ROBERT Long will not be prosecuted over the deaths of the remaining 13 backpackers killed in one of Queensland’s most lethal fires after serving 20 years for murdering just two of the victims.
Long’s fate can be revealed on the 20th anniversary of one of Queensland’s most deadly fires – a blaze that killed 15 people, made international headlines and changed the way the state regulated fire safety.
The Courier-Mail can also reveal Long has now applied for parole as families and survivors of the horror Childers backpackers fire beg authorities to leave him behind bars.
Long was only ever charged with the murders of twin sisters Kelly and Stacey Slarke because it was deemed unlikely he would have served any more time if prosecuted for all 15.
“Please, please, just think about the hurt and the trauma and the destruction of life that he’s left behind,” Lisa Webb, whose sister Claire was 24 when she was killed, said.
“I feel devastated that Robert Long, as manipulative and evil as he is, can apply for parole.
“The passing of time has not eased our pain or given us closure, as there is no closure for such a cruel and wicked act.
“He knew what he was doing and the consequences of his actions. He had no remorse, only tears for himself for being caught. And as he faces freedom and a new start, we continue in our own private hell.”
Long, a drifter and loner who is now aged 57, had been staying at the Palace Backpackers Hostel on the town’s main street when he left owing money.
For days he left strange suicide notes around town but returned to the hostel late on the evening of June 22. He told some of the backpackers he planned to bash a man he had earlier had a disagreement with.
Shortly after midnight, he started a fire in a bin in the hostel’s lounge area while 88 people – most of them asleep in their beds – were in the building.
Fifteen people, many aged in their 20s and visiting from overseas, were killed. Long fled but was tracked by specialist police five days later.
They found him on a river bank where he lunged at a police dog – and then the dog’s handler – with a knife.
A Special Emergency Response Team officer shot at him.
Long, who wrongly believed he’d been seriously wounded, said: “I'm dying anyway, I started the fire.”
A jury found Long guilty of murdering the Slarke sisters in 2002. He was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 20 years.
He is eligible for parole at the end of June.
Survivors and victims’ families say Long should be charged with murder over the other 13 deaths.
But a spokesman for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said the “prosecution of Mr Long is at an end”.
“A determination was made at the time which matters would be pursued at trial.
“That decision has not been revisited.”
Melissa Smith, 26, died in the same room of the Palace Backpackers Hostel as Claire Webb. Both women were from the UK and had become friends while travelling Australia.
Melissa’s mother Pamela said her grief is as terrible as it ever was.
“Nothing is mended 20 years later. It stays this way,” she said.
“(At the trial I) sat and stared at this thing that murdered my happy, funny, crazy, full of life daughter who should be here now with me and her brother.
“She did what many others have done … go backpacking around the world and she should have come back to her family. There is not a day goes by that I don't think of her.”
Survivors Jochy Visser, Rob Jansen and Richard Tempest told The Courier-Mail Long should never be released.
“To me, if he was more clear during the trial and he said ‘I made a big mess of it and it was never my intention to kill people’ then maybe I could live with the idea that he would be released in some point in time,” Mr Jansen said.
“But he never said anything.
“Of course you don’t have to co-operate for your own conviction.
“But I think if you don’t do that, you also lose the right for parole.”
Mr Visser said: “Personally I feel obligated to get the message over that he should stay in jail for the rest of his life. He destroyed so many lives and there is not one single regret.”
Mr Tempest said Long should have been charged with murder for the other 13 people killed and he feared he could commit more crimes.
"Why should a person like this with a history of violence and arson previously be allowed another chance? “ he said.
Former Isis Mayor and now Bundaberg deputy mayor Bill Trevor said he could not forgive Long and would do all he could to stop his release for the victims, survivors and town of Childers.
“There has been no words of sorry, no words of remorse and consequently I can’t find any either,” he said.
MORE FROM THE SERIES:
- ‘BODIES FELL THROUGH CEILING’: FLASHPOINT OF DEADLY INFERNO
- SEVEN COFFINS OF HEATHROW: MOMENT FAMILY’S NIGHTMARE UNRAVELLED’ (live Friday June 5 at 5pm)
- HOW SUICIDAL MADMAN GOT AWAY WITH KILLING 13 (live Friday June 5 at 7pm)
- ‘I’M DYING ANYWAY’: LONG’S BIZARRE $10 NOTE CONFESSION(live Saturday June 6 at midnight)
- TORTURE, TORMENT AND FANTASY: MAKINGS OF SUICIDAL MADMAN (live Saturday June 6 at noon)
- ‘SNAKY LITTLE BASTARD’: INSIDE LONG’S PRISON LIFE (live Sunday June 7 at midnight)
- DEATHLY SCREAMS, SCRAMBLE FOR LIFE: INSIDE AS PALACE EXPLODED (live Sunday June 7 at noon)
‘AUSSIE MUM’ RISES FROM ASHES FOR TRAUMATISED BACKPACKERS (live Sunday June 7 at noon)
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