Paroled killer Jock Palfreeman leaves Bulgaria

Australian Jock Palfreeman has left Bulgaria more than 13 years after he was arrested and charged with murdering a student in Sofia.

Jock Palfreeman says he was forced out of Bulgaria due to threats.

Australian Jock Palfreeman has left Bulgaria more than 13 years after he was arrested and charged with murdering a student in Sofia.

Palfreeman confirmed on Friday that he had left the country and was staying with family but refused to confirm his exact location for safety reasons.

“For my safety I do not want my whereabouts known,” he told the ABC.

A former British Army recruit, Palfreeman was sentenced in December 2009 to 20 years in jail for stabbing to death a 20-year-old student with “hooligan intent” and wounding another man in a street brawl in Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed on Friday he had been free to depart Bulgaria from November last year following a ruling from the Supreme Administrative Court in Sofia.

But since then fears for his safety had been mounting after the dead student’s father, Hristo Monov, made threats aired on local television to put him back in jail.

“I just want (Palfreeman) to go back to prison for one more night — they’ll be so happy to see him,” Mr Monov told reporters at a press conference in Sofia.

Palfreeman said on Friday it was not his decision to leave but he was forced out of the country following the threats. “I wanted to stay … but they wouldn’t allow me,” he said. “I had to leave very fast or they said they would put me back in prison.”

Late on Friday night, Palfreeman released a statement on his Instagram asking for financial assistance.

“The problems caused by the Bulgarian government have not ended, currently I must pay a court to overturn more orders,” he said.

Palfreeman had been freed on parole for good behaviour in September 2019 but the decision sparked outrage in some quarters and prompted prosecutors to ask for a review, effectively barring him from leaving Bulgaria.

Palfreeman served 11 years of his sentence and has always claimed he intervened to defend a Roma man who was being attacked by two Bulgarians.

Mr Monov was an influential former member of the Bulgarian parliament and a high-ranking intelligence boss. Human rights advocates have argued that he sought to use his political capital to keep Palfreeman behind bars.