Two men jailed for life for Australia’s worst serial killings

TWO men were jailed for life yesterday in Australia’s worst serial murder case, in which they tortured their victims and stuffed their dismembered bodies in barrels hidden in a small town’s abandoned bank vault.

One witness testified that the killers ate the flesh of one victim and prosecutors said the 20-month killing spree known as the bodies-in-barrels case was fuelled by a hatred of paedophiles and homosexuals.

The sentences were handed down after a South Australian Supreme Court jury convicted John Justin Bunting, 37, for 11 murders and Robert Joe Wagner, 31, for seven.

The men were arrested after police found eight bodies stuffed in barrels hidden in a defunct bank vault in Snowtown, a small village near the South Australia state capital, Adelaide. Two more bodies were found buried in an Adelaide back garden and two were found in other places that have not been disclosed.

Most of the victims, killed over 20 months from October 1997, were tortured before being killed. The majority were strangled.

The murders are believed to be Australia's worst ever serial killings, and sparked a level of media interest not seen since the so-called backpacker murders of 1989 to 1992, in which seven people, including some British tourists, were killed.

Prosecutors said the victims were murdered so their killers could cash their welfare cheques, but also for enjoyment. Both Bunting and Wagner also allegedly targeted people they believed were paedophiles.

During the trial, which began almost a year ago and heard testimony from more than 200 witnesses, the jury heard that at least one victim had limbs severed and slabs of flesh cut from his body. They were also shown photographs of the remains of some of the victims.

Police said the killers knew most of their victims.

"What we've found with these crimes is that although there are very strong links that we've identified so far between the victims and offenders, there appears to have been no external risk beyond that group into society as a whole," said Police Commissioner Neil McKenzie.