Supervision order for Snowtown murders accomplice

Snowtown murders accomplice Mark Ray Haydon will be released from prison under supervision. (Rob Hutchison/AAP PHOTOS)

An interim supervision order has been imposed on Snowtown murders accomplice Mark Ray Haydon, before his prison sentence expires next week.

In the South Australian Supreme Court on Wednesday, lawyers for Haydon, 65, did not oppose an application for the interim order by the state government.

The government applied to have Haydon declared a high-risk offender with ongoing conditions when his sentence ends on May 21.

Snowtown's former State Bank building (file image)
The bodies of eight victims were found in plastic barrels in the vault of a disused bank.

But a report on his mental health relevant to that application will not be ready before June or July.

Haydon was set to be released without supervision after spending a quarter of a century behind bars for his role in the gruesome South Australian murder spree that resulted in the deaths of 12 victims, including his wife Elizabeth.

Her body and seven others were found in plastic barrels in the vault of a disused bank in Snowtown, north of Adelaide, in May 1999.

The SA parole board granted Haydon's parole in February, saying he was well-behaved during his years in custody.

He was moved to the Adelaide Pre-release Centre and has been allowed into the community on day release.

Robert Wagner in handcuffs (file image)
Robert Joe Wagner (in handcuffs) is one of two men serving a life sentence for the Snowtown murders.

The interim order imposes conditions modelled on Haydon's parole order, including living at an approved address, reporting weekly to a community corrections officer, abstaining from alcohol and illegal drugs, not contacting victims or their families, not communicating with the media or co-offenders, and undertaking recommended treatment after a psychological assessment.

Haydon must also wear an electronic transmitter and adhere to a 9pm-6am curfew.

Asked on Wednesday by Justice Tim Stanley if he understood the conditions, Haydon replied: "Ah yes, I do."

The matter will return to court when the mental health report is available.

John Bunting and Robert Wagner were found guilty of the murders in 2003. Both are serving life sentences with no chance of parole.

Haydon was found to have assisted his friends cover up their crimes by storing the bodies of murder victims in barrels in his shed, and later renting the infamous Snowtown bank.

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