Snowtown killer Robert Wagner and other SA inmates’ Prison Pen Pals profiles removed after Corrections Dept asks website to respect victims

SNOWTOWN serial killer Robert Wagner’s brief quest for female pen pals has ended abruptly, after a US-based website agreed to remove his profile and that of several other South Australian inmates.

SNOWTOWN serial killer Robert Wagner’s brief quest for female pen pals has ended abruptly, after a US-based website agreed to remove his profile and that of several other South Australian inmates.

As revealed exclusively in the Sunday Mail this week, Wagner had set up a profile on the Prison Pen Pals website, seeking women to correspond with.

Wagner, who is serving 10 life sentences with no chance of parole, stated in his profile that he was “keen to meet women who are up for exchanging interesting material with each other”.

But the reviled killer’s bid for outside contact has been torpedoed after Department of Correctional Services chief executive David Brown wrote to the website asking them to remove the profiles of Wagner and four other South Australian inmates.

“To facilitate interaction between a convicted murderer and the public is an affront not only to Wagner’s victims, but to all victims of crime,” Mr Brown wrote.

“I acknowledge that there is no way to enforce the removal of Wagner’s profile on your site, and instead urge you to consider this issue from an ethical perspective.”

Mr Brown highlighted the devastating impact Wagner and his accomplice John Bunting inflicted upon their victims and the entire state between 1992 and their arrest in May 1999.

Bunting and Wagner are among a small group of Australian prisoners who are marked never for release, including backpacker killer Ivan Milat and Victorian serial killer Peter Dupas.

“(Wagner) is serving multiple life sentences for murder, and is inextricably linked to one of the darkest events in our state’s history,” Mr Brown wrote.

“As with any high-notoriety prisoner, Wagner’s mail is heavily scrutinised and all unauthorised written correspondence is placed in property storage.”

The revelation of Wagner’s profile drew heavy criticism from victims’ groups, who argued that he and other inmates should not be allowed contact with the outside world.

The site had yesterday agreed to remove Wagner’s profile and those of convicted killers Kevin Matthews and Andrew Sawtell, along with inmates Damien Fraser and Adrian Ravet.

Matthews is serving a life sentence with a 30-year non parole period for the orchestrating the murder of his wife Caroline Matthews at West Lakes in 2001, along with his lover Michelle Burgess.

Sawtell is serving a life sentence with a minimum of 13-and-a-half years for the murder of his former partner in June 2004.

The prisoners’ online profiles were believed to have been set up by friends or acquaintances on the outside, as no South Australian prisoner has access to the internet.

Mr Brown said he was thankful for the website’s willingness to remove the profiles.

“We take the welfare of our victims of crime very seriously ... the removal of the profiles from the site is a good outcome for the victims of these serious offenders,” he said.