Snowtown murders accomplice Mark Ray Haydon has been released into the community, days before the end of his 25-year sentence for helping to cover up Australia’s worst serial murder crime.
The Department of Correctional Services said Haydon, 65, was moved to an address in the community on Thursday.
An interim extended supervision order was imposed in South Australia’s Supreme Court on Wednesday, which will come into effect when Haydon’s probation expires next week.
He was in the Adelaide Pre-Release Center while serving his parole, which he was granted in February, and was allowed into the community on the day of his release.
Haydon’s prison sentence expires on May 21, exactly 25 years after he was taken into custody alongside convicted murderers John Bunting and Robert Wagner, who are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Snowtown murders accomplice Mark Ray Haydon, 65, has been released into the community
Haydon’s release comes days before the end of his 25-year sentence for helping to cover up the “Bodies in Barrels” murders (pictured at the time).
The state government is continuing its bid to declare Haydon a high-risk offender and is awaiting a report on his mental health.
However, the report will not be available until June or July, government lawyers have already told the court.
Frances Nelson, president of the parole board he told the advertiser Friday that Haydon had already been released from the Pre-Release Center and transferred to an undisclosed location.
Nelson told the ABC the new direction had been “very carefully examined” by the South African Police, the Department of Community Corrections and the Parole Board.
“It’s best that he settle into the community while he’s still on probation because his main sentence ends early next week,” he said.
‘The idea behind his release now is to get him settled into the community while still subject to his parole conditions.
“I confirm that the place is in the community, because starting Monday or Tuesday of next week he will be in the community anyway.”
Haydon helped convicted murderers John Bunting and Robert Wagner cover up the murders of 12 people in the 1990s (pictured, barrels containing human remains stored by Haydon)
Haydon will have strict bail conditions to comply with (pictured, Haydon before his arrest)
The interim supervision order imposes conditions modeled on his probation order, including living at an approved address, reporting weekly to a community corrections officer, refraining from alcohol and illegal drugs, not communicating with victims or their families, not communicating with the media or with co-offenders. and carry out the recommended treatment after a psychological evaluation.
Haydon must also wear an electronic transmitter and comply with the 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew.
The serial killings were exposed in May 1999, when police found eight dismembered bodies in acid-filled barrels in the vault of a disused bank in Snowtown, north of Adelaide.
Two more bodies were found buried in a backyard in the suburb of Salisbury North, while detectives later linked two more deaths to Bunting and Wagner.
It was discovered that Haydon helped his friends cover up their crimes by storing the bodies of murder victims in barrels in his shed and then renting the infamous Snowtown bank.