Julian Knight: Hoddle St killer taken to hospital on hunger strike

Mass murderer Julian Knight has reportedly been taken from prison to a Melbourne hospital after going on a hunger strike.

The Herald Sun reports the man behind the Hoddle St massacre stopped eating and drinking after being caught with contraband and is in St Vincent’s Hospital in what is believed to be a serious condition.

Knight, 52, has been in maximum security at Port Phillip Prison in Truganina.

He was 19 when he shot dead seven people and wounded at least 19 others on a random rampage in Clifton Hill, in the city’s northeast, in August 1987.

Six of his victims were aged in their 20s and the other was a 53-year-old fork lift driver on his way to work.

According to Justice Health, the operator of Port Phillip Prison G4S Correctional Services subcontracts St Vincent’s Correctional Health Services for primary health services, outpatient health services and secondary residential mental health services at the prison.

St Vincent’s Hospital has a secure ward to treat prisoners which is not accessible by the general public.

Corrections Victoria states that an ambulance is called for prisoners in need of emergency care and they are taken to the nearest hospital emergency department.

Asked about the case of Knight, a spokeswoman told news.com.au: “Corrections Victoria does not comment on matters involving individual prisoners.”

A hospital spokeswoman told news.com.au they were unable to comment on prisoners.

Ambulance Victoria has also been contacted for any further information.

Knight has been declared a “vexatious litigant” for life, meaning he has to seek permission from a court before launching any new legal action.

He tried to get compensation in 2016 for alleged assaults while he was a cadet at The Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra in the 1980s.

The next year, he lost his final legal bid for freedom in the High Court, arguing against retrospective laws which quashed his chances at being eligible for parole in 2014.

In June this year, he reportedly flagged a complaint to the United Nations when his bid in the Supreme Court to access graphic crime scene and autopsy photos failed.

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