Deathbed interview with Ivan Milat reveals how the serial killer was evil until the very end

Detectives tried repeatedly to get a confession from Ivan Milat in the hours before his death (pictured: Milat in the interview room)

Chilling deathbed interviews with Ivan Milat have been released, showing Australia’s worst serial killer telling detectives he wouldn’t confess to his crimes even if they ‘put a blowtorch’ to his eyes. 

Milat, 74, was found guilty of killing seven people in the Balenglo State Forest, in Sydney’s south, in the 1990s and is suspected of murdering dozens of others, but never made a confession. 

In a bid to bring closure to his victims’ families, detectives tried repeatedly to get him to confess in the hours before his painful death from throat and stomach cancer on Sunday in Sydney’s Long Bay jail – but Milat gave nothing away. 

Police had remained tight-lipped about the contents of the interviews and the tactics they employed, until they were laid bare on Monday.

Investigators visited the suspected killer in jail and in hospital a total of eight times in the weeks before his death, but Milat remained nonchalant and largely silent throughout. 

A male detective was initially used to coax information about the location of some suspected victims from unsolved cases, but Milat refused to acknowledge the detective’s presence. 

‘Today, Ivan, is just about having a bit of a chat to see whether we can shed any light and maybe get a bit of closure for some families out there,’ the detective was heard saying in video aired by A Current Affair on Monday night.  

Milat stayed silent, as the detective tried to appeal to the killer’s ego.

‘I don’t believe anyone is so devoid of decency that they would to the grave the knowledge and location of peoples loved ones,’ he said. 

‘The end result is that in three weeks or three months or however long you’ve got left on this earth, after you’re gone mate, and in years to come after we’re all gone, everyone left is still going to believe that you were responsible.’ 

As he was interviewed by a male detective, Milat stayed silent (pictured)

As he was interviewed by a male detective, Milat stayed silent (pictured)

Ivan Milat (pictured), 74, died of throat and stomach cancer on Sunday

Ivan Milat (pictured), 74, died of throat and stomach cancer on Sunday

Milat periodically pretended to be asleep throughout the questioning.

Eventually, the 74-year-old warmed to two female detectives claiming he ‘didn’t like the attitude’ of the male officer.

Milat was forced to watch a series of recorded interviews with his victims’ family members in an attempt to draw a confession, but he remained indifferent.

‘What do you want me to watch this for?’ he asked.

‘[The families] only say what you expect them to say – I don’t feel sorry for them. Why should I feel sorry for them?’  

He also related the seven backpacker deaths to the deaths of his mother and sister.

‘[Death] happens all the time,’ he said.

Whether detectives believe him was ‘immaterial’ to him, he said.

‘I know in my heart, in front of God or whatever, I’m quite … you know, happy with what when I say this,’ Milat said.

Investigators visited Milat (pictured) a total of eight times to try and get a confession

Investigators visited Milat (pictured) a total of eight times to try and get a confession

When speaking about the unsolved murders police suspect he committed, Milat said: ‘You could blow me eyes with a blowtorch and I still could not tell you one word about any of them missing people.’ 

Milat, whose memory was described as ‘encyclopedic’, then continued to claim his innocence. 

He said he was able to recount every detail of his case backwards, and often used this skill to explain and discount the evidence against him found at his family’s property in the 1990s. 

‘He was cold hearted to the end. Even when the videos were shown there was no emotion, no empathy, just nothing,’ one officer previously told the Daily Telegraph.

Another senior police source added: ‘Different approaches were made and different people used to try and get him to make admissions.

Milat (pictured), whose memory was described as 'encyclopedic', always claimed innocence

Milat (pictured), whose memory was described as ‘encyclopedic’, always claimed innocence

‘He talked about some things, but not any confessions.’

The recordings after 10 Daily revealed Milat handed a sealed letter to his brother Bill just days before he died, to be opened after his death.  

In one final insult to Australians, Milat used the letter to demand the New South Wales government pay for his funeral. 

He also asked for his belongings and legal documents to be handed over to his family, Network Ten reported on Monday.

‘Please don’t pay for my funeral services or contribute in any way,’ the 74-year-old wrote.

‘Corrective Services NSW to fund it all – a pauper’s burial or whatever is suitable.’ 

Today it was revealed Milat (pictured) used the letter to insisted the New South Wales government pay for his funeral

Today it was revealed Milat (pictured) used the letter to insisted the New South Wales government pay for his funeral

Bill Milat told Ten on Monday: ‘It’s the taxpayer that put him in there (prison) so the taxpayer has to pay. Corrective Services had him all this time so Corrective Services can foot the bill.’

Ivan Milat signed off the letter with his name and a small illustration of a figure with a halo above the word ‘innocent’.

Corrective Services on Monday said its commissioner hadn’t received any recent correspondence from Milat.

‘Corrective Services NSW will under no circumstances be paying for this funeral,’ a spokeswoman said.

The killer’s nephew Alistair Shipsey has also been a vocal supporter of his uncle. 

‘I’m glad that he is out of pain for something he didn’t do, he’d been victimised with lies and with no proof,’ Mr Shipsey told The Daily Telegraph.

His brother Bill Milat (pictured) always believed Milat was innocent

The killer's nephew Alistair Shipsey (pictured) has also been a vocal supporter of his uncle

His brother Bill Milat (left) and nephew Alistair Shipsey (right) always believed Milat was innocent

Former detective Clive Small, who led the Milat investigation in the mid-1990s, said he believed Milat (pictured holding a firearm) would confess

Former detective Clive Small, who led the Milat investigation in the mid-1990s, said he believed Milat (pictured holding a firearm) would confess

Only one member of the Milat family, Ivan’s brother Boris, has criticised the backpacker killer.

‘He was dead to me a long time ago,’ Boris told Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes.

‘This man is just an evil serial killer right to the last bone of him.’

Former detective Clive Small, who led the Milat investigation in the mid-1990s, told The Project why he never believed the man would confess.

‘I never thought he would, from the moment he was arrested, confess to anything,’ Mr Small said.

‘Milat’s personality, on my assessment, was such that he thought he was the boss.

‘He was in charge of everything he wanted to do or wanted to be in charge of, and the way he kept that position was by keeping information to himself or keeping info he knew other people would be interested in.’

Mr Small went on to explain the nation’s most notorious serial killer believed that as long as he was withholding information others wanted, despite receiving seven consecutive life sentences for murder in 1996, he was in control.

Caroline Clarke (pictured) was murdered by Ivan Milat along with travelling companion Joanne Walter

Caroline Clarke (pictured) was murdered by Ivan Milat along with travelling companion Joanne Walter

Anja Habschied (pictured is one of the victims of backpacker murderer Ivan Milat

Simone Schmidl bof the victims of backpacker murderer Ivan Milat.

Two of Milat’s victims in the 1990s were Anja Habschied (left), 20, and Simone Schmidl (right)

Milat was hospitalised in May and again earlier this month for stomach and throat cancer before being returned to the hospital wing of the jail on Tuesday.

His death was slow and painful as the cancer spread to his liver, lungs, bones and lymph nodes and he developed fluid on his heart.

Milat’s body will be transferred to the New South Wales State Coroner who will decide, after consultation with his family, how it will be disposed.

There will be an inquest into his death, as is the case with all deaths in custody.

Mr Small also said there are at least three unsolved murders with good reasons to suspect Milat.

‘We looked at literally hundreds of other unsolved murders and disappearances … There were three other murders that were unsolved where I think you could strongly point your finger at Ivan.

Former detective Clive Small, who led the Milat investigation in the mid-1990s, explained why he never believed the man would confess (pictured: Milat smiling after attending court)

Former detective Clive Small, who led the Milat investigation in the mid-1990s, explained why he never believed the man would confess (pictured: Milat smiling after attending court)

Pictured is a room in the hospital section of Long Bay prison where Milat died on Sunday

Pictured is a room in the hospital section of Long Bay prison where Milat died on Sunday

‘In one case I’ve got no doubt about it because the fire arm used in the killing of the backpackers was also used in this particular killing that was unsolved.’  

Milat was arrested in May 1994, following two months of surveillance.

Police were aided by an identification of Milat by British man Paul Onions, who had accepted a ride from him while hitchhiking out of Sydney in 1990 and managed to escape the car, running down the road while Milat shot at him.

His victims were English backpackers Caroline Clarke, 21, and Joanne Walters 22; Melbourne couple James Gibson and Deborah Everist, both 19; and German backpackers Simone Schmidl, 20, Gabor Neugebauer, 21, and Anja Habschied, 20.

He stabbed most, decapitated one whose head has never been found and shot another 10 times.

Many were knifed so savagely their bones were chipped, some had been gagged or bound, and some were suspected of having been sexually assaulted. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk