Breaking: Snowtown serial killer's release subject to another review

Thu 18 Jun 2026 at 11:16am

Thu 18 Jun 2026 at 11:16am

In short:

Snowtown serial killer James Vlassakis will remain in custody until another review into a decision to release him on parole is carried out.

South Australia's Parole Board granted Vlassakis release on parole last year, but he has remained behind bars pending a review of the decision.

What's next?

Newly-appointed Parole Administrative Review Commissioner David Lovell will carry out the review.

Another review will be held to decide whether Snowtown serial killer James Vlassakis should be released on parole.

Vlassakis was the youngest of four perpetrators convicted for his role in the notorious "bodies-in-the-barrels" killings, which rocked Australia at the turn of the century.

Last year, South Australia's Parole Board granted Vlassakis release on parole.

However, he has remained in custody after SA Attorney-General Kyam Maher requested a review of the decision.

Parole Administrative Review Commissioner Michael David KC later blocked Vlassakis's release, but the Court of Appeal today ruled Mr David fell into jurisdictional error.

Vlassakis will remain in custody until another review by the newly-appointed Parole Administrative Review Commissioner, former Supreme Court Justice David Lovell, is carried out.

He was jailed for life, but because he had helped convict his co-accused, John Bunting and Robert Wagner, he was given a 26-year non-parole period.

Vlassakis became involved in the serial killings through Bunting, who lived with him and his mother in Adelaide's northern suburbs.

The murders were discovered in May 1999 when SA Police found the remains of several victims in six plastic barrels hidden in an old bank vault.

He was found guilty of being involved in four of the murders, three of which were carried out when he was just 18.

Bunting and Wagner were jailed for 11 and 10 murders respectively, while accomplice Mark Ray Haydon was released into the community in 2024 after serving a 25-year sentence.

Nearly all of the murder victims were friends or family of the perpetrators.

Vlassakis's image was revealed in May after a 25-year-old suppression order was lifted by the state's Court of Appeal.

The suppression was originally imposed to protect his identity after he gave evidence against Bunting and Wagner.

Lawyers for the ABC successfully argued his protection was no longer a valid reason to shield him from the public, which the court accepted.