Australian Police

Australian Police

The Thin Blue Line – Australian Police

Articles

The Mutilator dead at 90: William MacDonald, who cut off victims’ genitalia, was NSW’s longest-serving prisoner

image_pdfimage_print

The Daily Telegraph

The Mutilator dead at 90: William MacDonald, who cut off victims’ genitalia, was NSW’s longest-serving prisoner

List of victims
List of victims

 

His victims, mostly derelicts, were stabbed dozens of times with a long-bladed knife before MacDonald would cut off their penis and testicles.

Between 1961 and 1962, MacDonald was responsible for a series of grisly murders in Sydney before being caught in Melbourne in May 1963.

Born in England, he arrived in Australia in 1955, when, soon after arriving, he was charged for touching a detective’s penis in a public toilet.

His first victim was Amos Hurst, 55, who MacDonald befriended after meeting him outside the Roma Street railway station in May 1961.

The pair began a massive drinking session and went back to Hurst’s apartment and kept drinking. Williams began to strangle Hurst and killed him with a punch to the head.

 

 

 

 

Press coverage of one of William MacDonald’s killings in Sydney.
Press coverage of one of William MacDonald’s killings in Sydney.

Police believed the drunk had died from natural causes but MacDonald fled to Sydney, where his killing spree went into overdrive.

On June 4, 1961, a man’s nude body was found at the Sydney Domain Baths. He had been stabbed more than 30 times and castrated with a long-bladed knife. MacDonald had thrown his genitalia into Sydney Harbour.

The victim, Alfred Greenfield, was approached by MacDonald while he sat on a park bench near St Vincent’s Hospital and then lured to the Domain, where they kept drinking.

His injuries caused a frenzy among the press, who nicknamed him The Mutilator.

Alfred Greenfield was killed by MacDonald, who left his body at the Domain Baths.
Alfred Greenfield was killed by MacDonald, who left his body at the Domain Baths.

Soon after, his next victim, William Cobbin, was stabbed repeatedly and mutilated in a public toilet in at Moore Park.

MacDonald severed his genitalia, placed them into a plastic bag along with his knife and departed the scene.

In March 1962, he killed Frank McLean, stabbing him in the neck in a Darlinghurst lane after a drinking session.

Undated photo of William McDonald.
Undated photo of William McDonald.
Photos and Identikit images of MacDonald.
Photos and Identikit images of MacDonald.

 

He stabbed him six times before slicing off his genitalia and put them into a plastic bag which he took home and got rid of the next day.

On June 6, 1962, MacDonald went to a bar in Pitt Street, where he befriended a 42-year-old derelict named James Hackett. Again they drank together before MacDonald stabbed him in the neck, then after a struggle stabbed him in the heart. His body was not found for three weeks.

After this murder he fled for a while to Brisbane and New Zealand but returned to Sydney, where a workmate came suspicious about him and went to police, who in turn released the story to the Daily Mirror.

Newspaper coverage of William MacDonald’s trial in 1963.
Newspaper coverage of William MacDonald’s trial in 1963.

MacDonald had fled to Melbourne but was arrested at the railway station where he was working as a porter.

When questioned, MacDonald admitted to the killings, saying he had an irresistible urge to kill after he was raped as a teenager in England.

MacDonald was imprisoned at Long Bay Hospital and was soon certified as insane and transferred to a secure mental hospital.

 

 

Detective William Arthur HARRIS, NSWPF, also investigated these murders.

 

 

 

 

[divider_dotted]

One thought on “The Mutilator dead at 90: William MacDonald, who cut off victims’ genitalia, was NSW’s longest-serving prisoner

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *