Presentazione

da "www.news.com.au"

August 23, 2009
 
ONE of the South Australia's most notorious killers is using a prisoners' lonely-hearts website to find female pen pals.

Convicted murderer Kevin Matthews, who is serving a 30-year sentence for the 2001 murder of his wife, Carolyn, claims he is "very respectful and an honest person" in one entry on the website, LostVault.com.

He also protests he is innocent of the shocking contract killing of his wife and says he has "not given up on proving my innocence in the future".

His comments on the website have outraged the State Government, prompting Correctional Services Minister Tom Koutsantonis to write to its operator demanding it axe the offending pages from the site.

After being alerted to it on Thursday by the Sunday Mail, the Correctional Services Department launched an immediate investigation to determine how Matthews established the entries on LostVault.com, complete with photographs of him taken inside Port Augusta prison.

It has also initiated an immediate review of a long-standing practice - that may now be scrapped - where prison officers take photographs of inmates for them to give to family and friends.

Matthews had two entries on the site; one in which he protested his innocence was removed on Friday after Mr Koutsantonis faxed a letter to the Tennessee-based website owner.

The use of the photographs has upset the family of Carolyn Matthews. Her brother, Peter Tidswell, has demanded to know how it was allowed to take place.

"I would be interested in finding out how that happened," he said.

"That is certainly wrong, it is a concern.

"It should be dealt with by the appropriate authorities.

"That's certainly not right the way that's happening. It should not be happening in any prisons."

An outraged Mr Koutsantonis said it was inappropriate for prisoners to have access to such websites and called on their operators to act more responsibly.

I was disgusted that a website would deem it appropriate to humiliate the memory of the victim and to antagonise the victims' families that are left behind, given the brutal nature of this murder and his conviction," he said.

"I immediately wrote to the website . . . given how inappropriate and disturbing it is to the victims.

"I think organisations like websites have to have a greater sense of social responsibility, no matter where they are around the world.

"This is completely abhorrent and unfair to the victims that are left behind. Our major concern has always been that we put the interests of the victims first and we do not want in any way victims having to re-live what happened to them over and over again by prisoners resuming a normal life behind bars. That will not be happening".

Mr Koutsantonis said that while he had ordered a review into the practice of prison officers taking inmates' photographs for them to give to family and friends, he believed those who received such photographs should behave responsibly.

"I am deeply disappointed someone would do something as stupid and as insensitive as putting this convicted murderer's face on a website given the nature of his crime," he said.

While difficult to police because the content was uploaded by a third party, he said the department would not allow any prisoner to be involved "in any social networking with people outside" of their facility.

Correctional Services chief executive officer Peter Severin said investigations had already established Matthews did not use the internet at Port Augusta prison to access the website.

He had provided the content and photographs to a friend, who had posted two entries on the site. "While I have limited opportunity to control what third parties put on the web, I want to make sure that what we can control we are going to do as best as possible," he said.

Mr Severin said he did not believe it was "appropriate at all" for prisoners to be using social networking sites to find pen pals.

"Prisoners are here to serve their sentence," he said. "They can obviously communicate with people we approve of, I don't consider it appropriate for prisoners to put their biographies and distorted information on websites for the world to see and encourage people to communicate with them," he said.

Mr Tidswell, who said he had no desire to view the website, was more concerned about Matthews' photographs than his comments on the site.

"It sounds like all the stuff we have heard from him before, 90 per cent of the blokes in prison reckon they are innocent, don't they?" he said.

"Protesting using a website of that nature isn't going to get you anywhere anyway.

"It's just an avenue he has found on which he can express his view to the public to try and manipulate. That's the way he has been from day one, really.

"He has lied through his teeth all the way along."

Matthews, 48, was convicted in April 2004 of the murder of his wife Carolyn at their West Lakes home in July, 2001.

Matthews' lover Michelle Burgess, 35, was also convicted of her murder and the pair received a life sentence with a 30-year non-parole period - effectively the longest sentences for murder in the state's history.

A third person, David Key - also a lover of Burgess - was convicted of murder and received a life sentence with a 20-year non-parole period.

During their trial, the Supreme Court heard Key had demanded $50,000 to kill Mrs Matthews and Burgess's husband Darren.

Carolyn Matthews was confronted in her West Lakes home by Burgess and Key after Kevin Matthews had taken his three young sons to a nearby video store.

When they returned after a 15-minute absence, Mrs Matthews' body was found in the kitchen, where she had been stabbed to death by Key