Ivan Milat’s shock revelation in letter to his former pen pal, Amanda Howard

Ivan Milat wrote sprawling letters to a criminologist, where he accidentally revealed a detail that was not part of the Crown’s case against him. Listen to the podcast.

Backpacker killer Ivan Milat accidentally revealed to a long-term pen pal that he was making a cup of tea while an accomplice raped and murdered one of his British victims, even though prosecutors never suggested she was sexually assaulted.

The revelation was aired by criminologist and author Amanda Howard during an interview with this masthead, and during an episode of the new podcast, Ivan Milat Untold, hosted by former police officer Meni Caroutas.

Ms Howard has spent decades writing to Milat and other convicted killers as part of her extensive criminology research.

Throughout his decades behind bars, Milat wrote sprawling letters to Ms Howard outlining the Crown’s case against him and repeatedly reiterating the false notion that he was framed for the murders of seven young backpackers and there wasn’t enough evidence for a conviction.

Ms Howard now has thousands of pages of letters from Milat which all contain the same arduous explanations as to why he was wrongly imprisoned. However, it appears that he couldn’t keep up the charade without making mistakes.

True Crime writer and podcaster Amanda Howard. Picture: Rohan Kelly

In one letter to Ms Howard in 2018, about a year before he died from cancer, Milat let it slip that he was present while British backpacker Caroline Clarke was raped and murdered.

Prior to that, no one had suggested she was sexually assaulted – it was not part of the Crown’s case against him.

The letter Ivan Milat wrote to Amanda Howard from behind bars.

He started the letter by drawing Ms Howard’s attention to a hair that was found in Ms Clarke’s hand. She had been dead for about five months by the time joggers came across her body in the state forest in 1992, along with the body of her friend Joanne Walters.

Milat pointed out that DNA testing of the hair revealed a male was involved in her murder, but the sample was contaminated and could not be linked to him or any member of his family.

Recounting the case that took place more than 20 years prior, he wrote: “The judge tells the jury [that the lack of DNA evidence] means only that I never murdered her, but does not mean I was not there. I could have been attack[ing]/murder[ing] someone else.”

He told Ms Howard that he particularly liked the part where the judge told the jury that he was likely “performing some other functions in that criminal enterprise” while the murder was going on.

Milat appeared incensed by the judge’s suggestion. He then volunteered the information that he was making a cup of tea while Ms Clarke was blindfolded, shot ten times in the head and stabbed in the chest. He also volunteered the information that she may have been raped.

“What function!” He wrote. “Making a cuppa! Here I was, classed as depraved killer, and I [was] making a cuppa! When apparently rape-murder, etc, going on!”

In the podcast, Ms Howard said Milat’s letters always included arduous details about his criminal case.

“He was very determined that he was innocent, regardless of the evidence that says otherwise, so that was a lot of what he would talk about,” she said.

Listen to the podcast here and catch up with more episodes from The Missing Australia.

Speaking about the cup of tea confession, she added: “He was very quick to actually put himself right there, saying that I was there but I wasn’t the one that was actually doing the assaulting and killing. So, every so often that would slip and he would provide that sort of information.”

An armed Ivan Milat in 1997. Picture: STR/Fairfax Ltd/AFP

Milat murdered the travellers and buried them in Belanglo state forest in the early ’90s. Some were stabbed and shot while others were mutilated, but his undoing was ultimately when one victim escaped and helped detectives track him down.

Police raided the Milat family property in 1994 and found irrefutable evidence that he was the serial killer. He had the victims’ backpacks and various possessions, a caravan filled with guns and weaponry, and he kept the firing pins from the murders.

Once fired, bullets leave a unique impression on the firing pins. They are as unique as fingerprints.

Despite the overwhelming evidence pointing to Milat as the killer, and his eventual conviction and life sentence, he vehemently maintained his innocence until he died at age 74.

Police suspected he had an accomplice, but were never able to prove that anyone else was involved.

Originally published as Ivan Milat’s shock revelation in letter to his former pen pal, Amanda Howard