- Convicted Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked on Sunday
- He was taken to hospital in critical condition, authorities said
Convicted Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton — dubbed the “worst serial killer in history” — was attacked in prison and taken to hospital in life-threatening condition, authorities announced Tuesday.
Pickton, 74, brought dozens of female victims to his pig farm outside Vancouver in the 1990s and early 2000s, where he brutally murdered them and fed them to his pigs. He has confessed to killing a total of 49 women.
After years of investigation by local police, he was convicted of six counts of manslaughter in 2007 and given a life sentence with a maximum parole period of 25 years – the harshest sentence that can be handed out in Canada.
After initial reports of the attack, Quebec police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu said a 51-year-old inmate was in custody for the attack, which took place on Sunday.
In the yearlong investigation that ultimately led to Pickton’s arrest and conviction, authorities discovered the remains or DNA of 33 women at the killer’s pig farm in Port Coquitlam.
Convicted serial killer Robert Pickton is in critical condition after being attacked in prison on Sunday. He is known for brutally murdering possibly dozens of women in the Vancouver area over a twenty-year period and feeding his victims to his pigs.
Prosecutors also alleged that Pickton told an undercover officer in his jail cell that he had killed 49 women and planned to kill “just 50.”
Most of the women were prostitutes or drug users, whom Pickton picked up in Vancouver’s Downtown East – police were criticized at the time for not taking the disappearance of dozens of women more seriously due to their marginal position in society.
Evidence presented in court indicated that Pickton fed his victims directly to his pigs and likely ground up some human flesh to mix with the pork he sold to the public.
The Canadian Correctional Service announced Monday that an inmate had been sent to hospital after a serious assault at the Port-Cartier Institution, a maximum security prison 300 miles outside Quebec.
The Correctional Service added Tuesday that no prison staff was involved in the attack and confirmed the victim was Pickton.
Provincial police said the serial killer’s injuries were considered life-threatening.
Six of Pickton’s confirmed victims – there may have been dozens – are Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey.
Now convicted murderer Robert Pickton is shown notes during his trial almost twenty years ago. He was eventually convicted of six murder charges in 2007
Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators move debris at a pig farm on February 19, 2002 in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. The farm for 50 missing women from downtown Vancouver is currently under investigation
Pickton and his brother operated a drinking club frequented by bikers and prostitutes near their pig farm outside Vancouver
Dozens of women Pickton, now 74, is suspected of murdering during his decades of murderous violence
Forensic investigators gather evidence at Canada’s largest crime scene, at mass murderer Robert Pickton’s pig farm, in the early 2000s
In April, a dozen Vancouver mayors sent a letter to the federal justice minister asking that Pickton not be granted day parole, for which he is currently eligible. He will also be able to be released on full parole in 2027.
No other updates on Pickton’s current condition have been made public.