The female psychopath

Only about 15 percent of serial killers are female. One of them, whose murders were extremely brutal for a woman, is the British Joanna Dennehy. In March 2013, she murdered three men within 10 days without any apparent motive and out of pure lust, and attempted to kill two more. Joanna was a ticking time bomb that suddenly exploded. But why? Joanna was born in Saint Albans in August 1992. She left her parents’ home at the age of 16 when she ran away with 21-year-old John Treanor. Just one year later, Joanna, who never wanted to have children, became pregnant. After the birth of her daughter Shianne, Joanna not only began consuming alcohol and drugs, but also cutting herself with a knife. In 2005, Joanna became pregnant again. Joanna couldn’t cope with her everyday life, sometimes disappearing for days or even months at a time. When she was there, she would drink her first beer with breakfast, followed by 1 to 2 bottles of vodka throughout the day. When Joanna cheated on John, he pulled the plug. He left Joanna and took the two children with him. After that, Joanna completely lost her footing in life and moved to Peterborough. Joanna financed her addiction through sex work, which caused her to develop an incredible hatred of men, triggering murder fantasies. Her goal was to become as famous as the gangster couple Bonnie and Clyde. Soon after moving to Peterborough, she met her Clyde. He was 47-year-old Gary “Stretch” Richards, who was over 2 meters tall and fell madly in love with Joanna. He became, like 36-year-old Leslie Layton, Joanna’s later accomplice in her series of murders, which began after Joanna was arrested for theft in February 2012. She was admitted to a hospital for psychiatric treatment, where she was diagnosed with antisocial disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. A year later, she began her incredibly brutal series of murders. First, she murdered 31-year-old Lukasz Slaboszewski, whom she had met a few days earlier in Peterborough. They drank together. She then invited him to her landlord’s house, blindfolded him, and stabbed him in the heart. She disposed of his body in a dumpster. Just 10 days later, she murdered her 56-year-old roommate, John Chapman, in the same manner. A few hours later, she also killed her 48-year-old landlord and lover, Kevon Lee, whom she had previously made wear a black sequined dress. Gary Richard and Leslie Layton had to help her dispose of the bodies. They dumped the bodies in ditches away from Peterborough, which is why the series of murders became known as the “Peterborough Ditch Murders.” After disposing of the bodies, the trio drove across the country, where Joanna first attempted to kill 56-year-old John Rogers and then 63-year-old Robin Bereza, who were walking their dogs in the town of Hereford. Joanna stabbed Rogers more than 40 times. She stole her second victim’s dog, Archie, and took him with her. However, both survived and were able to describe their attacker with a distinctive star tattoo on her face, which exposed Joanna as the knife attacker. Two days after Kevin Lee’s murder, his family reported him missing. When he was found in a ditch near Peterborough, Joanna immediately came under the scrutiny of investigators. Even before the trial began, the police found a diary in Joanna’s cell. In it, she described an escape plan. She wanted to cut off a guard’s fingers in order to outwit the biometric security system. Joanna was then placed in solitary confinement at HM Prison Bronzefield, whereupon Joanna sued the Ministry of Justice for damages, claiming that this had made her “tearful and distraught.” However, the lawsuit was unsuccessful. In February 2014, Joanna Dennehy was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Old Bailey in London for three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder, becoming the third woman in the UK to receive this sentence. Her accomplice Gary Richard received a life sentence with a minimum term of 19 years. Her co-conspirator Leslie Layton was sentenced to 14 years in prison. In 2018, Joanna became engaged to Hayley Palmer, who was also in prison. Both wanted to tie the knot, but Hayley’s family was against it, which is why they attempted suicide together. After that, they had an on-off relationship. Joanna had another partner in between. Despite Hayley Palmer’s release from prison, the two are said to have rekindled their love and may still be together today. The fact is that after Joanna was transferred to Low Newton Prison in County Durham in 2019, the notorious serial killer Rosemary West had to be moved from there because Joanna had threatened to kill her. So things remain exciting as far as Joanna Dennehy is concerned, who continues to make headlines despite her imprisonment.