John Travers

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John Raymond Travers (born February 27, 1967) is an Australian murderer. He was sentenced to life imprisonment along with four others in his gang, for the 1986 murder of Anita Cobby in New South Wales.

The oldest of eight children, Travers had a history of violence and was considered the ringleader of the gang of attackers responsible for the murder.

[edit] Overview

John Travers was raised in Mount Druitt, a suburb of Blacktown (in Sydney) which had a high rate of unemployment at the time.

He was caught smoking marijuana at the age of 13, and by 14 was an alcoholic. He had a reputation for extreme violence and often carried a knife. A series of further criminal activities during his teenage years were often reprimanded by local police and courts.

Travers was expelled from high school during Year 10 for being continually disruptive to other students. Beyond schooling he held very few jobs and preferred to claim unemployment benefits to provide means for an income.

He was eventually committed to Boys Town, a juvenile detention facility, by his mother. His father, with whom he never shared a close relationship, left the household in 1981, leaving Travers as the head of the family. Finding it difficult to support the family, Travers relied on crime to provide food, stealing animals such as chickens and ducks from nearby households.

The health of Travers' mother eventually deteriorated, and he and his siblings were sent to live with foster families while she was hospitalised.

Travers was also known to display cruelty to animals from an early age, a common trait of serial killers. A zoosadist, he was known to have had sexual intercourse with animals he had stolen before slitting their throats.

Travers has a distinctive teardrop tattoo under his left eye.