Joanne Dennehy was handed a whole-life order for murdering three men during a 10-day rampage in Peterborough in 2013 – and even behind bars, she continues to pose a threat to inmates and prison staff
Triple murderer Joanne Dennehy earned notoriety for her bloodlust, calling her killings “moreish and fun” – and an expert has issued a stark warning that she remains a danger even from within prison walls.
The 43 year old stabbed three men to death during a 10-day killing rampage across Peterborough in 2013, displaying zero remorse for her horrific acts. Those she murdered included her romantic partner Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, fellow resident John Chapman, 56, and her landlord-turned-lover Kevin Lee, 48.
After discarding their corpses in a ditch, she fled and went on to knife dog walkers Robin Bereza, 64, and John Rogers, 56, both of whom miraculously survived the unprovoked assault. The savage killer subsequently became just the fourth woman in British history to receive a whole-life tariff, ensuring she’ll never leave prison alive.
Dennehy had been having an affair with Kevin Lee, who told how she had wanted to “dress me up and rape me” during their relationship. When his body was found, the married father-of-two was dressed in a black sequin dress with his buttocks exposed.
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Prosecutor Peter Wright QC told the court: “We say this was deliberately engineered in an act of post-death humiliation.” Dennehy “cast a spell” over her victims before embarking on a spree of violence, the court heard.
Dennehy met Mr Slaboszewski, a heroin addict, shortly before his death. She lured him to a house in Rolleston Garth, Peterborough, with a series of text messages and he was never seen again. His body was kept in a wheelie bin before being transported to the isolated Thorney Dyke, and Dennehy showed the body to a teenage girl as it lay there.
Now, her horrific crime will be explored in a new Amazon prime show: Confessionals of a Female Serial Killer. The episode is set to air on December 7 and will revisit her killing spree.
Yet even whilst incarcerated, Dennehy represents a serious danger to fellow prisoners and wardens alike. Upon her arrival at HMP Bronzefield, the high-security women’s facility in Surrey, she immediately issued threats against notorious serial killer Rose West – convicted of 10 murders and also serving life – in an apparent power play.
The audacious challenge resulted in West’s swift relocation for her own protection. Dennehy was placed in solitary confinement to prevent her from harming others, and when she brazenly demanded compensation in 2016 for her isolation, arguing it breached her human rights, Jenni Richards QC, representing the prison service, described her as “arguably the most dangerous female prisoner in custody”.
Her failed High Court damages claim laid bare her chilling plan to break out of prison by murdering a guard and using their severed fingers to bypass biometric door locks.
The triple murderer brushed off the plot as merely a ‘doodle’ when guards found a sketch of the prison layout in her diary. As punishment, she was put into solitary confinement.
But Dennehy’s antics didn’t end there. In 2020, she was moved to HMP Low Newton following allegations of an affair with a male prison officer. Even after her transfer to County Durham, she continued to stir up trouble, sparking a romance with fellow inmate and convicted killer Emma Aitken.
Aitken, along with her father Vincent Aitken and then-boyfriend Nathan Doherty, were all sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of Barry Smith in Derbyshire in 2013. His battered and burnt body was found outside Kilburn Welfare Social Club.
An insider revealed details about Dennehy and Aitken’s prison relationship: “They make cheesecake and trifles while other people are locked away in their cells”.
The source added: “Other inmates are scared of Joanne because of her crime and her attitude. She is not someone to be messed with.”
Criminologist Professor David Wilson, who started his career in the Prison Service, believes Dennehy is beyond redemption due to her history of extreme violence. He previously said: “Dennehy is one of the very few female spree killers in criminological history,”.
“Spree murders tend to be a male phenomenon but here you have someone who killed three men and tried to kill two more alongside her accomplice, Gary Stretch. There is some indication that Dennehy and Stretch were operating inside a folie à deux, which is a term for a shared psychosis or ‘madness of two’.
“But in this one it is quite clear that she was the dominant partner, and Stretch was subordinate and afraid of her. I don’t know what can be done with her in terms of changing her behaviour because she seems to have extreme violent tendencies, and that is based on having interviewed people who were very close to her – including her former husband.”
Christopher Berry-Dee, an author who encountered Dennehy in prison while researching his book Talking With Female Serial Killers, labelled her as “without doubt, the most evil person I have ever met”.
He further described: “She had shaved hair and had put on a lot of weight since the time of her arrest. She was well-spoken and her voice was quiet and menacing. I could smell evil coming off her – it’s a smell like no other so it’s impossible to describe but it’s acrid and dirty.”
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