In March 2013, then-30-year-old Joanna Dennehy went on a crime spree that rocked the people of England and left several men either dead or injured, making her one of the most infamous female serial killers in British history. When she was finally apprehended for the Peterborough ditch murders, law enforcement learned that Dennehy was driven by a "sadistic lust," which was noted by the judge who later sentenced her for her crimes.
In fact, Dennehy was determined to be so "cruel, calculating, and selfish," killing seemingly without motive, she was given a sentence that British courts reserve for only the most vicious and dangerous offenders, making it unlikely that she'll ever be able to brutally attack another unsuspecting man.
14 Terrifying Facts About The Psychotically Deranged Peterborough Ditch Murderer,
She Was Joking And Flirting With Officers As She Was Being Booked For Murder
After she viciously attacked dog walkers John Rogers and Robin Bereza, Joanna Dennehy, who was wanted for the killings in Peterborough, was arrested and taken to a Hereford police station to be charged with three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. However, the young woman didn't appear to be the least bit upset by her situation, and instead she laughed and flirted with officers as she was being booked into jail.
When asked if she was suicidal, Dennehy responded that she felt "cheery," and she repeatedly smiled and played with her hair, indicating she was a deeply disturbed individual who felt no remorse for her crimes.
She Told People She Had Been To Prison For Killing Her Father
Long before she committed her first known murder, the stabbing death of Lukasz Slaboszewski, Joanna Dennehy told multiple people she had spent time in prison for killing her abusive father. However, her father was very much alive, and there is no evidence to support Dennehy's claims of abuse. In fact, she came from a relatively happy and stable family, but a dark side began to emerge when she started drinking heavily and using drugs as a teenager.
At the age of 15, Dennehy moved in with her 20-year-old boyfriend, and the couple had two children. However, their relationship ended, and the father of her daughters got custody of the girls after accusing Dennehy of behaving violently.
She Bragged About Her Crimes Before She Was Caught
After murdering Lukasz Slaboszewski, Joanna Dennehy placed the young man's body in a trash can, and the killer was so proud of the murder she had committed, she showed the 31-year-old's corpse to a teenage girl. She was also unable to stop herself from boasting after she killed her roommate John Chapman, so she called one of her friends and sang lyrics from "Oops... I Did It Again," a song by Britney Spears.
Allegedly, Dennehy also danced after seeing television coverage of the murders, indicating she clearly got some pleasure and joy from her brutal and depraved crimes.
She Murdered Three Men And Dumped Their Bodies In Ditches
Over the course of 10 days in March 2013, 30-year-old Joanna Dennehy viciously stabbed three men to death, murdering her first victim, 31-year-old Lukasz Slaboszewski on March 19, 2013. Slaboszeski, who was originally from Poland, was Dennehy's roommate, and they shared a house in the city of Peterborough, England. 10 days after killing Slaboszewski, Dennehy stabbed another one of her roommates, John Chapman, 56, to death, and hours after taking the life of her second victim, she murdered her landlord, 48-year-old Kevin Lee.
After killing each man, Dennehy dumped his body in a ditch not far from her home in Peterborough, but she didn't get rid of her victims' corpses by herself.
She Brutally Attacked Two Other Victims Who Survived The Assaults
After disposing of the lifeless bodies of John Chapman and Kevin Lee, Joanna Dennehy and Gary Richards drove to Hereford, a town 140 miles from Peterborough, in search of people to attack, with Dennehy telling Richards, "I want my fun".
On April 2, 2013, Dennehy, with the help of Richards, attempted to murder two men, Robin Bereza and John Rogers, who were simply out walking their dogs. She stabbed Bereza once in the shoulder and once in the chest, and 10 minutes later she attacked Rogers, stabbing him 40 times and puncturing both of his lungs.
She Used Sex To Lure Her Victims To Their Deaths
In order to get her victims into vulnerable situations that would make it easier for her to kill them, Joanna Dennehy used sex to lure men to their deaths. In the case of Lukasz Slaboszewski, her Polish roommate, he believed Dennehy was his girlfriend, and she used the closeness of this relationship to convince him to meet her at an empty house that belonged to her landlord. Shortly after he entered the home, Dennehy blindfolded Slaboszewski and stabbed him to death.
In addition to the professional relationship she had with her landlord, Kevin Lee, Dennehy was also regularly having sex with the married father. So, she was able to get him to meet her at the same property where she had killed Slaboszewski. After murdering Lee, she returned home and stabbed her roommate John Chapman six times, killing the middle-aged man.
She Left One Of Her Victims In A Humiliating Position
Before killing Kevin Lee, her landlord and the man who gave her a job helping him tend to his rental properties, she convinced him to put on a black sequin dress. Then, after killing him, with the help of her accomplices, she dumped his corpse in a ditch, positioning his body in a sexually explicit manner undoubtedly designed to further degrade and humiliate the deceased husband and father.
However, after murdering Lee and her roommates, John Chapman and Lukasz Slaboszewski, Dennehy had no intention of stopping her crime spree, and with the help of Gary Richards, her 7'3" friend and accomplice, she continued her reign of terror.
She Convinced Two Men To Help Her Carry Out Her Crimes
Although they didn't help her actually stab her victims to death, two men, Gary "Stretch" Richards and Leslie Layton, assisted Joanna Dennehy by disposing of her victims' bodies, dumping their corpses in ditches for her. Richards, who was more than seven feet tall, and Layton later claimed they didn't want to help Dennehy get rid of the bodies of the three men, but they agreed to assist her because they were afraid of the 30-year-old woman.
She Had Been Admitted For Psychiatric Treatment Before Committing The Murders
In the years before she committed the crimes that made her one of Britain's most notorious women, Joanna Dennehy displayed signs that she was an extremely troubled young woman. From the time she was a teenager, Dennehy had been a heavy drinker and drug user, and she had grisly scars all over her body caused by cuts she had inflicted on herself with razor blades.
She also worked as a prostitute or stole to get money to pay for drugs and alcohol, and she was arrested for theft in February 2012. Following her arrest, 29-year-old Dennehy was admitted to a hospital for psychiatric treatment, and she was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and anti-social disorder. However, she didn't receive the medication or therapy she needed to stop her from going on to commit violent and deadly crimes.
She Was Given A Sentence Only Two Other British Women Have Received
On November 18, 2013, Joanna Dennehy pleaded guilty to murdering Lukasz Slaboszewski, John Chapman, and Kevin Lee, and the following year on February 28, 2014, she was sentenced to life in prison for her crimes. The judge who gave the confessed murderer a life sentence declared her to be "a cruel, calculating, selfish, and manipulative serial killer." Meanwhile, Dennehy proved him right, laughing and smiling as he addressed her and the court.
Only two other women have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Britain: Myra Hindley, who tortured and murdered multiple children with her boyfriend in the 1960s, and Rosemary West (pictured here), who was convicted of helping her husband murder several young women from 1971 to 1987.