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The Aftermath

Crime Files

The Aftermath

Milat was incarcerated in the maximum-security wing of Goulburn Prison, near Sydney. Milat has always maintained his innocence, and later staged self-mutilation attacks, and hunger strikes, in a bid to get his appeals heard.In May 1997 authorities foiled a well-planned jailbreak attempt masterminded by Milat. His accomplice was found hanged in his cell the next morning.In July 2001 his initial appeal against his sentence was denied.Police maintain that Milat may have been involved in many more murders than the seven of which he was convicted. In the summer of 2001, Milat was ordered to give evidence at an inquest into the disappearances of three other female backpackers, but no case has been brought against him, due to lack of evidence. Similar inquiries were launched in 2003, in relation to the disappearance of two nurses and again in 2005, relating to the disappearance of hitchhiker Anette Briffa, but no charges have resulted.On 8 November 2004 Ivan Milat gave a televised interview, in which he denied that any of his family had been implicated in the seven murders.On 18 July 2005, Milat’s former lawyer, John Marsden, who had been fired before the murder trial, made a deathbed statement, in which he claimed that Milat had been assisted by an unknown woman, in the killings of the two British backpackers.On 7 September 2005 his final appeal was refused, and Milat is likely to remain in prison for the rest of his natural life.