In a few months, a man who assisted in the cover-up of Australia’s deadliest serial killings is scheduled to be released from prison.
Given that Mark Ray Haydon will have carried out his entire sentence for his involvement in the Snowtown killings, he might not be under surveillance after his term is up.
Because of this, the government of South Australia is stepping in with an unusual appeal to the Supreme Court in an attempt to monitor the 65-year-old once he is released.
“I can announce today that the attorney-general has issued instructions to the Crown to pursue an extended supervision order against Haydon,” stated Premier Peter Malinauskas.
According to the authorities, Mr. Haydon meets the criteria for being classified as a high-risk criminal. Attorney-General Kyam Maher continued, “That is, he assisted after the fact in a very serious, violent set of crimes.”
In the event that the government’s court application is approved, Haydon will remain under stringent supervision and control even after being freed.
Curfews and electronic monitoring are two examples of these.
“Our job as a government is to do everything we can to keep the community safe,” Malinauskas stated.
The Parole Board is scheduled to convene tomorrow to determine whether Haydon should be allowed an early release.
If approved, this will be just one more step toward keeping an eye on Haydon rather than letting him go free into the community.
In the upcoming days, that decision is anticipated.
Haydon was one of four people detained in 1999 when the bodies of some of the 11 victims of the Snowtown murders—Australia’s deadliest serial killings—were discovered in barrels within a closed bank vault in the state’s mid-north.
Haydon’s wife was one of the casualties; those barrels had also been kept in storage at their home in northern Adelaide for a while.
Haydon had assisted Robert Wagner and John Bunting in seven of the eleven homicides; he was sentenced to at least eighteen years in prison.
