Ivan Milat was involved in NQ girls’ murders: Retired detective
A retired police detective is more convinced than ever that convicted serial killer Ivan Milat is linked to the disappearance and murder of two women west of Charters Towers in 1972.
A RETIRED police detective is more convinced than ever that convicted serial killer Ivan Milat is linked to the disappearance and murder of two women west of Charters Towers in 1972.
Retired detective sergeant Mick Gurn said recent revelations that Milat was in New Zealand from 1972 to 1974 has prompted him to reach out to the authorities to reopen the case.
“My five years of investigations into the murders of Robin Hoinville-Bartram and Anita Cunningham at Pentland in July 1972 has led me to more confidently state that the infamous Ivan Milat was involved in these murders,” Mr Gurn said.
“Former NSW police assistant commissioner Clive Small, in his book Milat, says that when Milat returned from New Zealand in 1974 he had been in New Zealand for about two years, which would be from 1972 to 1974.
“The Pentland murders occurred in July 1972 and the body of Robin was discovered in November 1972 in a decomposed state. This would indicate to me that Milat went to New Zealand in 1972.”
Mr Gurn has written to the NSW Police asking them that if Milat should make admissions, for investigators to keep the information in mind.
Last week The Australian reported that Queensland man Brian Letcher believes his son Peter may have also been one of Milat’s victims.
Mr Letcher called upon Milat, who reportedly has terminal cancer, to reveal whether or not he was involved in his son’s death.
Mr Small, who led the taskforce that captured Milat, says he is certain Letcher is one of the serial killer’s victims.
Mr Gurn said the evidence he has gathered suggested in the case of the Pentland murders, Cunningham and Hoinville-Bartram had hitchhiked from Melbourne to Mount Isa before heading east.
He believes in Mount Isa they met a man they only knew as “Cowboy”.
“The girls and Cowboy hitchhiked on a truck to Hughenden then on another truck to Pentland,” Mr Gurn said.
He said a part-time worker at the Pentland Hotel told him the girls left the pub with the band that was performing there that night, but never arrived in Charters Towers.
Hoinville-Bartram’s remains were found under the Sensible Creek bridge east of Pentland.
She had been shot twice in the head, with a .22 rifle.
Cunningham’s body has never been found.
Several of Milat’s victims were found to have been shot in the head.
In 1996 Milat was convicted of the murder of seven people killed between 1991 and 1994, but he had previously served time in prison in Australia.
Mr Gurn said all he wants is to see justice done and those involved in the murder of the two girls made to pay.
“I have taken this four year battle to get justice for the murdered girls and to try and find the location of Anita’s body, for the peace of mind of her family,” Mick said.
Anita’s brother David Cunningham has set up a Facebook page, which he hopes will help draw attention to the case and perhaps even lead to an inquest.
He said Mr Gurn looked into the case “as a favour for a friend” and has been tenacious ever since.
“We have encountered resistance from the authorities … who apparently do not want the personalities and circumstances around the murder of these two young girls revealed,” Mr Cunningham said.
“The only hope we have now to find out what really happened to Anita is to spark enough public interest to demand the authorities to listen.”
The Facebook page can be found here.
Originally published as Ivan Milat was involved in NQ girls’ murders: Retired detective
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