Snowtown “bodies in the barrels” accomplice Mark Ray Haydon could be out of prison within weeks if a longstanding parole bid is approved.
The ABC understands the South Australian Parole Board has scheduled a hearing later this month to consider Haydon’s application, which was first lodged back in 2021.
Parole Board Chair Frances Nelson KC has previously told the ABC the board was waiting for a police report before any decision could be made.
But in a statement, South Australia Police told the ABC the information would be provided to the parole board by their “requested date”.
If the parole application were successful, Haydon could be released into the community within weeks.
The ABC exclusively revealed last month that, even if Haydon’s latest parole bid were not successful, there would be nothing to keep the 65-year-old behind bars from May.
That’s when he would have served his full 25-year head sentence.
SA Law Society Criminal Law Committee member and barrister James Marcus said the parole board would set a number of conditions, if it decided to grant Mark Haydon parole.
“The conditions are quite broad … such as where the person is to reside, limitations on where they can and can’t go and things that they must and must not do, such as they must not take drugs or consume alcohol or they must attend therapeutic counselling,” Mr Marcus said.
Mr Marcus said there were potentially good reasons to grant Haydon parole.
“The nature of the offences for which he was convicted, everyone would agree, are horrendous, however the reality of his situation is that in May of this year he will be released into the community,” Mr Marcus said.
“Now it is difficult to imagine how it is in everybody else’s best interest that is done with no support and no control over him whatsoever.
“It is very much in the public interest for offenders, particularly those that have spent a very long period of time in custody, to receive a period of time in the community under supervision to assist them to adjust to their life back in the community.”
The state government is still waiting on legal advice on what options in could take regarding Mark Haydon’s imminent release.
One option is for the Attorney General to apply to the Supreme Court to have Mark Haydon placed on an extended supervision order when he has finished his sentence.
That would allow conditions to be placed on Haydon that are similar to parole.
But Mr Marcus said as the law stands, there were no guarantees the order would be granted.
“As things stand there is a very real question about whether or not the extended supervision order regime applies to Mr Haydon,” he said.
“If it doesn’t apply there is no other mechanism of supervision for him once his head sentence expires.”
Haydon was never convicted of any of the murders.
At trial, he was accused of killing two of the 11 victims – including his wife Elizabeth Haydon – but the jury could not agree whether he was guilty or not.
Instead he was jailed for seven counts of assisting the offenders, by helping to hide and move the bodies, including to the bank vault in Snowtown where they were eventually discovered by police in 1999.
Haydon became eligible to apply for parole in 2017 but his first application was rejected. The Parole Board determined he needed more resocialisation to minimise any risk he might present to the community.
Ms Nelson previously told the ABC that, since then, Haydon had success in rehabilitating.
“His institutional behaviour has been very good. He’s been easily managed. He hasn’t presented problems,” Ms Nelson told the ABC last week.
“His work in prison appears to have been well carried out. He certainly has done any program offered to him by way of intervention.”
Ms Nelson said he had also demonstrated contrition and remorse.
The families of the victims have said that they believe Mark Haydon should never be released from prison.
John Justin Bunting, Robert Joe Wagner and James Spyridon Vlassakis are all serving life sentences for some or all of the murders.
Vlassakis helped convict the other three men and will be eligible to apply for parole next year. Bunting and Wagner have been told they should never be released from custody.
The ABC is not identifying the prison facility where Haydon is incarcerated.
