‘He is never going to be sorry’: Australia would be ‘best served’ if Ivan Milat died, claims top cop who helped snare backpacker killer
- Ivan Milat was taken from Long Bay Prison to Prince of Wales Hospital on Friday
- Milat, 74, was diagnosed with terminal throat and stomach cancer in May
- NSW police commissioner who helped capture Milat said he had no sympathy
- Milat is serving seven life sentences for murdering backpackers in 1980s
The former police officer who led the the team that captured Ivan Milat says ‘Australia would be best served’ if the convicted backpacker killer died.
Milat, who is fighting terminal oesophageal and stomach cancer, is being treated at a secure annex at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital after his condition deteriorated earlier this week.
The 74-year-old has been undergoing chemotherapy since being diagnosed in May and according to some reports, only has days to live.
Clive Small, the former assistant police commissioner who led the team that captured Milat, has little sympathy for the serial killer.
Ivan Milat, who is fighting terminal oesophageal and stomach cancer, is being treated at in a secure annex at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital after taking a turn for the worse earlier this week.
‘Ivan was a person who was never going to be sorry or regret the murders he carried out and he would have carried out the murders as long as he was free – they would have continued,’ Mr Small said.
‘So there is a real sense in which I think Australia would be best served if Ivan died.’
In 1996 Milat was convicted of killing seven backpackers and dumping their bodies in the Belanglo State Forest, south of Sydney, between 1989 and 1992.
‘There were believed to be at least another three murders that he is responsible for but hasn’t been convicted of,’ Mr Small said.
In 1996 Milat (pictured) was convicted of killing seven backpackers and dumping their bodies in the Belanglo State Forest, south of Sydney, between 1989 and 1992
‘He will believe that he is in charge, he is in control of the situation, and as long as he has information that he knows others want, including the police, he believes he is the boss.’
Milat is currently serving seven life sentences for the murders, which are all to be served consecutively and without the possibility of parole.
The serial killer has been in and out of hospital this year and was seen for the first time in a decade in May (Milat pictured in May)
Milat (pictured in May) was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick on Friday from Long Bay Prison after his condition deteriorated
Milat’s victims included three backpackers from Germany, two tourists from Britain and two Australians from Melbourne.
He has spent most of the last two-and-a-half decades in Goulburn’s Supermax prison, the strictest in Australia.
Milat was jailed in 1994 after his arrest.
Clive Small, former NSW police commissioner (pictured in 2002) said Australia would be ‘best served’ if Milat died
Despite a mountain of evidence against him, Milat has never confessed to the crimes.
The serial killer has been in and out of hospital this year and was seen for the first time in a decade in May.
Milat stabbed most of his victims – decapitating one whose head has never been found – and shot another 10 times in the head as if using her for target practice.
He was also questioned in 2004 about the disappearance of two nurses at Parramatta in 1980 when he was working at the nearby Granville depot of the then Department of Main Roads.
In 2006 Milat was named by police at an inquest as the person most likely to have killed a schoolgirl and her boyfriend who disappeared from northern Sydney in 1978.
The notorious killer wrote a 10 page letter last year proclaiming his innocence.