CONTENT WARNING: This story contains graphic language.
A man imprisoned for his role in the infamous Snowtown murders could be freed from jail without conditions in May, as he comes to the end of his 25 year prison sentence.
Mark Ray Haydon, now 65, was convicted for his role in the “bodies in the barrels” murders in Snowtown in the 1990s. Eleven people were killed and eight of them were found in barrels in a disused bank vault in the rural South Australian town.
Haydon was not convicted of the killings but of covering up seven of the murders.
The South Australian government has said it is “seeking legal advice” on whether it could use new laws to keep Haydon behind bars. However, SA Law Society Criminal Law Committee member and barrister James Marcus told the ABC that as it stood, authorities would be powerless to stop his release.
“Under the existing laws, as we understand them, in South Australia or indeed in Australia, once a person has completed the sentence that was imposed upon them, then they are released from custody,” he said.
However, Marcus said that the state could argue that assisting in a murder is perverting the course of justice and seek to impose strict conditions on release.
“The [attorney-general] could make an application for an extended supervision order which would impose conditions that would largely mirror parole, such as controlling where a person lives, where they can go, who they can and can’t associate with, and can include electronic monitoring,” he said.
The three other people convicted over the crimes were John Justin Bunting, Robert Joe Wagner and James Spyridon Vlassakis.
The bodies were found when police investigating a missing person case entered the vault and were hit with the smell of decomposing bodies, which had been placed in barrels filled with hydrochloric acid.
Police claimed that Bunting was the leader of the group, and that he had targeted homosexuals, paedophiles, overweight people and people with intellectual disabilities.
Bunting was found guilty of 11 murders and Wagner of 10 murders, and were both sentenced to life imprisonment.
Vlassakis pleaded guilty to four murders and could be eligible for parole next year.