{"id":920349,"date":"2026-10-08T07:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T07:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/920349\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T07:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T07:16:11","slug":"snowtown-serial-killer-james-vlassakis-walks-out-of-adelaide-pre-release-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/920349\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowtown serial killer James Vlassakis walks out of Adelaide Pre-release Centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Snowtown murderer James Spyridon Vlassakis has been filmed leaving the Adelaide Pre-release Centre after having his parole confirmed almost a month ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The decision to release the so-called “bodies in the barrels” killer, following the completion of his non-parole period, was upheld in September <\/a>after the South Australian government attempted to block it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 46-year-old moved from a South Australian prison to the pre-release centre in Adelaide’s northern suburbs last month.<\/p>\n

The Adelaide Pre-release Centre is located alongside Yatala Labour Prison in the northern suburbs, and allows prisoners to “transition from custody to the community”.<\/p>\n

Vlassakis will live at the centre for up to 12 months while the Parole Board monitors his progress and decides what conditions he will need to comply with once he is released into the community.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

James Vlassakis’s parole was approved in September. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Vlassakis walked through the centre’s car park with another man, before both getting into a white car and driving off.<\/p>\n

He was seen later in the morning returning to the pre-release centre. He did not respond to questions from reporters.<\/p>\n

He was the youngest of the four perpetrators involved in the Snowtown serial killings between 1992 and 1999.<\/p>\n

Vlassakis was handed a life sentence with a non-parole period of 26 years for his involvement in the murders of Fred Brooks, Gary O’Dwyer, David Johnson and his half-brother Troy Youde.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

James Vlassakis was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 26 years. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Last year, his parole was approved by the SA Parole Board but the SA government sought a review of that decision.<\/p>\n

The Parole Administrative Review Commissioner found the Attorney-General failed to establish that reasons exist to overturn the decision<\/a> of the board.<\/p>\n

Parole Board chair Frances Nelson KC previously said Vlassakis would be subject to the “standard conditions” of parole<\/a>, including a curfew, restricted movements as well as drug and alcohol testing.<\/p>\n

“He can’t leave the state without Parole Board permission, he can’t contact any of the victims’ families, there are some geographical exclusion areas where he cannot go because of proximity of victims’ families,” she said in September.<\/p>\n

“He is liable to random drug and alcohol testing, he must obey the conditions at the pre-release centre [and] he’ll be sent off for psychological intervention.”<\/p>\n

Ms Nelson today confirmed Vlassakis’s parole conditions prevented him from speaking to the media.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

James Vlassakis has been living at the Adelaide Pre-release Centre while on parole. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

In a statement, a government spokesperson said Vlassakis “remains a life-sentenced offender” who would be “subject to strict conditions for the remainder of his life”.<\/p>\n

“Any breach of those conditions could result in Mr Vlassakis being returned to custody,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the government’s focus was ensuring conditions were in place to ensure the safety of the community.<\/p>\n

“Our thoughts firmly remain with the families of the victims, who have lived with the consequences of these terrible crimes for more than two decades,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Snowtown murderer James Spyridon Vlassakis has been filmed leaving the Adelaide Pre-release Centre after having his parole confirmed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":920350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[39107,220362,43,39104,39111,44,139583,39106,488299,27643,39112,39117,488298,40691,40692,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-920349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-bodies-in-the-barrels","tag-correctional-services","tag-headlines","tag-james-vlassakis","tag-john-bunting","tag-news","tag-parole","tag-parole-board","tag-pre-release-centre","tag-release","tag-robert-wagner","tag-serial-killings","tag-serial-murders","tag-snowtown","tag-snowtown-murders","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/920350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}