Making a Murderer: Steven Avery is 'not innocent', says ex-fiancee Jodi Stachowski

Ms Stachowski said Avery believed all women 'owed' him over his previous wrongful conviction for rape

Steven Avery had filed a $36m civil suit against Manitowoc County sheriff's office at the time of his arrest in 2005 (AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS)

The ex-fiancee of Steven Avery - the subject of Netflix's true crime series Making a Murderer - has said he is guilty.

Jodi Stachowski has given an interview to an American TV channel saying her support for Avery - who was convicted of the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach in Wisconsin - in the documentary was "all an act".

She told HLN she believed he was "not innocent" because "he threatened to kill [her] and [her] family and a friend of [hers]" in the past.

When asked why he threatened her she said it was because "he was sick".

Describing her former fiance as a "monster" she said she had asked documentary makers not to use footage of her in the programme and had not watched it.

She said she had "never loved him", that he was abusive and claimed she drank rat poison to get away from him.

She also alleged he had written her threatening letters from prison.

Avery was convicted of Ms Halbach’s murder in 2007 just four years after he was exonerated for the 1985 rape of Penny Beernsten - a crime for which he was sentenced to 32 years in prison and served 18.

He has always maintained his innocence over the murder of Ms Halbach - who was reported missing after she went to Avery’s salvage yard to photograph a minivan for Auto Trader magazine.

Avery at the time of this first arrest in 1985

He has claimed that he was framed by the local Manitowoc County sheriff’s office because he was suing them for $36m (£24.7m) over his wrongful conviction for the 1985 rape at the time of Ms Halbach’s murder.

He is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Ms Stachowski said he had never told her he committed the murder but he believed all women "owed him" due to his wrongful conviction.

She said: "He told me once, excuse my language, all bitches owe him, because the one that sent him to prison the first time.

"We all owed him and he could do whatever he wanted. Steven's the one person I can’t trust … he's a monster."

She said she wanted to recant the her claim in the documentary that investigators put pressure on her to turn against Avery saying “they were just trying to get to the truth”.