Fresh anguish for Snowtown families as monster Mark Ray Haydon files for parole

MARK Ray Haydon, one of four men jailed in connection with the Snowtown serial murders, has applied for release on parole as early as next month.

Mark Ray Haydon with John Justin Bunting and Robert Joe Wagner. Haydon was jailed for 25 years, while Bunting and Wagner were sentenced to die in prison.

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MARK Ray Haydon, one of four men jailed in connection with the Snowtown serial murders, in which his wife was slain, has applied to be released as early as next month.

The Advertiser can reveal that Haydon, who was convicted of assisting serial killers John Bunting and Robert Wagner in seven of their 11 murders, has lodged an application with the Parole Board seeking his freedom.

Haydon, 58, becomes eligible for parole on May 21, the 18th anniversary of his arrest in 1999. Bunting, Haydon and Wagner were arrested the day after the gruesome discovery of eight mutilated bodies hidden in acid-filled barrels in the vault of the former Snowtown bank.

Haydon’s bid for parole has angered many of the victims’ surviving family members, who will have the opportunity to oppose his release before the board.

In 2004, a Supreme Court jury was unable to reach a verdict on whether Haydon was involved in the murders of his wife Elizabeth in November 1998 and torture slaying of Troy Youde at Murray Bridge in 2001.

Prosecutors alleged Haydon had laughed when Bunting lifted the lid of a large barrel to show him the dismembered remains of his wife, including her severed hands. While Bunting and Wagner will never be released and another man, James Vlassakis, will be eligible for parole in 2025, Haydon’s official date for possible release is in just 15 days.

The Parole Board will not hear his application until mid-June at the earliest and he could remain behind bars for longer if victims’ families make formal objections.

Commissioner for Victims’ Rights Michael O’Connell said he had spoken to a number of family members of victims who all “strongly opposed” Haydon’s release on parole.

The victims families will again have to endure the agony of public and disturbing details of their loved ones’ torture and deaths at the hands of the debased serial killers.

FAMILIES’ ANGER

Mr O’Connell said he was pleased the Parole Board would permit him to act as a spokesman for any family members in the impending hearing.

“Their presence and participation in parole hearings is essential as victims should be genuine participants in the criminal justice system,” Mr O’Connell said.

He said Haydon’s parole bid would refuel grief and trauma for family and friends of the victims.

“The parole process can re-trigger grief, a sense of sadness as well as anger,” Mr O’Connell said.

“All victims who have responded are “strongly opposed” to Haydon’s release on parole but also, should the Parole Board approve his release, want to be protected and have nothing whatsoever to do with a man linked to most heinous, despicable crimes.”

Commissioner for Victims’ Rights Michael O’Connell.

After Haydon’s separate trial in 2004, in which a jury could not reach a verdict on the murders of Mrs Haydon and Troy Youde, and he eventually pleaded guilty to assisting the serial killers to conceal the crime.

During a victim impact statement, Jodie Elliott — who was both sister to Elizabeth Haydon and mother of Fred Brooks — pledged she would never forgive Mark Haydon.

“I have never hated anyone, but I feel hate and vengeance towards him. I will never forgive him,” Ms Elliott said.

After Haydon was jailed for 25 years, Gary O’Dwyer’s foster mother Maureen Fox said the sentence was too short and failed to reflect his heinous deeds in helping conceal the macabre crimes in the months and years leading up to their arrests. Haydon was at one stage charged with 12 counts of murder but all but two were dropped ahead of his separate trial in 2004.

The hung jury left him the only member of the quartet without a murder conviction and mandatory life sentence.

The murders shocked Australia and added to South Australia’s unwanted reputation as a hub for bizarre killings.

Former Major Crime chief Paul Schramm spearheaded the taskforce which brought the killers to justice and said it would always remain with all police involved. “It was the largest serial murder investigation in Australia’s modern history,” Mr Schramm said. “Consequently everybody still remembers it — all of the police officers who were involved, it’s something that they will never forget.”

LIFELONG SCARS

Now retired, Mr Schramm said police, lawyers, forensic workers and jurors were left with lifelong scars.

“But obviously the people who are still most affected are the families of the victims who lost their loved ones as a result of the horrific circumstances,” he said.

Mr Schramm would not be drawn on whether he believed Haydon should be released or if his original sentence reflected the gravity of the crimes.

“The non-parole period for Mark Haydon has come up, the court had seen fit to fix it at 18 years and we are now approaching that time — if he applies for parole it will be a matter for the Parole Board,” he said.

Mr Schramm said the disappearance of Haydon’s wife Elizabeth provided a key breakthrough.

“We were already looking at some old files before Elizabeth Haydon went missing — we were already looking at the disappearances of Clinton Tresize and Barry Lane — and then Elizabeth Haydon went missing and brought the three of those together, and then further investigations which linked them to other people,” he said.

Mark Ray Haydon with his wife and victim Elizabeth Haydon.

Mr Schramm said he would forever remain puzzled by what motivated Bunting, Wagner and Haydon. He said while the young and impressionable Vlassakis was in grave fear he would also be killed, he was unsure if Haydon’s claims he was motivated by a terror of Bunting were true.

“Who knows what was in the mind of Mark Haydon or in the minds of Bunting or Wagner? I really don’t know enough; that might have been the case with Jamie Vlassakis and it might’ve been the case with Mark Haydon but we won’t ever know.”

In sentencing Haydon, former Supreme Court judge John Sulan accepted that the quiet loner had fallen under Bunting’s spell and become too scared to tell authorities.

“I have no doubt you were drawn into the friendship with Bunting, and then discovering he was a murderer, felt trapped,” Justice Sulan said during sentencing.

The case prompted international headlines, a series of books and a critically acclaimed feature film and is believed to be the subject of new TV crime specials.

THE WALL OF SPIDERS

The Snowtown Wall of Spiders.

JOHN JUSTIN BUNTING

Born September 4, 1966

Convicted of 11 murders

John Bunting’s intense hatred of paedophiles and homosexuals apparently triggered the killing spree. A charismatic leader despite his unremarkable appearance, Bunting initially focused on killing those he called “dirties”. But after discovering a taste for killing, Bunting graduated to murdering those he considered were wasting their lives – drug users, welfare recipients, people with disabilities – and claiming their welfare payments. The sentencing judge said “by 1999, you were in the business of killing for pleasure”.

ROBERT JOE WAGNER

Born November 28, 1971

Convicted of 10 murders

Robert Wagner had been in a decade-long gay relationship with victim Barry Lane. But after meeting John Bunting, he became an enthusiastic partner in his homophobic killing spree. Wagner was a willing participant in the torture and dismemberment of their victims. He helped Bunting make audio recordings of their terrified victims that would be played over the phone to convince their families they were still alive. He even fried up some of the flesh of the final victim, David Johnson, and fed it to Vlassakis.

JAMES SPYRIDON VLASSAKIS

Born December 24, 1979

Convicted of four murders

James Vlassakis was John Bunting’s stepson and main father figure. Bunting groomed the impressionable teenager with his hateful ideology and gradually introduced him into his twisted world of torture and murder. In an attempt to cope, Vlassakis turned to drugs including heroin and amphetamines. He participated in four murders, including the sadistic killings of his half-brother Troy Youde and stepbrother David Johnson, but eventually became the Crown’s star witness against the serial killer he once worshipped.

MARK RAY HAYDON

Born December 4, 1958

Convicted of seven counts of assisting an offender

Mark Haydon was one of John Bunting’s trusted lieutenants but was never convicted of murder – the jury was deadlocked on charges that he participated in the murders of his wife, Elizabeth Haydon, and Bunting’s stepson, Troy Youde. But he played a crucial and long-lasting role in helping his co-accused dispose of the bodies and cover up their appalling crimes. After spending seven years in custody, in 2006 Haydon was sentenced to 25 years in prison with a non-parole period of 18 years – meaning he will soon be eligible for parole.

TIMELINE OF DEPRAVITY

August 1992: Clinton Trezise is killed with a shovel by John Bunting then buried by Bunting, Wagner and Haydon at Lower Light.

January 1999: Brother of Elizabeth Haydon, wife of Mark Haydon, goes public with grave fears that she has met with foul play, more than a month after her murder in November 1998.

May 20, 1999: Police go to a disused bank vault at Snowtown and uncover six barrels containing body parts later found to belong to eight victims.

May 21, 1999: John Bunting, Robert Wagner and Mark Haydon are arrested and each charged with a single count of murder.

May 23, 1999: Police uncover two more bodies buried under the backyard of Bunting’s former Salisbury North home at 203 Waterloo Corner Rd, which was later demolished.

June 2, 1999: Bunting’s stepson, James Vlassakis is arrested and charged with one murder count, as police formally release identities of eight victims.

July 2, 1999: Bunting, Wagner and Haydon face Adelaide Magistrates Court on 10 counts of murder, later increased to 12.

June 21, 2001: Vlassakis admits to the murders of Troy Youde, Fred Brooks, David Johnson and Gary O’Dwyer and agrees to be the star prosecution witness against the three older men.

August 13, 2001: Bunting and Haydon each charged with two more murders, of Tresize and Thomas Trevilyan, bringing the tally of charges to 12. All but two of Haydon’s murder counts are dropped before his eventual trial.

September 27, 2001: Wagner pleads guilty to three counts of murder but denies eight others, while Bunting denies all 11 charges.

October 2001: Bunting and Wagner face a jury for the longest criminal trial in state history. It lasts more than months, during which Vlassakis — who was jailed for at least 26 years — gave harrowing evidence over 32 days.

September 8, 2002: Bunting is convicted of 11 murders and Wagner of 10. The jury cannot reach a verdict on whether the pair murdered Suzanne Allen.

October 29, 2003: Justice Brian Martin jails Bunting and Wagner for life without parole, noting the obvious pleasure they took in the killings, as Bunting sat in the dock reading a novel.

December 2004: Following a four-month trial, a jury is unable to reach verdict on two counts of murder against Mark Ray Haydon but convict him of assisting in five murders. He later pleads guilty to two more counts of assisting offenders and is jailed for 25 years with an 18-year non parole period.

Late April, 2017: Haydon formally lodges application with Parole Board for early release, ahead of the 18th anniversary of the arrests in May, 1999.

THE VICTIMS

Clinton Trezise, 22. Beaten to death with a shovel by John Bunting then buried in a remote paddock at Lower Light, north of Adelaide, in August 1992 with the help of Barry Lane and Robert Wagner. While his remains were found two years later, no connection was made to Bunting, who had resented Tresize for his flamboyant dress and nicknamed him “happy pants”.

Ray Davies, 26. Invalid pensioner who lived in a caravan in the yard of Suzanne Allen’s Salisbury North home. Bunting and Wagner used jumper leads to strangle Davies, in the belief he was a paedophile who had sexually abused a young grandson of Ms Allen. His body was later found buried in Bunting’s former backyard at 203 Waterloo Corner Rd, Salisbury North.

Suzanne Allen, 47. Not officially recognised as a victim, after the jury could not decide whether Bunting and Wagner had found her dead of natural causes or murdered her in November 1996. Ms Allen, who was infatuated with Bunting, was butchered as the duo joked and played with her body parts before placing them into bags and burying them above Ray Davies.

Michael Gardiner, 19. Openly homosexual cross-dressing teenager who lived near Wagner and incurred the homophobic Bunting’s disdain. In September 1997, Bunting and Wagner lured him to Murray Bridge where they strangled him in a backyard shed then, for the first time, used a barrel to store his remains.

Barry Lane, 42. Convicted paedophile who groomed and lived with a sexually confused Wagner when he was a teenager. In October or early November 1997, Bunting and Wagner and Thomas Trevilyan tortured and murdered Lane at his Hectorville home, after forcing him to send abusive phone messages to his mother. After leaving his body wrapped in carpet for some time, Lane was also placed into a barrel, later found at Snowtown.

Gavin Porter, 31. Heroin addict and friend of James Vlassakis, was dragged from his car where he was sleeping outside Bunting’s Murray Bridge home and murdered some time in April 1998. Bunting, who despised drug users, flew into a rage after being pricked by a needle left around by Porter, whose remains were found inside a barrel at Snowtown.

Troy Youde, 21. Half-brother of Vlassakis who had sexually abused the younger boy as a child. Armed with jack handles, Bunting, Wagner and Mark Haydon dragged Youde from his bed before torturing him in barbaric fashion, forcing Vlassakis to take part in his death. Dismembered and placed into a barrel after also being forced to record messages to create a ruse that he had run away.

Frederick Brooks, 18. Intellectually disabled nephew of Elizabeth Haydon, the wife of Mark Ray Haydon. Tortured for seven hours and murdered on September 17, 1998 by Bunting, Wagner and Vlassakis at Murray Bridge. Bunting despised Brooks in the unfounded belief he was a paedophile, and after luring him into putting on handcuffs, was killed, dismembered and placed into a barrel.

Gary O'Dwyer, 29. Another intellectually challenged man to incur Bunting’s homicidal ire because he reminded him of Troy Youde. Spotted as an easy target to kill and collect his welfare payments, O’Dwyer was given electric shocks, whipped with a belt then strangled by Wagner inside a Murray Bridge home before joining other victims inside a barrel.

Elizabeth Haydon, 37. Wife of Mark Haydon who was disliked by Bunting, who then resolved to murder her because he feared she knew about the serial killings. Bunting and Wagner forced her into a bath at her and Haydon’s home on Blackham Crs, Smithfield Plains on November 21, 1998. Her body was put in Bunting’s car boot before being dismembered, then put into a barrel and shown to her husband days later.

David Johnson, 24. The final victim in the murder spree and the only to actually be killed at Snowtown. Lured by his step-brother Vlassakis on the ruse of buying a computer, Johnson was trapped but almost escaped the bank vault before being strangled and also cut up before the killers cooked and ate part of his thigh on May 9, 1999 — 11 days before the shocking discovery of the bodies in the barrels.

Thomas Trevilyan, 18: Schizophrenic and obsessed with the military, Trevilyan signed his own death warrant by bragging about his role in the murder of Barry Lane, his former housemate and likely abuser. Bunting and Wagner drove Trevilyan to Kersbrook in the Adelaide Hills and hanged him, in what was initially believed to be a suicide when his body was found on November 5, 1997.