Canadian serial killer 'cannibal' who murdered at least 26 women and fed them to his pigs is now eligible to apply for PAROLE, outraging stricken relatives of his victims

Canadian prison officials are under fire as the nation's most notorious serial killer has become eligible for parole.

The outraged families of the victims of Robert Pickton, now in his 70s, say they are 'disgusted' by the fact he has aged into parole eligibility, despite killing at least 26 women on his pig farm. 

He was jailed for life without the possibility of parole for 25 years in 2007. But a Canadian law means prison sentences can only be served concurrently - at the same time - rather than consecutively - one after the other. That means Pickton is now eligible to apply for day parole and can apply for full parole from 2027.

He can apply once every two years, although the gravity of his crimes means that it's unlikely any parole board will ever free him.  

Prosecutors claim he confessed to as many as 49 murders to an undercover cop posing as a cellmate, and once quipped that he wanted to kill another woman to make it an 'even fifty.'

Palexelsiya Lorelei Williams, the cousin of victim Tanya Holyk, told Global News CA that his potential parole makes her feel 'sick to my stomach.'

Robert Pickton, a pig farmer, made international headlines in 2002 when a search warrant on his farm led to the discovery of dozens of murders 

The killer and serial rapist is known to have killed at least 26 women, although prosecutors say he confessed to 49 - and once quipped that he wanted to kill another woman to make it an 'even fifty' 

The families of Pickton's victims (pictured) have expressed their outrage at his parole eligibility, with one saying the ongoing case 'makes me sick to my stomach' 

Pickton, also known as 'The Butcher' and the 'Pig Farmer Killer', is yet to send a request for a parole hearing, and it is expected that he would be denied if he did so.

But the mere fact that he is able to request a hearing sparked severe backlash in Canada, with Pierre Poilevre, the leading rival to PM Justin Trudeau, slamming the nation's prison system in response. 

'Common sense Conservatives believe that mass murderers should face consecutive sentences so they only come out of jail in a box,' he said on X. 

Pickton made international headlines in February 2002 when Canadian police issued a search warrant on his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia for firearms offenses - only to find he had carried out far more grisly crimes. 

Inspectors found items belonging to numerous missing women in the BC area, and after an excavation of the farm that cost over $70 million, they discovered evidence of dozens of murders. 

He was quickly charged with the murders of 26 women, with the true number feared to be even higher. 

Identifying all the remains became complicated as detectives came to fear Pickton had cannibalized some of his victims. 

In 2004, two years after the first search, prosecutors revealed Pickton may have ground up his victims and mixed it into the pork products from his farm that he then sold to customers. 

Investigators are seen at Pickton's pig farm in British Columbia, Canada in April 2002, part of a year-long, $70 million excavation of the property that turned up horrific evidence of murders 

Forensic workers collect evidence at Pickton's pig farm in 2002

Pickton ran a pig farm, and may have ground up his victims and mixed it into the pork products from his farm that he then sold to customers

Pickton seen under questioning. Although he was only convicted of six murders, and another twenty were stayed, cops said he confessed to an undercover officer that he killed as many as 49 

The day before he became eligible for parole, grieving members of his victims' families gathered at the site of his former pig farm to protest the parole and pay tribute to his victims. 

The families had a candlelight vigil and hung red dresses in memory of their loved ones. 

Williams, who became an advocate for missing Indigenous women after her cousin's murder, said the fact that Pickton is eligible and back in the spotlight is 'disgusting.'

'Our justice system is horrific. It’s racist and puts Indigenous women’s lives in danger,' she said. 'It makes me sick to my stomach.' 

She added that the chance of his parole came as a surprise as officials didn't tell her, and 'the other families that I'm close to also didn't know.' 

Stephanie Lane, the mother of victim Michele Pineault, said at the vigil that her 'heart is aching' at the re-emergence of the case. 

'My daughter does not get day parole. She’s been gone for 27 years now,' she said. 

'He’s an evil, evil, evil man. He doesn’t belong even on this Earth. He needs to just stay where he is until the day he dies.'  

The day before Pickton became eligible for parole, the families had a candlelight vigil and hung red dresses in memory of their loved ones 

The families paid tribute to their lost relatives, and shared their outrage at Pickton's eligibility for parole. One branded him an 'evil, evil, evil man', and called for the serial killer to 'just stay where he is until the day he dies' 

Michelle Pineault brings flowers to remember her daughter Stephanie Lane, one of the victims of the serial killer 

The expensive search through Pickton's farm has also become a point of contention in recent months.

Over 200,000 exhibits were seized from the farm, including three freezers with over 400 meat products - some of which contained 'unknown samples' feared to be part-human. 

In total, the remains or DNA of 33 women were found on his farm, however their families are fighting attempts by officials to destroy or return around 14,000 exhibits in the case. 

Sasha Reid, a developmental psychologist and the creator of a database of Canada’s unresolved cases of missing and murdered people, told Global News CA that there has been a disturbing lack of involvement with the victims' families in consulting on destroying the evidence. 

'This was an application that potentially connects to human remains and human materials,' she said. 

'I think given the amount of stress the family has been under, the amount of lies they’ve been told, the lack of information they have access to — this is something that at the very least, they should have been informed about.' 

Staff Sgt. Kris Clark of the BC. RCMP responded that the exhibits were needed to be destroyed as they were 'rapidly depreciating and non-evidentiary.' 

'As well as for sanitary reasons, our need to dispose of the items was more immediate than what it would normally take to get a Disposal Order; these reasons factored into our decision to proceed Ex Parte,' he said. 

'In order to be as transparent as possible given our time constraints, we did not seal the application and made no attempts to hide it from the public.' 

Williams slammed the process as it lingers on over two dozen years after Pickton's arrest, saying: 'It’s just been horrible to go through this and it just shows how the system is.'

'These things come in huge waves and it’s weird to say this, but I’m kind of normalizing it … I don’t get shocked when these things come out from the RCMP or the government,' she added.  

At the prospect of Pickton having a parole hearing, Williams said she and other victim families would want to attend the hearings to have their say.

'I for sure would want to be there in person and I would have to prepare myself for that,' she said.