Backpacker serial killer linked to 30 more cases in Australia
Por Maroosha Muzaffar — – World RSS Feed
Backpacker serial killer linked to 30 more cases in Australia
Ivan Milat was convicted of seven murders and died in prison in 2019
Maroosha Muzaffar Tuesday 06 October 2026 12:54 BST
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The notorious serial killer Ivan Milat may have been responsible for as many as 31 more murders and disappearances than he has been blamed for, a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry has heard.
Jeremy Buckingham, who chairs the inquiry, said police had identified 17 murders or missing persons cases potentially linked to Milat as well as 14 other disappearances.
“That’s another 30 potential murders that Ivan Milat is linked to,” Mr Buckingham was quoted as saying by news.com.au. “Milat should have gone to jail for 20 years or 15 years in 1975. And instead, wherever he went, men and women in very similar circumstances to Belanglo ended up dead.”
The claims have raised fresh questions about whether police missed opportunities to identify his wider killing spree.
Milat was convicted in 1996 of killing seven backpackers whose bodies had been found in the Belanglo state forest between 1989 and 1993. He received seven consecutive life sentences, and died of cancer in prison in 2019, aged 74.
Former prosecutor Mark Tedeschi KC, who led the case against Milat, told the inquiry that he had been “deeply suspicious” that Milat was responsible for other murders, although he had never seen evidence strong enough to prosecute him.
“It created grave suspicion, but I never saw any cogent evidence that would be sufficient to even charge him with those offences, let alone take him to trial,” he said.
One case was that of 18-year-old Peter David Letcher, who disappeared while hitchhiking in November 1987. His body was found two months later in the Jenolan state forest.
Former officer Kris Illingsworth told the inquiry that Letcher’s was the only additional murder police were certain Milat had committed.
A brief of evidence was reportedly sent to prosecutors, who declined to proceed because of insufficient ballistic evidence.
Police and the state’s director of public prosecutions said they had since been unable to locate the brief.
“There were 400 boxes of archived material,” NSW police homicide squad commander Joe Doueihi told the inquiry.
“There may be something in there, but from our inquiries we’ve made so far, we can’t find any documentation.”
Mr Tedeschi said he was never provided with a brief concerning Letcher.
The inquiry also heard that Milat had previously escaped serious consequences. In 1971, he was charged with rape and two armed robberies, but was acquitted after a prosecution witness gave ambiguous evidence about whether she had consented to sex.
Mr Tedeschi said he had been told Milat’s lawyer, John Marsden, visited the woman the night before the trial, although he did not draw a conclusion about why her evidence changed.
Milat was also acquitted over the robberies, while three co-defendants received prison sentences of 12, 16 and 18 years. The transcript of the proceedings cannot now be found.
“That’s an assertion there, essentially, an implication that Milat beat a rape charge through intimidation of a witness or interfering with the witness,” Mr Tedeschi said.
Mr Buckingham called for a judicial commission and a new police taskforce to re-examine old cases and determine whether links to Milat were missed.
The inquiry is due to report its findings to the NSW parliament in February 2027.
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