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Wrong man jailed for Milat crime

Ivan Milat, linked to unknown killing.

An unknown early victim of Ivan Milat - believed to be his first - has been uncovered more than half a century after the wrong man went to jail for the crime.

An extensive joint investigation between The Weekend West and Channel Seven's Sunday Night has unearthed the truth behind the brutal attack, which occurred years before the backpacker murders.

Police had no idea at the time that Milat was responsible.

Instead, another man was arrested and jailed for the crime and the case was closed.

That innocent man unwittingly took the fall for a cold-blooded and tragic shooting which featured signature characteristics of the later backpacker murders and which shaped the man who would become Australia's most notorious serial killer.

Until he was contacted by Sunday Night, the man who went to jail had no idea he had done time for Milat's first violent crime.

The six-month investigation is backed by historic evidence and an extraordinary interview with Ivan Milat's elder brother, Boris, who agreed to break his five- decade long silence about the shooting to confirm what the investigation had uncovered.

He also comes face to face with the innocent man who went to jail for Milat's crime.

The daughter of the victim, who had grown up believing another man was responsible, said she was stunned to discover her father was Milat's first attempted "thrill kill".

"It's like growing up knowing the sky is blue and suddenly discover it has actually been red all this time," the victim's daughter says.

"If this man had been taken off the streets, life would have been very different."

Senior police who were part of Task Force Air - which was set up to investigate the backpacker murders and ultimately caught Milat - have been shown the evidence by _The Weekend West _and Sunday Night.

Lead investigator Clive Small said it was the first he had heard of the crime but he was convinced by the evidence.

He said the attack bore remarkable similarities to Milat's later backpacker murders and the fact Milat had got away with it would have shaped the killer he would become.

Ivan Milat is serving seven consecutive life sentences plus 18 years without parole for the brutal murder of seven backpackers and the abduction of another.

Their bodies were found in the Belanglo State Forest between 1992 and1993.

Former detective Paul Gordon, who investigated and arrested Milat, has long believed he was guilty of more than the seven murders.