WAS THIS AUSTRALIA'S FIRST SERIAL KILLER?

WILLIAM MACDONALD TOOK MORE THAN ONE LIFE

- By Emma Levett

It was the summer of 1962 in Darlinghurst, Sydney, but instead of the city streets being full of happily intoxicated people, wandering home from a night at the pub, it was silent.

Men, particularly, did not want to be out alone after dark because a predator, known as 'The Mutilator', was terrorising the area.

It was the first time Australia had experienced a Jack the Ripper-style serial killer and, understandably, people were on edge.

The first murder occurred on June 4, 1961. The nude body of Alfred Greenfield was discovered in a Sydney toilet block. He had been viciously stabbed and mutilated. Two more male victims followed with identical injuries - Ernest Cobbin and Frank McLean. A fourth body, that of shopkeeper Alan Brennan, was found in his own store but initially wasn't connected. It was only months later, when a former colleague ran into Brennan, who was very much alive, that the puzzle started slotting into place.