A prisoner dubbed by media as the Northern Territory's "Hannibal Lecter" has appeared in the Supreme Court threatening misbehaviour and violence unless he is transferred to the Alice Springs prison, because he gets better privileges there.

Key points: Killer asks, "What are they going to do to me?" regarding punishment

Killer asks, "What are they going to do to me?" regarding punishment Warns he will "play up" if he is not moved to Alice Springs

Warns he will "play up" if he is not moved to Alice Springs Complains of cost of items in Darwin

Andy Albury, 54, has been in prison for more than 30 years and is serving a life sentence with no prospect of release.

Warning: This story contains graphic details.

In 1983, aged 22, he was convicted of killing 29-year-old Aboriginal woman Gloria Pindan in Darwin, stabbing her almost 30 times and mutilating her with a broken beer bottle, cutting off her nipples and gouging out her eyeball, throwing it into grass, four metres from the murder scene.

He was found drinking at a nearby pub by police and confessed almost immediately.

On Monday, Albury appeared in the Northern Territory Supreme Court via video link for a review of his conditions in prison after he was transferred to the complex behavioural unit (CBU) in Darwin.

Lawyer Trevor Moses told the court Albury was sent to Darwin to work towards a management plan, which had not been achieved.

Mr Moses said the move was also because staff in Alice Springs had "expressed concerns about his [Albury's] behaviour towards them, and it was to take the burden off staff having to deal with him".

The court heard Albury had 31 incidents in jail this year, including assaulting staff, throwing faeces on them, and damaging property.

A barefoot and fidgeting Albury told the court he had better conditions in Alice Springs and would continue to "play up" if he was not sent back.

"I play up on Monday and Tuesday, then by Wednesday I'm back to normal … then on Sunday I'm looking forward to my brother visiting," he said.

"They have vending machines in Alice Springs, so he buys me a Coke and a Mars Bar every Sunday.

"You know how many people I've hurt in prison … I'm just waiting for the right weapon."

Albury said if he was transferred back to the Alice Springs facility, staff could "expect one incident a week … in Darwin there will be three to four a week".

"The one in Alice, I'll just be telling a screw to go and get f**ked. In Darwin, I'll throw piss, shit, boiling water on them," he said.

Albury told the court he interfered with the prison intercom system — and that the last time he did so was when another prisoner "had a heart attack".

"I'm not going to change my behaviour. I've been going with it for 55 years and I'll go with it for another 55 … if I live that long.

"I can do whatever I want … what are they going to do to me?"

Albury told the court he "didn't see the point" of completing anger management programs in prison, other than "you get an extra $10 a week to do them".

The court heard Albury "twice a week rings his mum" and had complained of the price of foodstuffs in Darwin, for example, "a litre of cordial costs $7.80, and Scotch Finger [biscuits] costs $6.00".

Justice Stephen Southwood said Albury had been a "difficult prisoner" in both Darwin and Alice Springs.

The review was adjourned until September.

'A very dangerous man'

In 2004 an application was successfully made to keep Albury in jail with no prospect of parole.

At that hearing, the court heard Albury, then taking a break from a stint as a contract shooter of feral animals, was drunk when he approached Gloria Pindan in Darwin's main entertainment strip of Mitchell Street, in November 1983.

Andy Albury, as he appeared via video link from Darwin jail.

He told interviewing police he had walked Ms Pindan to a vacant lot where they had a conversation before he "stood up and killed her", using a broken beer bottle to inflict gruesome wounds.

Albury was asked for his reason for removing the deceased's eye.

"No reason, I enjoyed the killing," he answered.

"Did you enjoy taking the eye out?" detectives enquired.

"I didn't think about it," he replied.

"It doesn't worry me what I kill … they're all blood and guts inside."

At a re-enactment the day after his arrest, Albury told detectives: "I think I'd do it again. I get enjoyment out of it, don't know why.

"When I knocked off shooting when I went on holidays in September, I had to kill something."

Two years before he took Ms Pindan's life, he had been discharged from the army after less than a year.

He told detectives after the killing that he hated Aboriginal people and said he believed in the ideals of the Ku Klux Klan.

Albury told a psychiatrist that when younger he and his friends "often pursued Aboriginal persons with sticks and beat them".

Fantasy of terrorising a town

One specialist noted Albury had a fantasy about "making people frightened that they may be the next to be killed".

"He is not seeking publicity or notoriety. He simply gets pleasure out of the thought of having that degree of control over people," the assessment found.

Albury had fantasised about "terrorising a town by committing casual, motiveless murder for the purpose of making people frightened that they may be the next to be killed," the psychologist's report found.

Andy Albury (left) being interviewed by NT Police after the murder of Gloria Pindan. ( ABC News )

"There is a sadistic element to his killing. He derives pleasure from the mutilation of the body of the victim … he says that it 'makes it interesting'.

"He makes it clear that given his casual attitude to murder he would kill again, given the opportunity."

One previous attempt to integrate Albury into the prison community was abandoned after he attacked another prisoner with a cricket bat.

In 2004, the court heard a prison report assessed Albury as: "a very difficult prisoner to manage. He is a danger to himself and to other prisoners. He has been involved in an extraordinarily large number of incidents over the 21 years."

"You lock yourself in a cupboard for five years and don't come out, and see what happens," he told prison authorities at the time.

A doctor's report found Albury "enjoys his reputation of being a monster and cleverly invokes voices, the written word and behaviour patterns to perpetuate the idea that he is quite mad.

"This is in contrast to the quiet individual in my office who will tell me that of course he is not mad, but has to do something to occupy his days. He is in essence bored silly."

Nevertheless, the same doctor remarked Albury was "of above-average intelligence and is a very dangerous man".

In a 2004 letter to prison authorities, Albury said his "chance of re-offending in violent murderous manner is 100 per cent (hopefully soon)".

"I have no wish to die, but as above I am unstoppable, I love my work," he said.

The letter ends: "P.S. — will kill again — it's what I do for an occupation."