A British tourist has spoken of the moment he was nearly murdered by backpacker killer Ivan Milat.
Colin Powis from Newcastle in the UK was 21 years old when he first came to Australia in 1982, hoping to travel and work.
After spending two nights in the Blue Mountains, Mr Powis made the ill-fated decision to hitchhike towards the town of Cobar, to work in the mines.
Eventually a man driving a pickup truck stopped and offered Mr Powis a lift - a man Mr Powis has now identified as Milat.
'That was him. That was definitely the creep who picked me up, but he wasn't smiling. He wasn't smiling. He never smiled, the whole time that I saw... that I saw him. Never smiled. He was in predatory mode when I saw him,' Mr Powis told Sunday Night
Mr Powis said when he was loading his backpack he noticed the vehicle was bare besides for 'one large hammer' in the corner of the truck.
Colin Powis (pictured), from Newcastle in the UK, was 21 years old when he first came to Australia in 1982 hoping to travel and seek work
Milat (pictured) failed to admit to any of the heinous crimes he'd committed - despite being found guilty of killing seven backpackers between 1989 and 1993
As soon as he set foot in the truck Milat's persona changed. He became agitated and told Mr Powis to put on his seat-belt and lock the doors.
Obediently Mr Powis complied, and the conversation turned to his travels.
'The first thing [he said was] "How long have you been in Australia?" [and] "Who knows you're here?",' Mr Powis recounted.
He said he told Milat he'd only been in the country for a matter of days and didn't know anyone in Australia.
After that Milat stayed silent for a while before taking a left turn for 'no apparent' reason - a decision that panicked Mr Powis.
Mr Powis became so suspicious of Milat's intentions that he asked to get out of the pickup truck.
In spite of his request Milat continued to drive on, before eventually stopping and allowing Mr Powis jumped out of the vehicle.
He said Milat followed him out of the car, and until this day Mr Powis believes he was saved from harms way because cars continued to drive past.
The former road worker (pictured) was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences with a non-parole period of 18 years
Mr Powis said he managed to walk away while Milat, who was unable to act because of the passing cars, watched him walk away and shouted: 'look after yourself mate'.
'I think with Milat, I think he saw backpackers [in a] hillbilly world, backpackers were a form of exotic wildlife that migrated through his territory, and he could just go out and kill [them] for fun. He saw backpackers as, like, stray dogs,' Mr Powis said.
But Mr Powis never reported the incident to the police.
After hearing Mr Powis' powerful testimony the news program also attempted to speak to Milat's lovechild Lynise Milat.
Ms Milat (pictured), who is the result of an affair Milat had with his brother Boris' wife Marilyn, refused to answer any
