Serial killer Ivan Milat’s body could remain on ice for weeks as a protracted standoff brews over who pays for his funeral.
In a one-page letter to his family, the notorious backpacker murderer insisted his pauper’s burial be publicly funded like other deaths in custody.
However, the NSW Government vowed to leave him sitting in the morgue until his family either pays up or reveals where his victims are buried.
Serial killer Ivan Milat’s body could remain on ice for weeks as a protracted standoff brews over who pays for his funeral
Australia’s worst serial killer finally died in Long Bay jail’s hospital on Sunday morning after being diagnosed with oesophageal and stomach cancer in May
‘Hell will freeze over before Corrections pays a cent for Ivan Milat’s funeral,’ Corrective Services Minister Anthony Roberts told 2GB radio on Tuesday.
‘His body will remain on ice until the family stumps up cash or can tell NSW Police where the bodies are buried.’
Milat’s funeral faces a long delay as his family not only intends to honour his final wishes, but continues to insist he is innocent.
‘Please don’t pay for my funeral services or contribute in any way,’ the 74-year-old wrote in his instructions on Thursday.
‘Corrective Services NSW to fund it all – a pauper’s burial or whatever is suitable.’
In a one-page letter to his family (pictured), the notorious backpacker murderer insisted his pauper’s burial be publicly funded like other deaths in custody
NSW Minister for Corrections Anthony Roberts vowed to leave him sitting in the morgue until his family either pays up or reveals where his victims are buried
Milat’s brother Bill said the state should just hurry up and pay as it costs taxpayers every day the body sits on ice and the $2,000 funeral will cost less.
‘We’re not going to stump up cash and we’re not going to do anything,’ he told the Daily Telegraph in response to Mr Roberts’ statement.
‘All I know is that I’m going to stick to his wishes – if they want to leave him there I don’t care less.’
Milat’s nephew Alistair Shipsey demanded the government pay as the supposedly wrongful incarceration ‘took his life away from him’.
‘The government spent $20 million to frame Ivan and they’re worried about $2,000 to bury him, they destroyed his life and took him away from us,’ he said.
Australia’s worst serial killer finally died in Long Bay jail’s hospital on Sunday morning after being diagnosed with oesophageal and stomach cancer in May.
Milat’s funeral faces a long delay as his family not only intends to honour his final wishes, but continues to insist he is innocent
Milat’s brother Bill (left) said the state should just hurry up and pay and his nephew Alistair Shipsey said the supposedly wrongful incarceration ‘took his life away from him’
He was serving seven consecutive life sentences for murdering seven backpackers whose bodies were found in makeshift graves in the Belanglo State Forest in the 1990s.
Milat maintained his innocence right up until his death and refused to answer any questions about other murders he is suspected of committing.
‘You could blow me eyes with a blowtorch and I still could not tell you one word about any of them missing people,’ he said in one interview.
As he reached the end, police tried every appeal and every trick in the book to get him to confess, all to no avail.
‘I don’t care, that’s it. Don’t hold your breath waiting for me to call,’ were his final words to police before his death.
Detectives even tried playing him interviews with his alleged victims’ families in an appeal to any ounce of humanity he might have left – but he was unmoved.
‘What do you want me to watch this for?’ he told them.
‘They only say what you expect them to say. I don’t feel sorry for them. Why should I feel sorry for them?’
Milat maintained his innocence right up until his death and refused to answer any questions about other murders he is suspected of committing
Detectives even tried playing him interviews with his alleged victims’ families in an appeal to any ounce of humanity he might have left – but he was unmoved (one attempt pictured)
Ivan Milat signed off the letter with his name and a small illustration of a figure with a halo above the word ‘innocent’ (pictured)
Former detective Clive Small, who led the NSW Police investigation into the backpacker killings, believes Milat thwarted police to keep his ‘power’.
‘Ivan, having information that he knew others didn’t have, he saw himself as being the boss or in control of the situation,’ he told 2GB radio.
‘I think he believed that once he gave that information up he no longer had the power.’
Instead, Milat wrote the brief letter to his brother Bill and sister-in-law Carol with instructions for it to be sealed until his death.
He signed off with his name and a small illustration of a figure with a halo above the word ‘innocent’.
Bill, who has always maintained his brother’s innocence, told 10 Daily the family would not have a private funeral or bury Milat, but that he would be cremated and scattered.
‘Have a funeral and every kook in the country will be there — if he was buried they’d desecrate the grave and make a mess of the place,’ he said.