Is This Britain’s Most Terrifying Serial Killer?
In the space of a few weeks, three men were dead, two were severely injured, and Joanna Dennehy was on the run, with a thirst for blood…
The bodies of Lukasz Slaboszewski (L), Kevin Lee (C) and John Chapman (R) were found in Cambridgeshire
Dennehy’s Early Life
Born on 29 August 1982, in St Albans, Hertfordshire to parents Kathleen and Kevin, Dennehy and her younger sister, Maria, grew up in a reportedly loving and stable home.
Bright and capable, Denney did well at school as a young girl, with plans of attending university to become a lawyer — with her parents finding the money for extra tuition to help her achieve this. She played for both the school hockey and netball teams and fit in well. As a child, Dennehy was pleasant and kind, but as she entered her teens, this began to change. She lost interest in school and began to get in trouble with the police.
Dennehy took to drinking and taking drugs, and when she was just 14 years old she began to date a man 6 years her senior, John Treanor. Her parents weren’t happy about her new love and desperately wanted her to knuckle down and finish her education. Dennehy however, had other plans and she ran away to be with John. Just a few weeks later they were found living on a rough wasteland not far from the family home. Dennehy was brought back home but it wasn’t too long before she ran away again.
This time, the couple set up home a few miles away in Luton, before moving to Milton Keynes. Shortly after, Joanna went on to have two children — she was still only in her teens. Following the birth of her first child, she told her parents that they would have to pay to see their grandchild which caused an even bigger rift, ultimately bringing an end to their relationship.
Dennehy cheated on John repeatedly and their relationship was stormy. She would leave him and the children for days, or even weeks on end, before returning and asking for forgiveness. The couple moved to East Anglia for a fresh start but things only got worse.
Dennehy began working as a labourer on farms and would sometimes be paid in alcohol rather than cash. She had taken to harming herself; cutting her arms, body and neck with razor blades and she etched a tattoo of a star under her right eye.
Dennehy’s violent outbursts were getting gradually worse and she would attack John when she was drunk. As John became more afraid of Dennehy he believed it was only a matter of time before he would be hurt. Dennehy had started carrying around a dagger in her boot, and this scared him. He left her in 2009, taking the children with him.
Joanna Dennehy
Early Crimes
Dennehy’s life continued its downward turn, with her committing offences including carrying a blade in public and assault. She also used prostitution as a way of funding her drink and drug habits. In 2012 she served a 14-week sentence for theft and that same year she spent a few days in Peterborough City Hospital where she was diagnosed as having an antisocial personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
While held in prison, she was assessed by a forensic psychiatrist and diagnosed as having paraphilia sadomasochism — a condition where one experiences sexual excitement from acts involving the infliction of pain, humiliation or bondage. In summary, Dennehy liked to give — and receive — pain.
What was also noted was that Dennehy had underlying psychopathic traits including those of rage, impulsivity, violence and anger, and as a result was prescribed medication to regulate her moods. Dennehy was a compulsive liar and even at one point told people that she had murdered her father and had spent time in prison for it. She claimed she suffered years of abuse, however, her father was alive and well, and to date, there has never been any investigation into allegations of abuse. Professor David Wilson speaking to The Independent said that Dennehy herself didn’t realise how bizarre her behaviour was, as the line between reality and fantasy had blurred completely.
The Peterborough Ditch Murders
In 2013, Dennehy met Kevin Lee, a 48-year-old property developer, in the town of Peterborough. Lee rented out rooms to people who were vulnerable or in need. Shortly after meeting, Lee began covering the rent for Dennehy and the pair entered into a sexual relationship. Dennehy began working as an enforcer for Lee, threatening and intimidating other tenants into paying their outstanding debts to him. For the first time in a long time, Dennehy’s life, unbelievably, was more stable. She had a job — of sorts — and a place to live. Convinced by this newfound stability, Dennehy stopped taking her medication.
On 30 March 2013, the body of Kevin Lee was found in a ditch in Newborough by a dog walker. He was dressed in a black sequined dress and was posed in what appeared to be a deliberately humiliating position. Lee had been killed one day earlier.
On the day of his death, Lee had arranged to meet Dennehy at one of his properties on the 29th March, and failed to come home — his wife immediately called the police and reported him missing.
His car was found burnt out the following day on a farm track in nearby Yaxley, and due to his wife’s frantic calls to the numbers in his mobile, it was quickly established Dennehy’s phone had also pinged in proximity to where his car was found burning.
Police went to the house where Dennehy had been staying and found a blood-stained mattress in the garden — the blood however was not a match to Lee’s.
As police investigated further, they realised another tenant was missing — John Chapman, a Veteran, was nowhere to be found.
Following Dennehy’s arrest for the murder of Kevin Lee, the bodies of John Chapman, and another man, Lukasz Slaboszewski would be found near Thornley. They had both been stabbed to death prior to the disappearance of Kevin Lee.
Slaboszewski was a Polish national and police determined he was killed on 19 March. He had met Dennehy through their shared interest in drink and drugs and had come to believe that Dennehy was his girlfriend. Dennehy lured Slaboszewski to a property with suggestive text messages and then stabbed him through the heart. Unable to dispose of the body alone, Dennehy called upon her friend for help. That friend was Gary “Stretch” Richards, and he arrived at the flat with an associate of his, Leslie Layton.
Together, the pair moved Slaboszewski’s body to a wheelie bin outside a nearby block of flats. A 14 year old girl in the area saw what they were doing, and Dennehy showed her the body, boasting that she had committed murder.
His body remained there for days, until Dennehy and Stretch retrieved it and threw it into a ditch in the Peterborough countryside.
When forensic experts analysed the property, the blood splatter analysis suggested the attack was long and sustained. Slaboszewski’s death was brutal, and incredibly sadistic. Following this murder, Dennehy then used a pocket knife to kill her housemate, John Chapman, with police believing this most likely took place while he slept, as it was later confirmed to be Chapman’s blood on the mattress found at the property.
Once again, Richards and Layton were called upon to dispose of the body, and Chapman’s remains were thrown in the ditch with Slaboszewski.
After the killings, Dennehy went on the run with her accomplice, Stretch, and a police appeal was immediately put out to find them both.
Shortly after, a police officer in Norfolk saw the appeal and realised that a petrol station theft he was investigating had been committed by Dennehy, and he turned over the registration of the car she was seen. That car was Kevin Lee’s.
As Dennehy and Stretch continued to run from the police they were repeatedly caught on CCTV. Standing at 7ft 3 inches, Stretch was easy to spot, and it appeared as though they were not concerned with being seen.
To fund their escape, the pair committed burglaries, including stealing a camera, which they used to take photos of themselves out and about, to people unaware, they appeared to be a couple on a road trip.
They travelled to Kington in Herefordshire, where they met up with another associate of Stretch’s, former petty thief Mark Lloyd. Lloyd was called in to help them sell their stolen goods and when they met him Dennehy wasn’t shy in telling Lloyd that she had killed three men and that she wanted to kill more.
Waving around a large knife, Dennehy told Lloyd that he was coming with them to Hereford, and he didn’t argue. Her behaviour was becoming more and more erratic as she drank whisky and became hyper and aggressive.
They stopped at a shop for cigarettes, and Joanna was becoming agitated. Within minutes of leaving the shop, she asked Stretch to ‘find her a victim’, to which Stretch pointed at the first man he saw and asked, ‘will he do?’
This man was 63-year-old retired firefighter Robin Bereza. Bereza was just 100 yards from his house walking his dog when he was attacked from behind by Dennehy. Plunging the knife into him, he was stabbed twice in the upper body.
It was barely 3 p.m. and broad daylight. Dennehy walked calmly back to the car, before declaring that she wanted to find another victim. Once more, Stretch suggested someone and pointed out another dog walker. This man was 56-year-old John Rogers.
Once more, Dennehy attacked from behind and stabbed him numerous times in the back. As Rogers fell to the floor, Dennehy turned him over and began to stab him in the chest. In total, Rogers was stabbed more than 30 times in the back, chest and abdomen.
As Dennehy returned to the car, she took Rogers’ dog, and Dennehy, Stretch and Lloyd made their escape once more.
Gary ‘Stretch’ Richards (L) and Leslie Layton (R)
Arrest and trial
A short while later, their car was parked outside a row of shops not far from the attacks, and armed police swooped down on them to apprehend Dennehy. She was calm and did not put up any resistance to her arrest. As she was booked in at the police station, she appeared happy and was laughing, flirting with the police, and making racist comments.
As she was led to the cells, she sang ‘Singing in the Rain’, displaying a cold, emotionless response to having been remanded in custody for multiple murders. Her parents were notified of her arrest, and this was the first that they knew of her whereabouts in almost 10 years.
Both Robin Bereza and John Rogers survived their frenzied attacks and were able to describe their attacker to the police. Rogers describes hearing Dennehy say: “Oh, look, you’re bleeding, I’d better do some more” as she attacked him.
Mark Lloyd later testified that Dennehy had told her accomplices that she wanted to kill nine men in total, but not a woman, and especially not a woman with children. Dennehy’s purpose for stabbing these men appeared to be purely for entertainment, having told Stretch, “I want my fun. I need you to get my fun,” and would later go on to tell a psychiatrist that she found murder to be ‘moreish’ and that after the first killing, she developed a taste for it. Dennehy displayed no remorse or regret for what she had done.
On 8 May 2013, Joanna Dennehy was charged with the murder of Kevin Lee and the attempted murders of Robin Bereza and John Rogers. Connections between Slaboszewski and Chapman were established, as was Dennehy’s relationship with both and forensic analysis found that the same knife had been used on all five victims, and additionally, she was charged with these murders.
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While on remand before the trial, prison staff found an escape plot in Dennehy’s diary. The plan involved killing or seriously injuring a prison guard, severing off one of their fingers and using it to fool the biometric system in the prison — she was placed in solitary as a result of this.
On the 21st of November 2013, Joanna Dennehy pleaded guilty to all charges and received her sentencing at the Old Bailey.
Mark Lloyd testified against her, maintaining that he was an unwilling spectator in the final two murder attempts, and as a result, was not charged with any crime.
On the 10th of February 2014, Gary ‘Stretch’ Richards, was found guilty of attempted murder, and Leslie Layton was found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
Two days later, they were both convicted of further charges, including preventing the lawful burial of a body.
On 28 February 2014, Dennehy was sentenced to life imprisonment and received a whole life tariff — making her one of only four women in the United Kingdom to receive one — the other three being now deceased Moors Murderer Myra Hindley, serial killer Rose West, and baby killing nurse Lucy Letby.
Following her trial, it emerged that Dennehy had been on probation at the time of the murders following convictions of assault, and for owning a dangerous dog — it was ruled her probation officers had received inadequate training.
Dennehy is currently an inmate at HMP Low Newton in Durham, where serial killer Rose West was incarcerated. When Dennehy declared her desire to kill Rose West, prison officials decided to move West to HMP New Hall in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Joanna Dennehy is not the most prolific female serial killer in the history of the UK — Rose West was convicted of ten murders, and Myra Hindley helped to rape and murder five children — what sets Dennehy apart is the role that she played.
Dennehy was the driving force and the only reason these three men were no longer alive. Stretch was an accomplice after the fact, rather than a partner in crime as we had seen previously with Hindley and West.
Debate still remains as to whether or not Hindley and West would have murdered had they not met their respective partners. But for Dennehy this is different. One can only look at this case and see that Dennehy was going to cause pain and commit murder, with or without Gary ‘Stretch’ Richards’ help.
Dennehy had no motive other than the desire to inflict pain and take away life. Her attacks were entirely random, and she had no victim profile other than that of ‘male’.
Perhaps it is this factor which makes her all the more terrifying?
Sources: The Telegraph, BBC, The Sun, The Metro, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Week, and Crime and Investigation.
