A WOMAN who stabbed three men in the heart during a ten-day killing spree, stuffed the body of one of her victims into a wheelie bin, and "casually" showed it to a teenage girl, a court has heard.
Joanna Dennehy "stunned" the Old Bailey late last year when she admitted killing three men and dumping their bodies in ditches in Cambridgeshire. The 30-year-old from Peterborough, who is awaiting sentencing, also pleaded guilty to the attempted murders of two other men.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Dennehy's first victim, 31-year-old heroin addict Lukasz Slaboszewski, was lured to her house on 19 March last year by a series of text messages, the court heard. She kept his body in a wheelie bin and even showed it to a teenage girl before she wheeled it to a remote ditch where she discarded the corpse.
Ten days later, Dennehy murdered two more men. John Chapman, a 56-year-old Falklands veteran, was high on drink and drugs when he was stabbed to death. The court heard that Dennehy invited Stretch and Leyton to her home after the murder and Leyton took pictures of Chapman's body on his phone.
Dennehy killed her third victim, her 48-year-old lover Kevin Lee, on the same day. After she had stabbed him through the heart, she dressed his body in a black sequin dress before dumping it in a ditch.
Prosecutor Peter Wright QC told the court: "We say this was deliberately engineered in an act of post-death humiliation."
On 2 April, Dennehy and Stretch drove to Hereford allegedly to find more victims. She selected Robin Bereza and John Rogers, "entire strangers" who were left for dead, the court heard.
Stretch, 47, denies three charges of preventing the lawful burial of all three men and two counts of attempted murder. Layton, 36, denies perverting the course of justice and two counts of preventing the lawful burial of the bodies of Chapman and Lee.
The trial continues.
-
Shohei Ohtani is caught in a financial controversy — againIn the Spotlight The controversy concerns Ohtani and his agent, Nez Balelo
-
A descent into academic Hell, a ferocious feminist fable and the adult debut of a beloved children's authorThe Week Recommends August books include R.F. Kuang's 'Katabasis,' Xenobe Purvis' 'The Hounding' and Louis Sachar's 'The Magician of Tiger Castle'
-
What is an upside-down car loan and how do you get out of it?the explainer This happens when the outstanding balance on a car loan exceeds the vehicle's worth
-
Home Office worker accused of spiking mistress’s drink with abortion drugSpeed Read Darren Burke had failed to convince his girlfriend to terminate pregnancy
-
In hock to Moscow: exploring Germany’s woeful energy policySpeed Read Don’t expect Berlin to wean itself off Russian gas any time soon
-
Were Covid restrictions dropped too soon?Speed Read ‘Living with Covid’ is already proving problematic – just look at the travel chaos this week
-
Inclusive Britain: a new strategy for tackling racism in the UKSpeed Read Government has revealed action plan setting out 74 steps that ministers will take
-
Sandy Hook families vs. Remington: a small victory over the gunmakersSpeed Read Last week the families settled a lawsuit for $73m against the manufacturer
-
Farmers vs. walkers: the battle over ‘Britain’s green and pleasant land’Speed Read Updated Countryside Code tells farmers: ‘be nice, say hello, share the space’
-
Motherhood: why are we putting it off?Speed Read Stats show around 50% of women in England and Wales now don’t have children by 30
-
Anti-Semitism in America: a case of double standards?Speed Read Officials were strikingly reluctant to link Texas synagogue attack to anti-Semitism
