Notorious killer Ivan Milat’s letters sell for $369 on ‘sick’ true crime collectibles website

Notorious backpacker killer Ivan Milat’s letters sell for high prices on ‘sick’ true crime collectibles website

  • Letters from Australian killer Ivan Milat are selling for hundreds of dollars online
  • A digital auction house markets off ‘murderabilia’, primarily letters from killers
  • The marketplace’s founder says he was ‘fascinated’ by killers’ psyches 

Letters written by serial killer Ivan Milat from the confines of a maximum security jail cell are being auctioned online for hundreds of dollars.

A series of notes and envelopes signed by Milat, who is serving seven consecutive life sentences in New South Wales’ Goulburn Supermax, have appeared on American website True Crime Auction with a price tag of $US265, about $AU373.

The letters, which feature Milat’s signature and doodling, are among several Australian items of ‘murderabilia’ that have been listed on the site.

Letters from convicted murdered Ivan Milat are selling online for hundreds of dollars

The letter opens with an apology from the convicted killer, saying he was sorry for taking so long to reply

The letter opens with an apology from the convicted killer, saying he was sorry for taking so long to reply

Milat’s letter that is being sold currently is addressed to ‘Kelly’ and was sent in June 2013. 

His opening sentence is a furtive apology for not replying to a letter sent six months earlier.

‘It is not that I have been suddenly resurrected from my grave,’ he writes before explaining he had to wait to be allowed to send mail from behind bars.

The letter goes on to describe the legal system as ‘draconian’, with Milat penning his disdain for the judiciary system.

Milat wrote the letters from Goulburn Supermax, where he is spending seven life sentences

Milat wrote the letters from Goulburn Supermax, where he is spending seven life sentences

Milat, now 74 years old, will spend the rest of his life behind bars after murdering seven young people in the 1990s, five of which were foreign backpackers.

His letters are two Australian-linked items for purchase on the marketplace, with a letter from Snowtown murder accomplice Mark Haydon also up for sale. 

Haydon was convicted of helping killers John Bunting, Robert Wagner and James Vlassakis dispose of bodies in vats of acid in the 1990s.

A letter signed from him costs significantly less than Milat’s signature, selling for less than $100.

A letter from South Australian killer Mark Haydon is also up for purchase, going for about $100

A letter from South Australian killer Mark Haydon is also up for purchase, going for about $100

The founder of the auction house, Nick Violante, says he started the shop because he was ‘fascinated’ by killer’s mentality.

‘It’s interesting to think about people who’ve done these horrible things and why would they do that,’ he told The Daily Telegraph.

‘And when you hold something like that in your hand the first couple of times, there’s a real dark feeling, like, “boy, these hands that wrote this murdered so many people”.’

The auction house’s administrators say the memorabilia offers an insight into the psyche of killers, and Milat’s penmanship is no exception.

But others have labelled it ‘sick.’ 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk