In the winter of 1993, over seven weeks, three young women were killed in the bayside suburbs around Frankston, on the south-eastern edge of Melbourne. Elizabeth Stevens was 18. Debbie Fream was 22 and had given birth to her first child 12 days before she died. Natalie Russell was 17 and still at school. In the same weeks a fourth woman, aged 41, was kidnapped and escaped. The man responsible, Paul Charles Denyer, was 21. He lived locally and did not know any of the women.
Denyer pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and to kidnapping the fourth woman. On December 20, 1993, Justice Frank Vincent of the Supreme Court of Victoria sentenced him to life imprisonment for each murder and declined to set any non-parole period. In July 1994 the Court of Appeal, by a majority, set a minimum of 30 years. That term ended in 2023. His application for parole was refused that May, and later the same year the Victorian Parliament passed a law, named Nat's Law after Natalie Russell, that keeps him in prison unless he is close to death or too incapacitated to harm anyone.
The killings that winter took place across Frankston's surrounding suburbs, among them Langwarrin, Seaford, Kananook, Carrum Downs and Frankston North, while people in Karingal and The Pines also lived through the scare, and for the people who lived there the weeks between June and August became a period of fear that many still describe three decades later.
Speaking in the Victorian Parliament in 2023, members who had grown up or lived in the area recalled how daily life changed. Young women stopped going out alone. Families checked their locks two and three times, and drivers opened the back doors of their cars before getting in, a habit some local people said they had never lost. One member said that mothers walking prams carried a hammer or a spanner. Another recalled sharing a bedroom with her sister for safety, while her family bought a dog to guard the house and watched the television news each night. Adem Somyurek, then living in Chelsea Heights, said one of the killings happened a few minutes from his home. In 2023 the member for Frankston, Paul Edbrooke, told Australian Associated Press that some residents still checked beneath their cars before driving.
Elizabeth Anne-Marie Stevens was born on October 21, 1974, and came from Tasmania. In January 1993 she moved to Victoria to study at the TAFE college in Frankston and lived with her aunt and uncle in Langwarrin. The Attorney-General, Jaclyn Symes, later described her as a nursing student. A friend remembered her as quiet and shy, but happy and friendly once she knew someone. A celebrant at her funeral spoke of a young woman who was young at heart, loved children and had a dry sense of humor.
On the evening of Friday, June 11, 1993, she was killed in Langwarrin. She was 18.
Debbie Ann Fream was 22 and had a bright future, members of Parliament said. Her son was 12 days old when, on the evening of Thursday, July 8, 1993, she was abducted in the Kananook area. She was found dead in Carrum Downs four days later.
Thirty years later her son sat in the gallery of the Legislative Council to watch members vote on a bill meant to keep his mother's killer in prison, and members of both houses spoke of the life he had built and the people around him.
On the same night that Debbie Fream died, a 41-year-old woman was kidnapped near Seaford. She escaped. Denyer was later convicted of kidnapping her and given an eight-year sentence for that offense. Local reports have called the crime an abduction. Her family was among those acknowledged in the parliamentary gallery in November 2023.
Natalie Russell was 17, a Year 12 student at John Paul College in Frankston. Friends and members of Parliament who spoke for her family described a bright and cheeky girl, a conscientious student who loved catching up with friends and played netball. She hoped to become a journalist. Her best friend wrote of plans that would never happen: travel, driving lessons and university. She remembered Natalie's love of fashion, incense and silver rings. At the time Natalie had a boyfriend, David Limbrick, who would be elected to the Victorian Legislative Council almost three decades later.
On Friday, July 30, 1993, she was killed in Frankston North. She also had a sister, who became one of the family's public voices in the campaign that followed.
A walking track in Frankston North was renamed Nat's Track in her memory, and a memorial sculpture stands beside it. In February 2021 Frankston City Council approved 87,000 dollars for solar lighting, landscaping, public art and a memorial mural to be made with the Russell family, the Frankston Times reported. Earlier spending had paid for closed-circuit cameras at one end of the track, streamed live to Frankston police station, along with warning signs, gates and a new section of fencing. Her father said the family was "pleased and honoured" by the work.
Natalie Russell was the third woman killed in seven weeks, and her death brought the inquiry to a close within a day. Emma Vulin, a government member, told Parliament in 2023 that DNA left behind in Natalie's case led police to the man responsible. Sam Hibbins, a Greens member, recalled that a tip from a member of the public led police to Denyer's car. Her best friend wrote that it was the day after Natalie's death when police arrested him.
The crime writer Vikki Petraitis was with police on the night Natalie was killed and went on to report on the case, David Limbrick told the Legislative Council. Australian Associated Press described her in 2023 as an author who had followed the case since the 1990s.
Denyer was questioned by detectives and confessed. Publicity for a later documentary named the lead investigator as Detective Senior Sergeant Rod Wilson. A 2022 documentary, No Mercy, No Remorse, made for the streaming service Stan and narrated by the crime reporter John Silvester, used the police recording of that interview and footage of Denyer taking police to the scenes. The broadcaster's publicity said the detectives asked more than 1,500 questions before his account broke down, a figure The Examiner reported as the press release's claim. The documentary also included the detectives who solved the case, Justice Vincent and David Limbrick.
In his police interview Denyer said that he hated women "in general," Ms Heath, a member for Eastern Victoria in the Legislative Council, told the house in 2023, and a police assessment after his arrest found that he showed no remorse. By his own account he had wanted to kill since the age of 14. At sentencing, according to a 2022 petition to Parliament that quoted Justice Vincent, the judge found that Denyer had thought about killing since he was 14 and had been stalking women since he was 17. Members described him cruising the streets of the district and choosing his victims at random.
Psychologists who assessed him for the court diagnosed a sadistic personality disorder. They did not find him legally insane. Experts noted his lack of emotion about the crimes and his single-minded wish to kill. Chris Crewther, the member for Mornington, said psychologists had described him as a sadistic narcissist who was unlikely to change.
Limbrick told the Legislative Council in June 2023 that Denyer had also confessed to other serious offenses, including assault, harm to animals and the stalking of women, and that he believed Denyer would have gone on killing had he not been caught. After the parole campaign became public, Limbrick said, many people, most of them women, contacted him to say they believed Denyer had once stalked them. Those accounts were not tested in court.
Denyer pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to three counts of murder and one count of kidnapping. Australian Associated Press, summarizing the case in 2023, reported that he had stabbed and strangled the three women. His counsel at the plea hearing stressed his youth.
On December 20, 1993, Justice Frank Vincent sentenced him to life imprisonment on each count of murder, with eight years for the kidnapping. The Supreme Court's order made the three life terms concurrent, an effective life sentence. The judge set no non-parole period, so that Denyer would have no right to be considered for release.
His remarks, quoted in Parliament thirty years later, set out why. He described the savagery of the crimes as "almost beyond comprehension." He told Denyer: "For many, you are the fear that quickens their steps as they walk alone." He said that "in an important sense you are not one of us," that the danger Denyer posed could be met only by separating him from the community, and that the apprehension he had caused would be felt "for a very long time." Rehabilitation, he said, had to give way to the protection of the public. Any non-parole period would have to be very long, and he would not "abrogate my responsibility to some distant Parole Board." Any eventual release would depend on the passing of the years and on the executive government. He ended with a note of possibility: "Perhaps there will come a day when you will be able to walk among the ordinary people of our community."
David Limbrick was in the courtroom that day. Police had told him little, and he later said he learned at the sentencing what had happened to Natalie.
Denyer appealed against the refusal to fix a non-parole period. In July 1994 the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal by a majority of two judges to one, holding that it had been an error not to set a minimum term, and it fixed a non-parole period of 30 years. Limbrick, who has said he never understood the reasoning, described it as a technicality in the judge's remarks.
One of the appeal judges, Justice Crockett, wrote that "skilled and reliably informed professional judgment" might in time weigh against release, in which case the Parole Board would be expected not to release him. The Victorian Bar and the Criminal Bar Association later cited that passage in arguing that the 1994 decision had only fixed a date after which the board had to consider his case on the evidence before it.
Little about Denyer's three decades in custody has been put on the public record by the courts or the parole board. Opposition members said in 2023 that he had shown no remorse and had made no attempt at rehabilitation, and Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, a member for Northern Victoria, said he seemed incapable of it. Crewther and Jeff Bourman, a former police officer, both referred to a letter Denyer had sent from prison to David Limbrick asking for help; Bourman said he had not seen it himself.
Mr Galea, a member for South-Eastern Metropolitan, said in November 2023 that Denyer had worked at a supermarket in Karingal in the early 1990s and, as an older sibling, had driven local children to school, which people who knew the family experienced as a betrayal.
As 2023 approached, the families of the three women and their supporters began a public campaign to keep Denyer in prison. They first sought assurances in 2021. In September 2022 a petition was presented to the Legislative Council asking the government to ensure that he stayed in prison for life, so that the families and survivors would be spared the trauma of parole hearings. An online petition opposing his release gathered more than 50,000 signatures, the Frankston Times reported.
On May 10, 2023, the Adult Parole Board of Victoria's refusal of his application was conveyed to the families. Limbrick later said the families did not know what the process had involved. Natalie's father called it the best news he had heard in 30 years. "He has no remorse whatsoever and he's still proud of what he did," he told Network 10, in remarks carried by Australian Associated Press. Limbrick said the wait had been traumatizing and that the state needed a settled way of dealing with such cases instead of repeating the process every few years. Paul Edbrooke wrote that many people were relieved, but "There's still work to do."
The refusal did not prevent Denyer from applying again, and the families' fear of a fresh hearing every few years drove the next stage.
On May 17, 2023, Matthew Bach, an opposition member of the Legislative Council, introduced the Corrections Amendment (Parole) Bill 2023. It would have added a new section 74AC to the Corrections Act 1986, allowing the parole board to release Denyer only if a report from the secretary of the Department of Justice and Community Safety satisfied it that he was in imminent danger of dying or was seriously incapacitated, so that he had no physical ability to harm anyone. It excluded the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities from applying to that section, with no five-year expiry. The bill copied provisions Parliament had earlier made for two other prisoners, Julian Knight, who carried out the Hoddle Street shootings, and Craig Minogue, the Russell Street bomber. The High Court had upheld the Knight provisions in 2017 and the Minogue provisions in 2019.
The Labor government opposed it. The Police Minister, Anthony Carbines, said he had faith in the independent board, which he said had made "the correct and right decisions." The Premier, Daniel Andrews, apologized for how the families had been treated, said the board had to engage better with victims' families, and said his government would develop wider parole changes, possibly a bar of five years between applications. The Attorney-General, Jaclyn Symes, met the Russell family and wrote to the families proposing that approach, which she said was better than "one-man legislation" and would avoid a High Court challenge. Liberty Victoria welcomed the decision not to legislate for one prisoner but warned that a five-year bar could itself be unfair.
On June 20 Limbrick presented a further petition of 2,536 signatures in support of the bill. The next day the Legislative Council voted it down, 19 votes to 17. Labor, the Greens and the Legalise Cannabis members voted against it. Natalie's sister, her best friend and Debbie Fream's son watched from the gallery. The families told Australian Associated Press it was one of the worst days they had had since Denyer applied for parole, and they disputed the claim that the coalition had rushed the bill, noting that they had campaigned since 2021. Vikki Petraitis said the families had hoped to put their experiences behind them.
In the debate, Limbrick supported the bill while sharing some concerns about laws that name individuals. David Ettershank opposed it on the ground that politicians should not stand in for judges in individual cases. Somyurek said he disliked such laws in principle but would support this one because of the precedents. On July 30, 2023, the thirtieth anniversary of Natalie Russell's death, more than 100 people gathered at a memorial for the three women, Crewther told the Legislative Assembly.
On October 31, 2023, the government reversed its position. The Corrections Minister, Enver Erdogan, announced a parole package that would name Denyer, after the government met the families and received advice from the Solicitor-General that a High Court challenge from him was unlikely to succeed. Natalie's parents said in a statement that "a tremendous weight" had been lifted from their shoulders. Symes, who had by then met the Russell family three times, said she should have met them sooner, but had not wanted to appear to be influencing an independent body before it decided. Brad Battin, the opposition spokesman on corrections, welcomed the change and said it could have spared the families months of anguish. "They've had enough," he said.
The Corrections Amendment (Parole Reform) Bill 2023 was introduced on November 1, 2023. In its statement on the Charter, the government accepted that the section naming Denyer might be incompatible with his human rights, and said the community and the victims' families should have confidence that he would not be released "until he can do no harm." The Legislative Assembly debated the bill on November 16, with the families of all three women and of the surviving woman in the gallery. During that debate the government corrected an error in the bill, changing the bill's description of Denyer's life sentences from "consecutive" to "concurrent." The Legislative Council passed the bill without amendment on November 28, 2023, with the support of the opposition and, with reservations about the rule of law, the Greens. It became Act No. 36 of 2023.
Under the new section 74AC, Denyer may be released on parole only if he is in imminent danger of dying or is seriously incapacitated, can no longer harm anyone and is no longer a risk to the community. Edbrooke called it Nat's Law and thanked Natalie's family and friends by name for their patience and advice. The law, he said, would ensure that "people who belong in prison, stay in prison."
The act also changed parole for others. It created a class of "restricted prisoners," serving life with a non-parole period for two or more murders, for the murder of a child, or for a murder in which the victim was also the victim of a sexual offense by the prisoner. The board may declare such a prisoner ineligible to apply for parole for five to ten years after the non-parole period ends. A life prisoner who is refused parole must wait up to five years before applying again. Battin said about 31 prisoners fitted the definition, and Australian Associated Press reported that the changes would affect 32 people in custody.
The Victorian Bar and the Criminal Bar Association opposed the reforms, arguing that the Court of Appeal's 1994 decision had already left the board free to refuse release where professional judgment weighed against it.
Some details in the public record do not agree. The Victorian Bar's statement dated Denyer's sentencing to 1994, when he was 22; the parliamentary record, citing the Supreme Court, gives December 20, 1993. The bill as first introduced described his life sentences as consecutive, but the Supreme Court order made them concurrent, and Parliament amended the bill to say so. One member of Parliament described Debbie Fream's son as 12 weeks old; every other account gives 12 days. Elizabeth Stevens was described in Parliament both as a TAFE student and as a nursing student. The figure of more than 1,500 questions in the police interview came from the documentary's publicity, not from the court. Accounts from women who believe Denyer stalked them, and a constituent's recollection of his behavior at work, were reported in Parliament and were not tested in any court.
October 21, 1974: Elizabeth Stevens is born; she grows up in Tasmania.
January 1993: Stevens moves to Victoria to study at the TAFE college in Frankston.
June 11, 1993: Elizabeth Stevens, 18, is killed in Langwarrin.
July 8, 1993: Debbie Fream, 22, is abducted in the Kananook area 12 days after the birth of her son; she is found in Carrum Downs four days later. The same night a 41-year-old woman is kidnapped near Seaford and escapes.
July 30, 1993: Natalie Russell, 17, is killed in Frankston North.
The next day: Denyer, 21, is arrested; he later confesses to detectives.
December 20, 1993: Justice Frank Vincent sentences him to life on three counts of murder, with no non-parole period, and eight years for kidnapping.
July 1994: the Court of Appeal, by two to one, fixes a non-parole period of 30 years.
February 2021: Frankston City Council funds a memorial mural and improvements on Nat's Track.
June 2022: the documentary No Mercy, No Remorse is released on Stan.
September 20, 2022: a petition asking that he stay in prison for life is presented to the Legislative Council.
2023: his non-parole period ends.
May 10, 2023: the Adult Parole Board's refusal of parole is conveyed to the families.
May 17, 2023: Matthew Bach introduces the Corrections Amendment (Parole) Bill 2023.
June 21, 2023: the Legislative Council defeats the bill, 19 votes to 17.
July 30, 2023: a memorial marks thirty years since Natalie Russell's death.
October 31, 2023: the government announces a parole package naming Denyer.
November 1, 2023: the Corrections Amendment (Parole Reform) Bill 2023 is introduced.
November 16, 2023: the Legislative Assembly debates the bill and amends "consecutive" to "concurrent."
November 28, 2023: the Legislative Council passes the bill; it becomes Act No. 36 of 2023, known as Nat's Law.
December 2023: Denyer remains in prison, eligible for parole only if dying or seriously incapacitated.