There are only three women who have ever been given a whole life prison term in the UK – Joanna Dennehy is one of them. And when you read her story, it’s easy to understand why.
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Dennehy began her twisted killing spree in March 2013, 10 days later she was apprehended. Her sister described her as liking:
…to control the situation. She likes people to know she’s the boss.
Her lover, Kevin Lee, certainly knew she was the boss after she sank a knife into his flesh; relishing over the blood that seeped from the deep wounds. She told a psychiatrist who assessed her whilst in custody that she had:
…killed to see how I would feel, to see if I was as cold as I thought I was. Then it got more-ish.
More-ish – referring to the stabbing of her housemates Lukas Slaboszewski and John Chapman, the bodies of whom, along with Lee’s, she dumped in various ditches across Peterborough. A trademark of her killings that saw her become the Peterborough Ditch Murderer.
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While police frantically searched for her, racing to stop the killing spree, Dennehy had travelled to Hereford with her accomplice Gary Stretch, in search of more blood to spill. The pair happened upon two random dog walkers, stabbing both in a frenzied and blood-thirsty knife attack. By some miracle, both men survived.
Dennehy is said to have explained that she specifically wanted the blood of men, she had no interest in killing women. Particularly intending to spare women with children. She was determined to kill nine men in total. To be like her idols, Bonnie and Clyde. She told Stretch, her spare hand in the sickening crimes:
I want my fun. I need you to get my fun.
Now, just three years later – barely having made a dent in her life sentence – she is challenging the decision to segregate her at HMP Bronzefield. She claims to be a victim of the Human Rights Convention and disability discrimination. Her lawyer Hugh Southey QC spoke at a High Court hearing and said that his client was:
…vulnerable due to personality disorders.
Before going on to request damages to be awarded.
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What he failed to address was the reason that she had been segregated: the discovery of a plot between Dennehy and other inmates to escape the prison. They had planned to slice off the fingers of a guard and use them to bypass security biometrics.
Let’s hope the judge of the hearing tells the lawyer where to stick his plea. For more terrifying tales of slaughter, check this out.
