‘60s teenage stabbing figure dead

THE MAN behind a killing that shook Geelong in the mid-1960s has died.
Philip George Batty’s brutal, mysterious crime left Geelong parents fearing for their children and kids cowering in their beds at night.
Russell Rushton, 14, of Herne Hill, was last seen alive on May 13, 1966 when he left home after school to watch trains near Geelong Cement at Fyansford.
Three schoolgirls found his body 10 days later near the Moorabool River.
Russell Rushton had been stabbed more than 20 times in a crime Chief Justice Sir Henry Winnecke described as “almost inexplicable”.
Batty, then a 14-year-old of Herne Hill, pleaded guilty to manslaughter following an argument that, the Criminal Court heard, started over Batty being allowed to drive “Puffing Billy steam engine trains” trains at the cement quarry.
Batty’s bail was earlier revoked after the court heard the sight of him still at large was distressing the victim’s motherge.
The court heard other parents feared for the children and that some children were scared to go to bed, fearing the then-alleged killer might still be on the loose.
“The first stab could well have been done in an act of self-defence. Nevertheless, there are some 21 to 22 other stab wounds inflicted with such brutality and uncontrolled violence that we must look to the inner recesses of the mind to search for an explanation,” Batty’s lawyer told the court.
Batty was sentenced to 10 years jail, with a minimum of six.
He died last week aged 60.
His family declined to comment.