He is Australia’s most notorious serial killer, convicted over the deaths of seven backpackers, however one former traveller has now revealed how he escaped the clutches of Ivan Milat back in 1982.
Colin Powis, from Newcastle in the north east of England, was just 21-years-old when he came to Australia almost four decades ago in the hope of finding work and doing some travelling. However Powis’ trip could have ended very differently as he revealed he accepted a lift from a man he now knows to be convicted killer Milat.
Appearing on Channel Seven’s Sunday Night program last night, Powis said he decided to hitchhike to the town of Cobar, NSW, to seek out a job in the mines after spending a couple of nights in the Blue Mountains, when a man in a pick-up stopped to give him a ride.
Shown a photograph of Milat on the show, Colin said: “That was definitely the creep who picked me up. He wasn’t smiling. He never said hello.”
Powis began to grow suspicious after Milat told him to put his seatbelt on and lock the door of the truck from the inside, revealing the driver then began to question him about how long he had been in Australia and who he knew in the country.
It was only once Milat took an unexpected left turn that Colin knew something wasn’t right, adding: “By the time I got the car door open, he had his hand behind his back, holding the hammer.
“I knew there was going to be trouble right then because he had no reason to get out of the vehicle. What saved me is some cars came past. He was looking at the cars, looking at me.”
Next on @SundayNightOn7 – the one that got away. The backpacker who believes he came face-to-face with a psychopath, and almost became one of Ivan Milat's first kills. That's ahead on @Channel7. pic.twitter.com/ZvpXVCcbra
— 7NEWS Spotlight (@7NewsSpotlight) June 23, 2019
Read more: Ivan Milat’s mistress and former sister-in-law claims she’ll ‘always love him’
Ivan’s brother Boris Milat also appeared on the show, revealing how “bad” it is to carry the renowned surname.
“He was out of control,” he told the program. “Smart arse running around. Going out getting into trouble.”
Boris added his brother was “pretty normal” until he reached the age of around 12 to 14-years old, revealing it was around that age that he heard his brother had “cut a dog in half with a machete”.
Boris added: “I knew he was on a one-way trip,” Boris added. “It was just a matter of how long. He was going to kill somebody from the age of 10, I’d say.
“It was built into him. He was a psychopath.”
Serial killer Ivan Milat has been moved from hospital to Long Bay jail, where he will live out his last days. 7NEWS cameras are following the operation. https://t.co/vir784UjAI #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/6fyWI0ApLV
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) May 28, 2019
Read more: Ivan Milat seen for first time in 10 years as he’s transferred to prison
Last month Milat – who was handed seven life sentences in 1996 after being found guilty of the murders of seven backpackers – was admitted to Sydney’s Prince of Wales hospital where he spent two weeks being treated for cancer.
At the end of May, the convicted killer, now 74, was seen for the first time in a decade as television cameras caught the moment he was transferred back to prison in a wheelchair.
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