“I Believe he’s a good man”
Two friends, a married couple who have known Ivan Milat for around 20 years, and who would prefer their names not be published, called him “a good mate. When you needed a hand, he was there,” said the husband, pointing out the work Milat had done around their home. “You didn’t need to ask him. When he was arrested we couldn’t believe it.“Added his wife : “I believe he’s a good man. He was easy to get on with, tremendously easy, and I’ve never seen him angry. They’ve got to find the real person who did this.“
Ivan Milat’s Pattern of Murder
In 1971, Ivan Milat was accused of the rape of Margaret Patterson but walked free following a 1-day trial. Following this event a pattern can be clearly identified. It might be coincidental, but there is a strong possibility that it is one key to his subsequent rampage. Milat entered into two stable relationships with women. While they lasted, he was passive, or at least his murderous impulses were subdued or in control. The killings began when the first relationship broke up and they ended when the second relationship began. In between, from December 1989 to April 1992, Milat was a cunning, cruel and perhaps maniacal killer, the most dangerous man…
Corrective Services officer about Ivan Milat’s years at Goulburn Supermax
‘Frank’’, a career Corrective Services officer now in retirement who knew Ivan Milat during his years at Goulburn Supermax has no illusions about the backpacker killer. “I’d describe him as nondescript,” Frank tells me about the jail’s most infamous prisoner. “He was nothing startling, to me he was just another crim who’d vacuum the hallways. In later years he was flat out stringing two words together.’’ But Milat’s idiosyncratic nature still left something of an impression as Frank remembers. “He did teach me how to recharge flat batteries,” he chuckles, still puzzled by Milat’s curious behavior. “Milat had a lot of tricks like that he’d picked up while working on…
Interview with Ivan Milat, 1997
In October 1997, The Bulletin published an exclusive interview with Ivan Milat, the first since his arrest and trial. The interview was based on questions sent to him via letters and to which Milat replied. He warned them that the “real murderers” are still free and capable of further killings. He said he was framed by police. When asked if he was in any way involved in the murders, the convicted serial killer said, “Absolutely not. Nor do I feel I have to show any feelings towards the people murdered by the backpacker killers because I didn’t do them.“ He described how he spend most of his days in “closed…
Interview with Shirley Milat, May 1997
Following Ivan Milat’s and other prisoner, George Savvas’ planned jail break, Savvas was found dead in Maitland jail on May 18, 1997. Ivan was moved to a segregated cell at Long Bay jail and was denied all visitors. “I’m not allowed to see Ivan and I don’t know at the moment whether or not my brother is safe. One man is already dead and I fear they want another dead,” Shirley Milat said. Milat and Savvas planned their escape the week before but the prison guards were tipped off. Shirley Milat denied rumors her family was involved in the escape plan, “nobody in our family was involved in any escape attempt.…
Margaret Milat about Ivan
The Sydney Morning Herald interviewed Ivan Milat’s mother, Margaret Milat, before the verdict of the trial in 1996. She hoped beyond hope for a verdict of not guilty. “But if Ivan is innocent, then they’ll go and arrest Richard. They’re both innocent. They were living here when those murders were meant to happen. I did all their washing, there was no blood. They’re good boys.“ Mrs Milat, still lives in the yellow weatherboard house in Guildford where she and her late husband, Croatian-born Stephen, raised 10 sons and four daughters — not without the help of one of them, a conscientious little boy called Ivan. “He wasn’t the oldest boy,…
Chalinder Hughes about Ivan Milat
Chalinder Hughes was born near Delhi but left with her Hindu family when a year old to settle in the Midlands of England. In 1978, at age 17, she migrated to Australia with her English fiance, married him in 1985 but parted away a few years later. “The marriage broke up after my husband had returned from an American holiday. He told me he had met someone else. The experience left me cautious about forming permanent relationships in the future. I settled for living a quiet life.” She met Ivan Milat in 1992 after working at a Sydney accountancy firm with his sister, Shirley. “I got on well with Shirley…
Ivan Milat first months in Jail
Following his arrest on May 22, 1994, Ivan Milat was sent to the Metropolitan Remand Centre at Long Bay Jail while awaiting trial. Former prisoner Ian McDougall, who shared a cell with Milat for seven months, summed him up this way : “With Ivan you never had to worry about sleeping with your eyes closed. You share a cell with a bloke for 12 to 15 hours a day, you get to know them, their thoughts, their secrets. You develop a bond. He’s so typically average that he stood out from other prisoners, many of whom are on drugs or scheming and scamming. He was naive. Sometimes he would slap…
Ivan Milat and Marilyn Milat-Tempest
Les Kennedy, author of Sins of the Brother, tracked down Marilyn Milat-Tempest, Boris’ ex-wife who had an 11-year affair with Ivan. She agreed to talk to him on the phone. He couldn’t get much out of her beside the usual, that she was still in love with Ivan despite what happened. Marilyn never stopped believing in Ivan and kept visiting him in prison, even after the guilty verdict. The Daily Telegraph also spoke to Marilyn, a few months before his death, “I don’t want him to die, he’s sick, I don’t love him like that, anymore, well … I always will love him… I’ve kept the name all these years. Ivan…
Ivan Milat’s victim, Margaret Patterson: “He’s genuinely nice”
In 1995, Les Kennedy met with Margaret Patterson who was picked up by Ivan while she was hitchhiking. She said to Kennedy that she forgave Ivan for what happened and was angry with her former friend for giving interviews in exchange of money. Margaret acknowledged that she has written to Ivan and even visited him in prison more than once. “I do give him the benefit of the doubt that he might not be guilty and I’m just incredibly sad that he was in that situation. It’s not as though I don’t think the crimes are very bad, but I felt very sorry for him…He seemed extremely happy to see…
