Serial killer Milat ‘has little chance of survival’

Serial killer Ivan Milat has tumours in his throat and stomach, a relative says.

Convicted backpacker killer Ivan Milat.

Serial killer Ivan Milat has tumours in his throat and stomach and has little chance of survival, a relative says.

“His chances of living aren’t very good,” Milat’s nephew, Alistair Shipsey, told The Australian.

Milat was moved from his Supermax prison cell to Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital this week and is unlikely to return.

Mr Shipsey – Milat’s oldest nephew and one of his most vocal defenders - says he has spoken to four relatives about the serial killer’s hospitalisation.

“He‘s got a tumour in his throat and a tumour in his stomach,” Mr Shipsey said.

“He’s on his way out, which is a shame. He didn’t get a chance to clear his name, which is something the whole family wanted.”

The pair frequently exchange letters, with Milat recently writing to Mr Shipsey, the son of Milat’s sister Diane, about his deteriorating health.

Now 74, the former road worker’s weight has plummeted. He has also reportedly been showing signs of dementia for more than a year.

“He can’t talk on the phone because he hasn’t got very good hearing,” Mr Shipsey said.

“I got a letter from him maybe a week ago and he was telling me about his stomach and the problem he’s having.

“I write to him continuously because they won’t let me visit him.

“They won’t let half his family visit him - only my mother gets to visit him and his brother Bill.”

Milat was convicted in 1996 of the murders of seven backpackers, who disappeared between December 1989 and April 1992.

The bodies of Deborah Everist and James Gibson from Victoria, Simone Schmidl from Germany, Anja Habschied and Gabor Neugebauer, also from Germany, and Joanne Walters and Caroline Clarke from the UK were discovered in Belanglo State Forest between September 1992 and November 1993.

Each had left Sydney to travel south, hitchhiking along the Hume Highway from near Liverpool. They were between 19 and 22 years old, and forensic evidence showed they had been savagely attacked.

Paul Onions, a 24-year-old British backpacker, escaped after Milat pulled a gun on him while giving him a lift on January 25, 1990. The testimony of Onions was a key factor in Milat’s conviction for the backpacker murders, along with the possessions of victims found at Milat’s house and his mother’s house.

Milat is frequently mentioned as a suspect in other unsolved murders, but has continued to deny involvement. With his cancer diagnosis, time is running out for him to shed any further light on the crimes.

Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin on Tuesday said prisoner transfers were done in the “most secure and safe way possible”. High-risk and terrorism-related inmates are always guarded by specialist staff from the extreme high-security escort unit.

At least one form of restraint — handcuffs or ankle cuffs — stay on high-risk inmates during medical treatment subject to medical requirements.