Mummified human finger sent to killer Thomas Stone in jail mail
A convicted murderer was sent a severed finger fashioned into a necklace to jail — which authorities believe was sent to him by a relative. Prison staff made the gruesome discovery while checking mail addressed to Thomas Stone, who is serving 23 years for killing his flatmate.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A convicted murderer has been sent a mummified finger in the mail, sparking a police investigation.
The ghastly parcel was sent to Thomas Stone and intercepted by corrections officers at Goulburn Correctional centre in NSW’s Southern Tablelands on Wednesday.
Stone is serving 23 years for murdering his flatmate and fellow psychiatric patient Robert James Mitchell on the grounds of Morisset Hospital in 2017.
Corrective Services NSW confirmed officers had discovered the “mummified human finger attached to a beaded necklace during a search of incoming inmate mail”.
Sources said the finger bone had been “drilled out” to allow it to be made into a necklace with black beads and a silver symbol. A message on the envelope referred to “solving a mystery inside”.
Police have identified the finger as belonging to a man, who has since died, who was known to be a relative of Stone. It is believed the finger was removed before the man’s death.
The Sunday Telegraph understands the relative of Stone posted the severed digit to him, and that the relative has written in the past to backpacker serial killer Ivan Milat, and Malcolm Baker, who is serving life for the shooting massacre of seven people on the Central Coast in 1992.
Milat used a plastic knife and razor blade to cut off his own finger in 2009 in protest at what he called wrongful convictions.
MORE NEWS:
Ignored: Drunk woman vomits, passes out in karaoke bar
Unemployment benefits to rise $75 a week in virus lifeline
Milat, who died last year in Long Bay prison’s hospital, aged 74, never admitted to the seven backpacker murders of which he was convicted.
NSW Police confirmed detectives from The Hume Police District attended the correctional facility on Wednesday, seized the finger and sent it for forensic examination.
A policewoman said further DNA analysis was required. No charges have been laid.
NSW police sources said there is no specific charge in state law relating to sending a body part in the mail. However an investigation would centre around how a person came to be in possession of the body part.
In March 2019, Stone was sentenced for stabbing Mitchell, 41, three times with a kitchen knife, including a fatal wound to the neck, in the low-security cottage they shared on February 6, two years earlier.
Stone was jailed for a maximum of 23 years, with a non-parole period of 17 years and six months, making him eligible for parole in 2034.