“If he sends something out to the press - which if he is able to, he probably will - it will be to protest his innocence to his last dying breath." In his letters, Milat picked apart his case, referring only to the actions of “the killer” while maintaining his innocence over the Belanglo state forest backpacker murders. Author and criminologist Amanda Howard has written to Ivan Milat since 1997. Credit:Wolter Peeters Howard believes some of his third-person descriptions of “the killer’s” actions could be read as coded confessions but said Milat had never admitted his role in the crimes that made him infamous. No matter when he dies, “he will go down fighting,” she said.

Last week, the nation learned Milat had been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the oesophagus, almost 25 years into serving seven life sentences for the brutal murders of foreign and Australian backpackers between 1989 and 1993. On Tuesday, Milat was transported from his cell to Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital, where tests confirmed malignant tumours on his throat and stomach. Family members, who still protest his innocence, say the 74-year-old’s health has declined since Christmas, when he first reported difficulties swallowing and holding down food. But his deteriorating health did not stop him from putting pen to page. Two weeks ago, one of his most dedicated pen pals of the past 24 years received her latest correspondence from Milat, detailing the symptoms he was suffering and his suspicions about what the cause could be.

“He said in the letter he believed he probably had cancer. He had lost a lot of weight...he pretty much knew,” said the close friend, who has asked not to be named and also maintains Milat is innocent. “He hasn’t said how he feels yet, he’s quite a religious person, a Catholic believer ... he often speaks about religion in his letters. He’s very confident of going to heaven one day. ” The woman, one of the few people to have visited Milat at Goulburn, said any suggestions he was suffering dementia were “absolute rubbish - he’s as bright as ever.” Milat’s nephew, Alistair Shipsey, is one of his biggest advocates, dedicating most of his life to campaigning for a retrial. He said the extended Milat family, who are due to visit him at Long Bay hospital next Tuesday, has found it difficult learning the killer may die within weeks. “We’re pretty upset. We all love Ivan. We know he’s been framed,” Mr Shipsey, who has written to Milat for 24 years, told The Sun-Herald.

Mr Shipsey claims his uncle was unfairly convicted solely on the discovery of the victims’ belongings being found at his house, and that there was not enough evidence to prove he had murdered anyone. “It’s hard, that he didn’t get a chance to clear his name, [for himself] and for the family.” Milat’s seventh call for an inquiry into his 1996 conviction was rejected in 2017. Mr Shipsey, a former sales manager and mechanic, said he believed the cancer diagnosis would have rocked his uncle psychologically. “If I was in his position and I could not get a retrial, battling all that time, I think I would want to die.”

Howard, the crime author, is writing a book about Milat that incorporates parts of his long, sometimes paranoid, letters. She said he most of all wanted to be left alone in jail, to write, to watch television and to read novels - mainly westerns or Samurai tales. “He’s never been ‘I’m the backpacker killer’. He’s always been the absolute opposite of that.” Milat was sentenced to seven life sentences without parole for his crimes, all of which he committed while living in his mother’s house. He picked up his young victims when they were hitchhiking south down the Hume Highway. Each was found covered in sticks and leaf litter in the state forest. One was decapitated. Several were shot in the head. When the homes of Milat and family members were searched, police found property belonging to all seven victims, including backpacks, camping gear and clothing.

At his house, they discovered firearms as well as rope and cable ties used to tie up the victims. “In all cases the members of the family said ‘Ivan gave this to us’,” Clive Small, the lead investigator of the backpacker murders, said. “It seemed he would give it to the family and he would like seeing them use it without knowing it came from a murder victim ... it gave him satisfaction.” Since his conviction on July 27, 1996, Milat has been suggested as a suspect in unsolved homicides and missing persons cases. Most notable were the murders of Leanne Goodall, Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson, of which Milat was once considered a prime suspect.

The three women went missing in the Newcastle area within four months of each other, between 1978 and 1979. In 2002, Milat gave evidence during a coronial inquest into their deaths. John Boersig, the instructing solicitor for the women’s families at the inquest, recalled learning that Milat was a suspect. A letter from Milat to lawyer John Boersig. “By that stage he had been picked up for the Belanglo murders, and to locate him in Newcastle [when the three women disappeared] was alarming,” he said. Coroner John Abernethy found the women had been killed by a person, or persons, unknown.