Mr Cruel

Mr Cruel is the moniker for an unidentified Australian serial child rapist who attacked three girls in the northern and eastern suburbs of Melbourne in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is also the prime suspect in the 1991 abduction and murder of a fourth girl, Karmein Chan. His moniker came from a headline in the Melbourne newspaper The Sun.

Mr Cruel has never been identified, and his three confirmed attacks and the suspected murder remain unsolved cold cases. There is a reward of A$200,000 for information that leads to the perpetrator's arrest and conviction for the two abductions. In April 2016, twenty-five years after the death of Chan, Victoria Police increased the reward for information that leads to the perpetrator's arrest and conviction, from A$100,000 to A$1,000,000.

Police describe Mr Cruel as highly intelligent. He meticulously planned each attack, conducted surveillance on the victims and their families, ensured he left no forensic traces, protected his identity by covering his face at all times and left red herrings to divert family and/or police attention. He was soft-spoken, and his behaviour was unhurried; during one attack he took a break in a victim's house to eat a meal. He threatened to injure his victims or their family members with a knife or a handgun.