie – all of whom went missing from Newcastle, NSW, between December 1978 and April 1979.
“Following my convictions on July 27, 1996, on July 1996, the police commander of the Newcastle area command came up with a most ingenious solution to clear the police books of many unsolved disappearances, since mid-seventies to the mid-nineties numerous females aged from 14 to early 20s seemly just vanished off the face of the earth, no trace of them emerged,” he wrote.
“The solution was to lay it all on Ivan Milat and a relentless police campaign abley (sic) assist by all media services accused Ivan Milat for the disappearances/ murder of 8, 9 or 11 female young persons. This program to blame me continued on up until late 2000. Not once did any police come to talk to me during all this.”