'I am the prime suspect, and it's s***': Murder suspect's fresh denials

Steven Hainsworth says police have got the wrong "number one suspect" and he's innocent. Photo / Jason Edwards/ NewsCorp

A suspect in three separate murder cases in South Australia has again proclaimed his innocence, and while his daughter says he may be "capable of murder", she doesn't believe he did it.

Steven Hainsworth renewed his denials of having anything to do with killing two grandmothers and a pensioner over a 13-year period when he appeared on A Current Affair on Monday night.

"I'm not responsible for any murder or anything," he said.

"I'm not guilty. And I want the person responsible brought to justice … to get the monkey off my back.

"It's a big monkey. And it's killing me."

The murders of Beverley Hanley, Stephen Newton and Phyllis Harrison and have been linked after police received fresh forensic evidence.

Hainsworth said he was the prime suspect for the three killings when late last month, South Australian police said they had uncovered fresh forensic evidence that linked the three murders for the first time.

Phyllis Harrison, 71, was found dead with multiple stab wounds and her Elizabeth South home ransacked in 1998, while 64-year-old Beverley Hanley suffered severe head injuries and her handbag was stolen from her Elizabeth North property in 2010.

A range of items including a TV, DVDs and computer games were missing from Stephen Newtown's Mount Gambier unit after he was found dead and covered in rubbish in 2011.

The three deaths remain unsolved.

Hainsworth's daughter, Angel, told ACA her father had " a very violent past".

"I say that he could be capable of murder because his violence that he's had in the past," she said.

But she believes he is innocent of the three crimes he says police have linked him to through new forensic evidence.

"I think that he probably could be capable of murder, but not to old people or someone that's completely innocent, like family members," she said.

Hainsworth told ACA police were looking at the wrong man for the three murders.

"I am the prime suspect, and it's sh*t," he said.

Hainsworth said it was "coincidence" that he knew two of the murder victims, and lived within 10 minutes of all of them.

"I lived next door to one, the other bloke I didn't know. One of them was my aunty," he said.

Police have DNA associated with the murders, but Hainsworth said if it was his DNA "I wouldn't be standing here right now".

He challenged South Australian police to "come and arrest me".

South Australia Police's Des Bray said police would catch up with the person who murdered two grandmothers and an invalid pensioner: "the reality is we need to build a strong case".

Hainsworth, currently "couch surfing" at a friend's place in Mildura, confirmed he had been on the wrong side of the law in the past — including time in jail — but said "I'm not dangerous".

He said among his priors were theft, assault, aggravated assault, drink-driving and receiving stolen goods — crimes that had "unfortunately" seen him in jail "five or six" times, the most recent stint for 18 months.