A COUNTY Durham man who was travelling in Australia in the 1980s believes he was almost murdered by the notorious “backpacker killer”.

Construction worker Colin Powis, now 57, has told of his encounter with a man he now believes was the killer Ivan Milat, who is in prison after being convicted of the murders of seven young backpackers in 1996.

The bodies of his victims, including 22-year-old Caroline Clarke, from Slaley, near Corbridge, Northumberland, were found in the Belanglo Forest, south of Sydney, between 1989 and 1993.

Mr Powis, who arrived in Australia in January 1982, says he only made the connection between the man he met while hitch hiking in the Blue Mountains, and Milat after watching a documentary about the killer last year.

He had only been in the country for a couple of days and was travelling from Katoomba, near Sydney, to Cobar, where he was hoping to get a job in the mines, when he was picked up by the man he now thinks was Milat.

He said: “I had hitchhiked a lot so I was experienced. The first thing he said was ‘how long have you been in Australia’ and he asked ‘who knows you’re here?’

“Right away that was a warning sign.

“But he wasn’t very big and when I was 21 I was big and strong, and I was a boxer.

“I thought what he had on his mind was attempted robbery. It didn’t occur to me it was attempted murder.”

After picking him up, the man drove 30 miles before turning off onto a dirt track because he said he wanted to check his traps, before offering to show Mr Powis some “real Aussie wildlife.”

When he said he did not want to, the man slammed on the breaks, before getting out and racing around the car while Mr Powis got his pack from the back seat.

He said: “There was a hammer in the back and I think he must have grabbed it. I remember reaching into the truck to get my backpack out and thinking he was going to hit me, though I didn’t know he had a weapon.

“But at that moment the traffic lights at the top of the hill changed and about 20 cars came down.

I can remember him looking at me but because we were in view of the traffic it gave me time to get my backpack and get away.

“When I looked back he was lounging against the truck and he said to have a safe trip. That was the last time I saw him.”

He became sure the man he met was Milat after watching a re-enactment of British backpacker Paul Onion’s encounter with him.

He said: “It was verbatim of my experience.”

He added: “It’s opened a whole can of worms with regards to missing people. If he tried to murder me eight years before the backpacker murders, what was he doing in between?

“When I ran into him he was confident and bold, it wasn’t his first time. I’m absolutely confident of that.”