Joanna Dennehy Unexpectedly Pleads Guilty at the Old Bailey to Murdering Three Men Found in Cambridgeshire Ditches
The plea took her own lawyers by surprise. She also admitted attempting to murder two other men, while her co-defendant denied the charges against him.
Published
Three men were found stabbed to death in ditches around Peterborough in the spring of 2013. On November 18, 2013, Joanna Dennehy unexpectedly pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to murdering all three.
Dennehy admitted killing Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, between March 19 and 29, 2013, and Kevin Lee, 48, and John Chapman, 56, on March 29. She also admitted preventing the lawful and decent burial of all three and attempting to murder two other men. The pleas took her lawyers by surprise, and her barrister, Nigel Lickley QC, told the court, "The course of the arraignment is not one we had anticipated." Dennehy told the judge, Mr. Justice Sweeney, "I've pleaded guilty, and that's that." Her co-defendant, Gary Richards, 47, also known as Gary Stretch, denied attempting to murder the two men and preventing the lawful burial of the three victims, and two other men appearing by video link denied lesser charges.
A dog walker found Lee, a property developer, in a ditch near the A16 at Newborough on March 30. Dennehy was first arrested on April 5, and the next day a farmer reported finding two more bodies at Thorney Dyke, about 10 miles away; Slaboszewski was a builder originally from Poland, and Chapman had served in the navy. At sentencing on February 28, 2014, Mr. Justice Spencer said Dennehy had murdered the three men "within the space of 10 days," one of them her landlord, Lee, and then attacked two men in Hereford who were "chosen entirely at random." He imposed a whole-life order.
BBC News gave Dennehy's age as 31 on the day of her pleas, while the Press Association report carried by the Guardian said she was 30.
Sources
- The Queen v Dennehy and others: sentencing remarks of Mr Justice Spencer, Courts and Tribunals Judiciary
- Peterborough ditch deaths: Joanna Dennehy pleads guilty, BBC News
- Woman admits murdering three men found stabbed to death in ditches, The Guardian (Press Association)
Related News
- February 28, 2014: Joanna Dennehy Becomes the First Woman Ordered by a Judge to Die in Prison for the Murders of Three Men