Canada serial killer Clifford Olson kept in prison

MONTREAL, July 19 (Reuters) Canadian serial killer Clifford Olson, serving a life sentence for murdering 11 boys and girls in the early 1980s, was denied release from prison, corrections officials said.

''Parole has been denied for the offender,'' said Nadine Archambault-Chapleau, spokeswoman for the National Parole Board.

The decision was made yesterday after a 40-minute parole hearing at a federal penitentiary northeast of Montreal.

Olson, 66, was eligible for the parole hearing after having served the mandatory 25 years of his life sentence for the murders of three girls and eight boys aged 9 to 18 in British Columbia.

He is entitled to another parole hearing in two years, but legal experts give him little chance of ever being released from prison.

Olson confessed to the murders and admitted to having tortured and raped his victims.

In a controversial deal in 1981 that shocked Canadians, Olson provided police with information of the location of his victims' bodies in return for 100,000 canadian dollars paid to his family.

Reuters DKS GC0414