Backbencher

I was going to do a research paper on William MacDonald, but I had a really hard time finding all the required sources. So here’s some information on Australia's first true serial killer, William "The Mutilator" MacDonald. He was born in Liverpool, England in 1924 and in 1961 moved to Sydney, Australia. William’s first victim was Amos Hurst, who he strangled and beat after the two consumed large amounts of alcohol together. Alfred Greenfield, the second victim, was found in a public bathroom after he had been stabbed over 30 times and had his private parts completely removed from his body. The killer of the two men was dubbed the "Sydney Mutilator." The next two victims, William Cobbin and Frank McLean, were killed in the same fashion. Police thought the Mutilator could've at one point been a surgeon, due to the manor in which the victim’s genitals were removed. Many doctors found themselves under investigation at this time. The fifth victim, James Hackett, would be the one to indirectly catch MacDonald. It was now 1962 and he had opened a deli and was living in the space above it under the name Alan Brennan. At a bar one night, MacDonald met Hackett and the two ended up at MacDonald’s residence where they continued to drink. Hackett was killed in the same way as the others and his body was hidden underneath the shop. MacDonald became paranoid of being caught and fled to Brisbane. When the corpse was discovered three weeks later, it was too decomposed to be identified and the police presumed it to be William MacDonald himself. Around the same time a small memorial service was held, MacDonald fled to New Zealand. He later returned to Sydney when the urge to kill became too strong and ended up running into an old "work mate," John McCarthy, who had been to his funeral service. MacDonald was unaware of the mistake the police made and after having a drink with his confused co-worker, he fled to Melbourne. McCarthy went to the police and when they wouldn’t believe him, he informed a reporter who ran the story titled, "The Case of the Walking Corpse." Police re-examined the body and found stab wounds and mutilated privates matching the past victims. MacDonald was later caught and sentenced to life in prison with strong recommendation to not be released. He is the currently the longest serving inmate in the New South Whales prison system.

Although the details of this subject are gruesome and pretty disgusting, I’ve always found murder mysteries very interesting. With Australia originally being a convict colony, I thought some information on the country's first serial killer would be ironically relevant.