Dena Thompson, commonly known as the Black Widow, is a convicted murderer, confidence trickster and bigamist, who met men through lonely hearts columns and stole their money
Video Unavailable
Black Widow trailer for Sky documentary
A murderer dubbed the “Black Widow” killer has been released from jail – having served 19 years of a life sentence.
Dena Thompson, 64, poisoned her second husband’s curry, despite being still married to her first, and then embezzled half a million pounds. Her first husband, whom Thompson also defrauded, had warned this week all men to stay away from her as speculation emerged about her early release.
And now her return to society has been confirmed – but a former detective has reinforced the same warning that men should be wary of the woman, who grew up in Hendon, northwest London.
Sean McDonald, a former detective constable who has followed Thompson’s case for 30 years, said: “If your uncle, father, son or cousin says, ‘I met this really nice woman called Dena’, I’d ring the police immediately. She’s (approximately) 63 now and a lot of men that age are quite wealthy. They have paid off mortgages, they have got pensions, they don’t need to work.”
Thompson hoodwinked her first husband, killed her second and lured her third with the promise of sex games, then smashed his head in with a baseball bat. Along the way, it is feared she has conned other men out of their savings.
Mr McDonald fears “it’s only a matter of time” before Thompson strikes again, despite spending nearly 20 years in jail. Her first husband, Lee Wyatt, whom Thompson wed in 1984, said the woman “plays the innocent” but is actually dangerous.
The killer’s release comes as a new three-part Sky documentary, which launches on Sunday, explores her incredible story. It features victims and their families.
Speaking to The Sun, Mr McDonald, who features in the programme, added: “I don’t think the story is finished yet. I believe it’s only a matter of time before this happens again… They (men in their early 60s) are quite vulnerable because they can be quite lonely, and she homes in on lonely people all the time.”
The documentary also hears from Rosemary Webb, mother of Thompson’s second husband, Julian Webb. Julian died on June 30, 1994, in Worthing, West Sussex, and Rosemary tells the programme she was convinced her daughter-in-law was the killer.
Thompson, who worked in a building society, was eventually jailed for murder in 2003 – nearly a decade after the death. Police could not initially gather enough evidence to charge her with his murder, and a coroner recorded an open verdict. However, detectives did discover a dozen men who had romanced Thompson before she stole their money.
They included a Gatwick Airport customs officer who she left stranded in Florida and a teacher who was so infatuated, he quit his job and gave her his savings when she claimed to have cancer.
And, in January 2000, Thompson attacked her third husband Richard Thompson, with a baseball bat. This led to Julian’s killing being re-investigated and Thompson’s trial at the Old Bailey for his murder, during which she was dubbed “The Black Widow” in the press, as a black widow spider will kill their male counterparts after mating with them.
