How 'crook' serial killer Ivan Milat hacked off his finger

DETAILS emerged today of how serial killer Ivan Milat "was hurting" after hacking off his little finger - and of how he now "feels sorry for himself".

DETAILS emerged today of how serial killer Ivan Milat hacked off his little finger - and of how he is "feeling sorry for himself".

Milat, who is serving a life sentence at the Supermax facility inside Goulburn jail for the murder of seven backpackers, severed part of the digit on his left hand with a plastic serrated knife and a razor - then calmly handed the finger to prison guards inside an envelope padded with newspaper on Monday.

The 64-year-old had addressed the envelope to the High Court of Australia.

First picture: Ivan Milat gives High Court the finger

Serial whinger: Ivan Milat mad for a bit of moaning

"He was going to try and post it, but then of course, when you cut a finger off it does hurt," NSW Corrective Services commissioner Ron Woodham told Macquarie Radio on Tuesday.

"He got crook and it was hurting and ... very painful and of course he had to raise attention to it and hand it over."

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Milat was taken to Goulburn Base Hospital along with the finger with hopes it could be reattached, but a corrective services department spokeswoman said the procedure was not possible.

"He's back in an observation cell this morning, dressed in a gown, feeling sorry for himself. He hasn't taken any meals yet, but that doesn't worry us, we'll just monitor him and keep an eye on him," Mr Woodham said.

Milat has initiated hunger strikes in the past and Mr Woodham believed he may be starting another such attempt.

"(Milat's) out of touch with reality just at present," he said.

"Today he's refused to eat. He's been on hunger strikes before. We believe he's starting another hunger strike. But he likes his food so it will only last a day or two."

Milat had been given the plastic knife with a meal as part of a rewards program, Mr Woodham said.

"But when he does take his next meal he won't be getting a knife with it," he added.

It is not the first time Milat has attempted self-mutilation since he was jailed for life in 1996.

In early 2001, Milat swallowed razor blades, paper staples and a tiny metal chain, and then later that year he swallowed part of the flushing mechanism from the toilet in his cell.

An investigation into the latest incident was underway, but Mr Woodham said nothing would change the fact Milat would die in prison.

Milat, one of Australia's worst serial killers, was sentenced to life in jail for the murders of seven backpackers whose bodies were found in makeshift graves in the NSW Southern Highlands in the early 1990s.

Mr Woodham said the last time he saw Milat - which was about three or four months ago - he had "deteriorated", growing his hair to be "long and shaggy".