Milat Boasted Of Body Pits In Hunter, Inquest Told

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday June 14, 2001

Greg Wendt

Despite being housed in maximum security at Goulburn Jail, convicted killer Ivan Milat cast a chilling shadow over the missing girls' inquest at Toronto Court yesterday.

The court heard evidence that Milat had boasted to an ``associate" there were ``body pits and grave sites" all over the Hunter.

The State Coroner, Mr John Abernethy, is holding an inquest into the the disappearance of Leanne Goodall, 20, Robyn Hickie, 18, and Amanda Robinson, 14, from the Lake Macquarie area more than 20 years ago.

Detective Inspector Wayne Gordon, one of the detectives who put Milat behind bars for the backpacker murders, told the court he strongly suspected the former roadworker was involved in the disappearance of the three girls.

Inspector Gordon, who was deputy commander of Strike Force Fenwick set up to investigate the missing persons cases, said there was ``irrefutable" evidence linking Milat to the areas where the girls went missing in 1978 and 1979.

``We have spoken to previous work colleagues who told us Milat was working in the Newcastle area during that time [between 1976 and 1988]. He was known to pick up hitchhikers, and two of the missing girls, Leanne Goodall and Robyn Hickie, were known to hitch-hike along the Pacific Highway which was the main thoroughfare to their homes at Belmont and Swansea.

``Ivan Milat was known to stay at hotels or motels when he worked in regional areas. Former workmates suggested that he stayed at hotels in the Belmont and Swansea areas during the time the girls disappeared but because of the lapse of time records of that accommodation are no longer available."

Inspector Gordon said a witness would testify about seeing Milat at a Belmont hotel the night before Robyn Hickie disappeared.

Inspector Gordon told the coroner that an alleged associate of Milat showed a police informant a street directory of areas containing the alleged sites.

``According to the informant Milat allegedly told this associate, who is now deceased, that Milat was involved in murders of people in the Hunter some years ago," Inspector Gordon said.

``Although the information was secondhand hearsay it was fully investigated by Fenwick investigators. I'm satisfied everything has been done by the strike force to fully explore all the information, but we were unable to obtain a clear sense of where the alleged body pits were and could not take the matter further."

Inspector Gordon said an elderly woman told police of a grave site she believed she saw while walking her dog in the former BHP land behind Belmont's Cahill Oval around the time the girls went missing.

No skeletal remains were found but he said it was ``significant, because of its location close to where the girls disappeared from or resided at the time".

He told the court that as recently as June 4 this year, Milat had refused to be interviewed over the police allegations.

© 2001 Sydney Morning Herald

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