Backpacker serial killer Ivan Milat to be moved to ICU in cancer fight

Prison officials are preparing to contact the families of terminally ill serial killer Ivan Milat’s victims to tell them when he dies.

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Prison officials are preparing to contact the families of terminally ill serial killer Ivan Milat’s victims to tell them when he dies.

“There is a Victim’s registry where families can choose to be notified of his death. In this case some have but not all have asked to be notified,’’ said a correctives services spokesman.

When Milat dies NSW Police will take possession of his body and an autopsy conducted as well as a coronial inquest held into his death.

Under guard in ICU... Ivan Milat. Picture: Diimex

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Milat is in the process of being transferred into intensive care under heightened security.

Health sources this morning revealed he was about to be moved from Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital annex to the ICU which does not have the same level of security.

Milat’s sudden deterioration has stunned family, one relative telling The Daily Telegraph he appeared to be improving a fortnight ago.

“When I seen (sic) him he was going really good, it’s got me why this has happened now,” the close relative said.

“They just said he was in a critical way, they didn’t say much more.”

They said the family was not expecting Milat to die imminently, despite being transferred to the high-care ward.

“He won’t pass today… he might go on for a long time yet,” they said.

“They won’t let us see him, we’ve got to book visits … I just hope he’s ok.”

VMilat leaving Prince of Wales Hospital following earlier cancer treatment. Picture: 7News

A Corrective Services spokeswoman said: “A 74-year-old inmate is receiving medical treatment at Prince of Wales Hospital. He was transferred to the hospital last Friday, 11 October. Appropriate security is in place”.

Milat, 74, has been preparing for death while undergoing chemotherapy treatment at the hospital since he was diagnosed with terminal oesophagus and stomach cancer in May when his weight plummeted to 64kg and he was given three months to live.

He has been in jail since he was arrested in 1994.

He was later sentenced to life for the murders of the seven backpackers who were raped, stabbed, shot and in one case beheaded, in the Belanglo State Forest south of Sydney between 1989 and 1993. He was also convicted of the abduction of the only backpacker who escaped, British tourist Paul Onions.

Despite clinging to life, he has maintains his notorious horseshoe “Merv Hughes” type moustache that helped Paul Onions to later identify him to police.

The once-bushy moustache is now white.

Milat was sentenced to life for the murders

of seven backpackers who were raped, stabbed, and shot.

Evil Milat has been linked to at least a dozen other unsolved murders.

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Linked to at least a dozen other unsolved murders, Milat has maintained his defiant silence despite being on his deathbed and questioned again by detectives.

He has undergone a number of emergency operations including one to open his oesophagus, or “food pipe”, so he can drink soup again while in Prince of Wales Hospital.

Originally published as Backpacker serial killer Ivan Milat to be moved to ICU in cancer fight