Friday 28 February 2014

Serial killer Joanna Dennehy laughs, smirks and swears in the dock as she is handed whole life sentence

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  • Joanna Dennehy is one of only three women in Britain who has been given a whole life sentence - along with Rose West and Myra Hyndley
  • Judge describes her as a 'cruel, calculating, selfish and manipulative serial killer' as he jails her at the Old Bailey
  • Mr Justice Spencer said that Dennehy found murder 'more-ish'
  • She shouted 'b******s!' from the dock during the sentencing
  • Dennehy admitted murdering Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, Kevin Lee, 48, and John Chapman, 56, in Peterborough over a 10-day period
  • She also attempted to murder dog walkers John Rogers and Robin Bereza
  • Accomplice Gary Stretch is given a life sentence with a minimum term of 19 years while Leslie Layton gets 14 years for preventing burials of victims
  • Robert Moore ordered to serve three years in prison for sheltering Dennehy




  • Serial killer Joanna Dennehy today laughed in the dock as she was told she would die in jail for carrying out three savage murders during a 10-day killing spree.
    She was branded a 'cruel, calculating, selfish and manipulative' murderer by Mr Justice Spencer as she became the first woman ever to be given a whole life sentence by a judge.
    The 31-year-old murdered three men in Peterborough last March before attempting to kill two dog walkers in Hereford she chose at random while on the run.
    Notorious killers Rose West and Moors Murderer Myra Hyndley, who died in 2002, are the only other women to be told they will die in jail.
    Murderer: Serial killer Joanna Dennehy who laughed and smiled in the dock at the Old Bailey today as she awaited sentencing for murdering three men

    Sentencing: Joanna Dennehy stands in the dock (second from the right) as she is sentenced today to a whole life behind bars. The other defendants are (from left) Robert Moore, Leslie Layton (sitting) and Gary Stretch (blue top)
    Sentencing: Joanna Dennehy stands in the dock (second from the right) as she is sentenced today to a whole life behind bars. The other defendants are (from left) Robert Moore, Leslie Layton (sitting) and Gary Stretch (blue top)
    Criminals: From left, Gary Stretch, Robert Moore and Leslie Layton, who helped Joanna Dennehy, right
    Criminals: From left, Gary Stretch, Robert Moore and Leslie Layton, who helped Joanna Dennehy, right


     
    Murderer: Serial killer Joanna Dennehy who laughed and smiled in the dock at the Old Bailey today as she awaited sentencing for murdering three men
    Show-off: Joanna Dennehy poses in a shocking photo with her top lifted, exposing her underwear after carrying out the killings
    Show-off: Joanna Dennehy poses in a shocking photo with her top lifted, exposing her underwear after carrying out the killings


    Serial killer: Dennehy interrupted her own mitigation to talk to one of her barristers
    Serial killer: Dennehy interrupted her own mitigation to talk to one of her barristers

    However, unlike Dennehy those two women had their sentences imposed by the Home Secretary of the day.
    This afternoon the serial killer appeared relaxed in the dock as she was sentenced - muttering, smirking and shouting the word 'b******s' from the dock at the Old Bailey.
    Dennehy had already admitted killing Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, Kevin Lee, 48, and John Chapman, 56.
    Mr Justice Spencer said that she found killing 'more-ish'.
    Addressing her, he said: 'Within the space of ten days you murdered three men in cold blood.
    'Although you pleaded guilty, you've made it quite clear you have no remorse.
    'Only a matter of days later you attempted to kill two more men - victims chosen entirely at random. Miraculously they survived.
    'You claim to feel remorse for those attacks but I have no hesitation in rejecting that.
    'You are a cruel, calculating, selfish and manipulative serial killer.'
    He added: 'The death and destruction you are responsible for has caused untold distress for the families of those killed and of those who survived.'
    Reading from a psychiatrist report, he said: 'I killed to see how I would feel, to see if I was as cold as I thought I was, then it got more-ish.'
    Police launched a nationwide hunt to find her after the bodies were discovered in remote ditches in Cambridgeshire.
    She also confessed to attempting to kill dog walkers John Rogers and Robin Bereza, in Hereford, while on the run.
    Just hours before the stabbings, the sadistic killer posed for a chilling photograph, smirking and brandishing a large knife.
    Victims: Lukasz Slaboszewski (left) and John Chapman who were murdered by Joanna Dennehy before their bodies were dumped in ditches
    Victims: Lukasz Slaboszewski (left) and John Chapman who were murdered by Joanna Dennehy before their bodies were dumped in ditches


    Third victim: Kevin Lee who was also murdered in Peterborough by the serial killer
    Third victim: Kevin Lee who was also murdered in Peterborough by the serial killer
    The killer, from Orton Goldhay, Peterborough, additionally admitted preventing the lawful and decent burial of her murder victims.
    Sat in the dock surrounded by nine uniformed officers, at one point she interrupted the hearing to usher her barrister over and spoke to him in agitated, whispered tones, while shaking her head.
    At an earlier hearing she declared from the dock: 'I am not sorry for the murders'.
    She had a normal middle class upbringing in the Home Counties, but ran away from home as a teenager and sunk into crime and drugs.
    Initially she denied the slayings, which were carried out over the Easter period last year in Cambridgeshire.
    But in shocking scenes at the Old Bailey last November, Dennehy stunned her barrister by suddenly confessing to her crimes.
    Today the judge described how Dennehy had sent him a letter saying she was not sorry for the murders.
    He added that she told a psychiatrist: 'I killed to see how I would feel, to see if I was as cold as I thought I was, then it got more-ish.'
    As she was brought into the dock at the start of the day, Dennehy, wearing a pink Adidas vest top which revealed scarring to her arms, seemed to laugh and joke with her accomplices.
    Mr Lee's wife, Christina, was in court along with their children Chiara, 25, and Dino, 15, and about 20 other family members.
    Attempted murder victim Mr Bereza was also in court.
    Nigel Lickley QC, representing Dennehy, who the court heard was called Joanne at birth, acknowledged her crimes were 'exceptionally serious'.
    But he added that she had not intended to 'embarrass or humiliate' her victims.
    'The three men who were killed were not strangers to her,' he added.
    'They were killed by a limited number of stab wounds. In essence the crimes are aggravated by the number of offences and the attempted murders.'
    The trial of her accomplices, Stretch and Leslie Layton, at Cambridge Crown Court earlier this year, heard that Dennehy had 'cast a spell' over some of her victims.
    Attempted murder: Robin Bereza, one of two men Dennehy stabbed and attempted to kill after she had murdered her three victims
    Attempted murder: Robin Bereza, one of two men Dennehy stabbed and attempted to kill after she had murdered her three victims
    Murder weapon: The blade Joanna Dennehy used to kill people and stab two otjers
    Murder weapon: The blade Joanna Dennehy used to kill people and stab two otjers
    Dennehy had met Mr Slaboszewski just days before his killing at a property in Peterborough on or soon after March 19.
    He had told friends he had met an 'English girlfriend' and it is thought he went to meet Dennehy expecting sex.
    She stabbed him in the heart, the killer stored his body in a wheelie bin - at one point smirking as she showed the corpse to a teenage girl.
    On March 29, she stabbed Mr Chapman at the block of bedsits they shared in Bifield, near Peterborough.
    The court heard Mr Chapman, a Falklands War veteran, had been scared of Dennehy and described her to friends as the 'man-woman' because of her intimidating nature.
    Afterwards Dennehy contacted Stretch and told him: 'Oops, I've done it again.

     

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