The daughter of an Australian convicted murderer has opened up about what her life has been like as the child of a killer.
Renee McBryde was born the daughter of double-murderer Michael Caldwell and bravely opened up about discovering the dark secret in an interview with 60 Minutes.
The mother-of-three told how she was horrified to learn she was ‘conceived just at the time he committed one of the murders’.
Renee McBryde (left) and Samantha Bryan (right) whose fathers are convicted murderers have opened up about what their lives have been like as the children of killers
Ms McBryde said she first learned the reason for her father’s absence from her life at just six years old when she was told he was not working at Cottee’s Cordial but was in jail.
But it wasn’t until she was in her teens and working on a school project that the true nature of his horrific crimes became apparent.
Her father Michael Caldwell was 19 and working as a prostitute when he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Greek Consul General Constantine Giannaris and schoolteacher Peter Parkes.
‘I couldn’t tell anybody because I had his blood running through my veins. It was tough I couldn’t be myself,’ Ms McBryde said.
Ms McBryde (pictured) said she first learned the reason for her father’s absence from her life at just six years old when she was told he was not working at Cottee’s Cordial but was in jail
Ms McBryde’s father Michael Caldwell (pictured) was 19 and working as a prostitute when he was sentenced to life in prison for a double murder
Caldwell killed Greek Consul General Constantine Giannaris and schoolteacher Peter Parkes and has had little to do with Ms McBryde since his release
Another woman, Samantha Bryan also opened up about discovering she was the child of English schoolgirl killer Ian Huntley.
Her father was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2002 for the murders 10-year-old Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
The girls had been at a barbecue at one of their homes in Cambridgeshire when they went out to buy some sweets, with their bodies recovered two weeks later.
However, Ms Bryan said there has never been any doubt she is ‘nothing like’ her father referring to him simply as ‘a sperm donor’.
Despite her lineage, Ms Bryan said she is not ashamed of who she is, a sentiment echoed and backed up by research.
Ms McBryde (seen around the time she found out her father was injail) is now working in child protection and married to her husband John, with whom she shares three children
‘I couldn’t tell anybody because I had his blood running through my veins. It was tough I couldn’t be myself,’ Ms McBryde said
Ian Huntley was jailed for killing schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman is Soham
The death of the two girls, pictured in their Manchester United shirts, sparked national outrage in the UK
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Jeremy O’Dea told host Liz Hayes there is ‘no clear generational transmission of murder’ either as a behaviour or gene.
‘There’s been very few people who are children of those who have been convicted of murder who go on to murder themselves,’ he said.
Both woman are eager to get on with their lives, with Ms McBryde working in child protection and married to her husband John, with whom she shares three children.
She has not had a relationship with her father since meeting him after his release from jail.
Meanwhile, Ms Bryan was adopted by her mother’s husband in 2009 and stated in a recent English documentary that Huntley ‘will never deserve to be called dad.’
Another woman, Samantha Bryan (left) also opened up about discovering she was the child of English school-girl killer Ian Huntley, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murders 10-year-old Soham schoolgirls Holly Well and Jessica Chapman
Forensic Psychiatrist Dr Jeremy O’Dea (pictured) told host Liz Hayes there is ‘no clear generational transmission of murder’ either as a behaviour or gene however