Canadian serial killer found guilty

A pig farmer accused of being Canada's worst serial killer was found guilty of second-degree murder today.

Robert 'Willie' Pickton was facing the first six of 26 murder charges for the deaths of women, most of them prostitutes and drug addicts from a seedy Vancouver neighbourhood.

Pickton, 58, stood trial for the murders of Mona Wilson, Sereena Abotsway, Marnie Frey, Brenda Wolfe, Andrea Joesbury and Georgina Papin.

The defence acknowledged that their remains were found on Pickton's farm outside Vancouver, but denied he was responsible for their deaths.

The jury of seven men and five women began its deliberations on Friday night. They had the option of finding Pickton guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter or not guilty on any of the six counts.

Last week, Judge James Williams reviewed the transcript of a videotape in which Pickton is heard telling an undercover police officer that he had planned to kill one more woman before stopping at 50, taking a break and then killing another 25 women.

"I was going to do one more; make it an even 50," Pickton told the officer, who had been planted in the accused killer's cell and gained his trust.

A day earlier, Papin's three sisters cried and clutched each other's hands in court while the judge reviewed the testimony of witness Lynn Ellingson, who said she walked in on a blood-covered Pickton as Papin's body dangled from a chain in the farm's slaughterhouse.

The judge also reviewed testimony of prosecution witness Andrew Bellwood, who said Pickton told him how he strangled his alleged victims and fed their remains to his pigs.

Pickton has been charged over the deaths of 26 women, but almost 40 others are on a police list of missing women. The investigation into their disappearances is ongoing.

Prosecutors said Pickton will be tried for the 20 other murder charges later, but no date has been set.

Pickton listened to the verdict with his head bowed in the court in New Westminster, British Columbia.

He will receive life in prison and will not be eligible for parole for at least 10 years. The jury was deliberating tonight whether to extend that 10-year period.