Victoria's parole board has rejected Melbourne serial killer Paul Denyer's bid for freedom, three decades after he brutally murdered three women in the city's south-east.
Brian Russell, the father of Denyer's final victim, 17-year-old Natalie Russell, told the ABC he was called by the justice department on Wednesday and told of the parole board's decision, adding his reaction was one of "relief".
"We've been on tenterhooks for some time now, hoping that this would be the outcome," Mr Russell said.
Mr Russell said he and Natalie's mother, Carmel, would like to see the laws changed so that Denyer could no longer apply for parole, offering greater peace of mind to the families of his victims.
"The key would just be thrown away and no more applications for parole," he said.
"But this is still a terrific outcome as far as I'm concerned."
In December 1993, Denyer was sentenced to three life sentences after pleading guilty to the murders of Ms Russell, Elizabeth Stevens and Debbie Fream, all committed in the Frankston area during a seven-week period earlier that year.
Denyer abducted Ms Stevens, 18, from a bus stop in Langwarrin in June, discarding her body in a nearby park, where it was found the next morning. She had been stabbed, strangled and beaten.
A month later, Denyer tried to abduct a 41-year-old bank clerk who was making her way home after work, but the woman managed to escape and flag down a passing car.
Later that night, Ms Fream, 22, left her infant son at home with a friend while she drove to shops near her Seaford home to buy milk, but never returned. Her body was found in a field in nearby Carrum Downs four days later. Like Ms Stevens, she had been strangled, and had her throat cut.
Denyer later told police that he had hidden in the back seat of Ms Fream's car while she was in a shop, ambushing her when she returned to the car.
Denyer murdered Ms Russell 18 days later while she was walking home from school, again stabbing and strangling her, but police were able to gather crucial DNA evidence from her body.
A postal worker had seen a man sitting in his car looking through a pair of binoculars near the scene and at the time of Ms Russell's abduction. The woman saw the man follow Ms Russell down a track and called the police, who came and noted the registration number at the time.
After Ms Russell's body was found, police checked the registration and found it was linked to Denyer, whose car had also been seen near where Ms Fream's body was found.
When investigators confronted Denyer, they also noticed cuts on his hands. Police wanted to take a DNA sample from Denyer, and suspecting that the DNA test would prove his guilt, he confessed to the three murders.
Denyer expressed no remorse over 'horrendous conduct'
At Denyer's sentencing, Supreme Court Justice Frank Vincent described the murders as "almost beyond comprehension".
"The commission of the crime of murder, for practical purposes the most serious offence known to law, is also a matter of deep concern to our society," Justice Vincent said.
"It almost trivialises your horrendous conduct to state that what you did on each occasion constituted a serious example of that most serious crime.
"I suspect that you will never fully comprehend why this should be so as, for reasons which we do not understand, in an important sense you are not one of us."
Justice Vincent said Denyer was assessed as having a "sadistic personality disorder" which was probably untreatable. He also noted Denyer had expressed no remorse, and ultimately refused to set a non-parole period.
The Court of Appeal overturned Justice Vincent's decision and imposed a minimum sentence of 30 years.
Ten years into his sentence, it was revealed that Denyer had begun identifying as a woman and was demanding the right to gender reassignment surgery, a request that was denied by authorities.
