Serial killer refused appeal

One of Australia’s most notorious serial killers, Ivan Milat, was told today he will not be allowed to appeal his conviction on charges of murdering seven young backpackers he picked up while they were hitchhiking.

Milat is serving a life sentence in Australia’s most secure prison for murdering the travellers – two Britons, three Germans, and two Australians - between 1989 and 1992.

Their bodies were later found in shallow graves in a remote forest southwest of Sydney.

A third British tourist, Paul Onions, who gave evidence during the trial, was kidnapped by Milat but managed to escape and testified against him at trial.

Milat had sought special leave in the High Court in Sydney to appeal, saying a lower court’s refusal to hear an appeal was wrong.

But High Court judge William Gummow ruled today that “there is no reason to doubt the correctness of the decision by the New South Wales Criminal Court of Appeal”.

Milat, who was not in court for the decision, claims the judge in his trial should have given the jury an alternative account of the case. He blamed his lawyers also for not putting forward the alternative, details of which were not released.