Artwork allegedly created by Snowtown serial killer John Bunting selling with a $5000 price tag on eBay

Artwork purportedly created by Australia’s worst serial killer and listed for sale on eBay has been removed, as an investigation is mounted as to how it emerged there.

Artwork purportedly by John Bunting from inside Yatala Labour Prison for sale on eBay. Picture: Supplied

An eBay listing for a piece of art purportedly created by Australia’s worst serial killer, John Bunting, has been pulled down.

The listing featured a chilling skull-like image supposedly made by the Snowtown killer on a Salvation Army Christmas card as he serves a life sentence inside Yatala Labour Prison.

The listing noted the item is in used condition and priced at $5000 or best offer, with no returns accepted. The item description reads: “1 of a kind. Australian Crime History.”

The Advertiser is not suggesting that Bunting made the image, just that it’s for sale with that claim. The back of the card is signed “J Bunting”.

The eBay seller, with the username “www.my87,” joined the platform in June 2023 and currently has no feedback or transaction history. The seller also offers “free pick-up” and lists a St Peters address.

The listing was still active on Sunday night but appeared to have been removed by noon on Monday.

The listing features a skull-like image supposedly made by John Bunting inside Yatala Labour Prison.

The back of the card is signed J Bunting. Picture: Supplied

A Department for Correctional Services spokeswoman confirmed the matter was reported to eBay with a formal request for the listing’s removal “out of respect for Bunting’s victims and their families”.

The spokeswoman added that the department is “closely examining the item listed to assess its origins and authenticity”, and warned that action would be taken if any inappropriate behaviour was found.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said he had “every confidence” the item and its prospective sale would be thoroughly investigated.

Under South Australian legislation it is illegal to profit from crime. The Criminal Assets Confiscation Act allows the government to seize assets, including property and money, derived from criminal activity.

“It is obviously a criminal offence to seek to profit out of criminal activity, and that’s something that the Department of Corrections monitors very closely, particularly with the activities with inmates,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“We don’t know … if this is at the hands of Mr Bunting himself.

“Let’s assume for a moment that it’s not, and there’s reason to believe it might not be, then it means someone else is trying to profiteer out of it, and that is an exceptionally poor reflection on that individual.

“Either way, it’s an appalling set of events and I have every confidence that it will be investigated.”

The Advertiser understands Bunting, who was sentenced in 2003, was initially kept in the infamous G Division – a solitary confinement unit where a man reportedly chewed off his own pinky finger down to the knuckle after enduring more than 700 days in 23-hour-a-day isolation.

Bunting, 57, now resides in B Division, still a high-security unit where prisoners are housed in 1-10-15 cell wings and, unlike G Division, have restricted access to pens and pencils.

Prisoners in B Division are unlocked at 8.15am and rotate yard time – which includes a half basketball court and gym access – in small groups, either in the morning or afternoon, before being locked up again for the evening at around 4.30pm.

Snowtown killer John Justin Bunting. Picture: Michael Milnes

The majority of cells are shared and include televisions.

Prison sources say the unit is notorious for its “rotten culture”, driven by chronic boredom, cramped living conditions, drug use, tense relations with staff and sleep deprivation.

Each B Division wing has a shared public telephone, and prisoners are allowed to send mail.

Bunting, ringleader of the Snowtown “bodies-in-barrels” murders, was convicted in 2003 of 11 brutal killings targeting vulnerable victims. The Supreme Court called his crimes “evil beyond belief” and sentenced him to 11 consecutive life terms without parole. In his 2003 judgment, Justice Brian Martin said Bunting’s accomplice, Robert Joe Wagner – convicted of seven murders – had taken pleasure in killing each of their victims, saying they were both “incapable of true rehabilitation”.

The Salvation Army, when asked about its potential new-found association with Mr Bunting, declined to comment.

eBay was contacted for comment.