Breaking: Snowtown killer wins parole
A decision has been made on the freedom of one of South Australia’s most notorious serial killers.
The Parole Administrative Review Commissioner has today determined that Snowtown serial killer James Vlassakis has been granted conditional parole.
His decision means Vlassakis – who pleaded guilty to four of the 11 ‘bodies in the barrel’ murders between 1992 and 1999 – can be released from jail.
Vlassakis was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 26 years back in July 2002. He was a key prosecution witness against John Bunting and Robert Wagner, who were found guilty of 11 and 10 murders respectively.
The Parole Board of SA resolved in August 2025 to order that Vlassakis be released on conditional parole but SA Attorney-General Kyam Maher applied for a review of the Parole Board’s decision last October.
The then Parole Administrative Review Commissioner Michael David KC conducted a hearing of the review proceedings in December 2025, and later that month overturned the Parole Board’s decision.
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In January of this year, that decision was challenged and the Attorney-General’s application was sent to the Commissioner for further consideration and determination.
Parole Administrative Review Commissioner David Cameron Lovell was appointed on January 15, 2026.
Lovell conducted a further hearing of the review proceedings.
Today, he announced he dismissed the AG’s application and affirmed the August 2025 decision.
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“I am satisfied that it was reasonably open to the Board to reach the conclusion it did,” Lovell wrote in his determination, released today.
“I dismiss the Attorney-General’s application and affirm the decision of the Parole Board…. To release Mr James Spyridon Vlassakis on parole…”
Vlassakis was involved in the infamous 1990s Adelaide serial killings, where eight victims were found dismembered in barrels inside a Snowtown bank vault in 1999.
A fourth person – Mark Haydon – was convicted of helping to dispose of the bodies. He was released on parole in 2024 to live in the community under strict supervision.
Vlassakis was 18 when he became involved in the killings in 1998. He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 26 years, which expired in August 2025.
Maher was contacted for comment.
More to come…
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