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00:00:00Afternoon.
00:00:07Afternoon.
00:00:08And you are?
00:00:12Joanne, Christina, Dunhae.
00:00:14Right.
00:00:15Yeah.
00:00:16Right, so one word for attempted murder and murder.
00:00:20You've been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and murder.
00:00:24Could be worse.
00:00:26Am I cheering now?
00:00:28Yes.
00:00:29Good.
00:00:30Would you be cheery to her?
00:00:31Yeah.
00:00:32Even though I am strict.
00:00:33Would you be cheery if you got attempted murder?
00:00:36I wouldn't, but...
00:00:37No, but I was just lying.
00:00:54She didn't have a plan.
00:00:55She didn't care.
00:00:56She just wanted to kill as many people as possible.
00:00:58In the space of just ten days last spring, she murdered three men and then attempted to murder two others.
00:01:07You've got Rose West, and you've got Myra Hindley, and of course now, Joe Dennehy.
00:01:18People are fixated with this case because Joanna Dennehy is female.
00:01:28Stretch was there pretty much supporting Dennehy, who was the driving force behind everything.
00:01:33These were awful, awful, awful attacks in broad daylight to innocent members of the public, going about their business, walking their dogs.
00:01:42Joanna Dennehy has taken over our lives and has callously created a hole that cannot be filled.
00:01:47Nobody could have predicted that that beautiful blue-eyed girl would have gone on to be a monster.
00:02:00A mother who murdered three men and attempted to kill two others in Cambridgeshire has become only the third woman in Britain to receive a whole life sentence.
00:02:09For Joanna Dennehy, it's absolutely the right thing that she won't come out of prison.
00:02:14The motivations for her was seeking that infamy.
00:02:18As well as controlling other people, some people being put under her spell, she wanted to be known for murdering and for causing these horrific crimes.
00:02:27Joanne Dennehy is the most dangerous woman British criminal history's ever known.
00:02:38What? Murder, murder.
00:02:39It's nothing.
00:02:40It's like going down the Sunday road.
00:02:42Yeah, Sunday road.
00:02:57I had a call to look at a missing from home report.
00:03:14Kevin Lee, who was a resident of Peterborough, he'd been reported missing by his family.
00:03:19He hadn't returned home that evening.
00:03:22They reported that they'd been looking for Kevin at the places that they knew where he was likely to be.
00:03:27And at one address, his vehicle had been seen leaving at speed.
00:03:37The police subsequently found that vehicle on fire across at Yaxley.
00:03:42Which was the point at which someone said, hang on, you know, we need somebody to have a look at this because these two events together make this something of concern.
00:04:00The police forced entry to the property at 11 Rolleston Garth.
00:04:05That was the area from which Kevin Lee's vehicle had seemed to be speeding off.
00:04:09Within the premises, they did identify some blood staining, which elevated their cause for concern for Kevin's welfare.
00:04:16On a Saturday morning, a dog walker discovered a body in a remote area of Nubra.
00:04:35It was in a ditch.
00:04:38The body was positioned in a way which suggested that it had been either dumped from a car or potentially staged.
00:04:49The circumstances in which the body was found caused me to think, well, how has the body got there?
00:04:56Is that the scene of a crime or more likely to be a deposition site?
00:05:07Subsequently, that body was identified as that of Kevin Lee.
00:05:14Kevin Lee had died as a consequence of multiple stab wounds to the upper part of his body.
00:05:19We're in Middle Road in Nubra and just here you'll see the outline of a ditch.
00:05:32Heavily overgrown now because of the time of year.
00:05:35But it was in this ditch that Kevin Lee's body was found on the Saturday morning.
00:05:39This is an ideal spot, I think, for somebody looking to dispose of a body and not have it discovered for a period of time.
00:05:49It's a really remote area.
00:05:54But those early stages, we had no idea who was responsible for Kevin's death.
00:05:59It was every chance that, you know, with good and methodical investigation, we were going to be able to trace Kevin Lee's movements.
00:06:08And as a consequence, find out who he was in company with and hopefully who was responsible for his death.
00:06:21There was a consideration that the crime could have been sexually motivated.
00:06:25When we were aware that Kevin had gone missing and we started to find out a lot more about his background and his lifestyle,
00:06:36officers were following numerous lines of inquiry.
00:06:39The inquiries that were made identified that Kevin Lee was due to meet a woman on the day that he went missing.
00:06:47So it was a combination of his movements and other data, including phone data,
00:06:52which identified Joanna Dennehy.
00:07:01Joanna Dennehy had an extensive criminal history.
00:07:04She'd been in prison previously.
00:07:07She had committed offences of dishonesty and was known to the police generally within the Peterborough area,
00:07:12but as a lower level criminal.
00:07:16She was a tenant of Kevin Lee.
00:07:18So we established that he may have been in a relationship with Joanna Dennehy.
00:07:24Another individual also in the vicinity at the time that Joanna Dennehy is believed to have met Kevin Lee was Gary Stretch.
00:07:32Gary Stretch was also a well-known criminal figure within Peterborough.
00:07:42He had an extensive criminal past, lots of offences of dishonesty, periods of time in prison.
00:07:47When we were looking to locate Joanna Dennehy, she had gone missing and Gary Stretch had gone missing at the same time.
00:08:02Because of that, Gary Stretch and Joanna Dennehy were identified as clear suspects.
00:08:10Ultimately, a decision was made to go very public with those two individuals being wanted for the murder because they were incredibly distinctive.
00:08:26Gary Stretch was over seven foot tall.
00:08:29Joanna Dennehy had a tattoo of a star on her face.
00:08:32We were desperate to try and locate them. We were doing everything we possibly could to find them.
00:08:38And we had high hopes that by putting their details out to the media, they would be quickly identified and located.
00:08:43And I was not sure who they were too, they would be physically identified and located.
00:09:13I knew Gary from prison. He was a friendly chap.
00:09:18I wouldn't say like a bodybuilder's physique, but seven foot seven.
00:09:23I mean, it sounds like buckets.
00:09:28He's a gentle giant. He was in for doing silly things like burglaries,
00:09:32which he couldn't fit through windows.
00:09:35Odd things, and then he met her.
00:09:43MUSIC
00:09:48About nine o'clock that morning, the local cop come up to me and said,
00:09:51oh, you know that Gary's on the run for murder?
00:09:54I thought, really?
00:09:57I get a phone call off, like a friend I know,
00:10:00saying, I've got some stuff for you.
00:10:02Try to meet you in my house.
00:10:07I've gone down there about 20 minutes later on my push bike,
00:10:09and I've opened the door, and Den Hayes answered it.
00:10:13And she stank. I mean, like, as if they'd been living rough.
00:10:27She said, you must be Mark.
00:10:29I've walked into the front room, and Gary's stood there,
00:10:33and I thought, yeah, I knew I was in trouble then.
00:10:37And then she just pulled the knife out of her bra.
00:10:42He was caked in blood.
00:10:45When she pulled that knife out, and then her attitude,
00:10:49and Gary's attitude, he just went like a statue.
00:10:53And he said in the kitchen, look, Mark, you have to do what she says,
00:10:55or she will kill you.
00:10:57And I'm thinking, what am I going to do now?
00:11:01And then I said to Gary, he said, Gary, what, you really killed someone?
00:11:07And that's when Joanne Den Hayes said, no, Mark, he's the taxi driver, I do the killing.
00:11:19Gary said to me, look, Mark, I need some money.
00:11:23Well, apparently they've stolen some stuff, and Gary couldn't get rid of it.
00:11:27The table was full of TVs, iPads, iPhones, and these things were brand spanking new,
00:11:34but they were worth quite a lot of money.
00:11:36It was worth a good £3,000, £4,000 of mine.
00:11:40He just knew that I knew people in Hereford who would buy it instantly.
00:11:46And he said, look, Mark, sell this stuff for me.
00:11:51So I started making a few taxes,
00:11:54and, like, 20 minutes later I got a text back saying,
00:11:57meet me in Hereford, I'll buy a whole lot of you.
00:12:07There was no way out for me there.
00:12:09I couldn't go for Gary, he could have snapped me in half.
00:12:12I couldn't go for her,
00:12:13she was quite happily waving the knife around.
00:12:16I couldn't go out.
00:12:20So I arranged to meet in Tesco's on the outskirts of Hereford.
00:12:23And whilst I was in the car, I was thinking,
00:12:27right, let's see if I can get them ambushed,
00:12:30let's see if I can get a hold of the police.
00:12:36They'd stolen a camera,
00:12:37and they were taking photos all the way from Peterborough,
00:12:39all the way to Herefordshire.
00:12:41On the way to Herefordshire,
00:12:42she was taking photos of the Black Mountains
00:12:46and the black and white houses.
00:12:50You've seen that photo of me,
00:12:51yeah, what you don't realise, Gary is holding me down.
00:12:56And I'm thinking, what are you doing?
00:13:08Ten minutes after we got in the car,
00:13:10Gary was putting his foot down.
00:13:14And then she said to Gary,
00:13:16get me to Herefordshire, I'm going to kill some people.
00:13:24Necking his whisky down.
00:13:25Flashing the knife out, waving it around.
00:13:31And she kept going, I want a cigarette, I want a cigarette.
00:13:34And then as soon as I got up a hill,
00:13:36and then take the next left,
00:13:37there's a shop immediately.
00:13:40We pulled in.
00:13:42I thought, here's my chance.
00:13:43I'll go out.
00:13:45Go into the shop.
00:13:47Tell her to ring the police.
00:13:49But then she didn't trust me.
00:13:51So she followed me in immediately.
00:13:56She was right behind me.
00:13:58It looks like she's hugging me.
00:13:59She's not hugging me.
00:14:00She's got the knife.
00:14:01Like, in me back like that.
00:14:09I've got the tobacco.
00:14:10She's opened the till.
00:14:11And that's why I thought,
00:14:12Dene is going to jump the counter and rob her.
00:14:18And she started flirting with her.
00:14:20You've got a nice bottom.
00:14:21You've got beautiful hair.
00:14:22You've got a real slim body.
00:14:27And then we got back into the car.
00:14:29And then 30 seconds later,
00:14:30she's attacked the first leg.
00:14:31And then 30 seconds later,
00:14:32she's attacked the first leg.
00:14:33And then 30 seconds later,
00:14:34she's attacked the first leg.
00:14:35So cute of Jacob from 30 seconds later.
00:14:36And then before?
00:14:37Tell her that he had.
00:14:38And then, she can act on.
00:14:39And then 30 seconds later,
00:14:40up and go out and go around the car goes up.
00:14:41And she doesn't tell her.
00:14:43It's gonna fall right off,
00:14:44but we'll be back to a theater or at night soon.
00:14:45She has Debatte.
00:14:46He got a beautiful voice.
00:14:48And then your other side of the car is the flag.
00:14:50And then 30 seconds later he goes on.
00:14:51Oh, it was so cute.
00:14:52She's a guy, oh.
00:14:54And I found one of thedrops,
00:14:56magnetic caka Wait,
00:14:58it's like, oh, by the map!
00:15:01During the weekend we had a fairly significant breakthrough, there was a shoplifting at a
00:15:13service station in Norfolk.
00:15:17A police officer attended there and when they looked at the CCTV they saw two individuals
00:15:23very much fit in the description of Dennehy and Stretch.
00:15:31My name is Paul Williamson, I was a senior investigating officer in Hereford.
00:15:36The shoplifting incidents in Norfolk was a key breakthrough.
00:15:40What I remember distinctly from the CCTV is that the Vauxhall Astra vehicle pulls up onto
00:15:46the forecourt, Joanna Dennehy darts out of the passenger seat and then a shoplifting
00:15:52offence is committed by her, reported to the police and then the link is made with that
00:15:57vehicle.
00:15:58So having identified the licence plate of the car, we were then in a position to use CCTV
00:16:09and ANPR cameras to identify the location of the vehicle as it moved across the region.
00:16:22She was so agitated and so wanting to kill someone, so I just thought, look, let's just get them
00:16:46on the road.
00:16:47If she's on the road, she ain't killing anybody.
00:16:52And then she said to Gary, find me a victim, find me a victim, no women, no children.
00:16:57I want a man with a dog.
00:17:01And then we've got about 100 foot.
00:17:04This man with his dog is walking from the right hand side over to the left.
00:17:12Gary said, would he do?
00:17:15And she said, yeah, he'll do.
00:17:17Stop the car.
00:17:18She's got out.
00:17:20Then she said something and he's turned back around and that's when she just went into a
00:17:26frenzy.
00:17:27It must have been 20 times.
00:17:32Easily.
00:17:33Me and Gary have had a variable.
00:17:36I was signed up for this.
00:17:37I've been lured into her.
00:17:38Gary, what are you doing to me?
00:17:40He's turned around, gripped me on the shoulder.
00:17:44He said, Mark, you just have to let him do it.
00:17:47This is what she does.
00:17:48He didn't take his hand off my shoulder until he drove off.
00:17:52There was no way out for me.
00:17:56Absolutely no way out for me.
00:17:58And don't forget it, even though in my head it lasted 10 minutes, she was back in the
00:18:03car within three, maybe four minutes.
00:18:06It was quick.
00:18:07So by the time I was thinking about getting out, she was already back in the car.
00:18:12I'm thinking, well, someone's going to make a phone call.
00:18:15We're going to get up to the top of the traffic lights.
00:18:17We're going to get held up on the bridge.
00:18:22I honestly thought the bloke was dead.
00:18:27And then she just literally got back in and said, find me another one.
00:18:31This road here is the road that Johanna Dennehy and Gary Stretch were trying to do.
00:18:59Johanna Dennehy and Gary Stretch were travelling along in the vehicle with Mark Lloyd in the back of the vehicle.
00:19:06As they were travelling down the road, Gary Stretch pointed out the victim that we now know as Mr. Bresa on the left-hand side and said, word, something to the effect, will he do?
00:19:19The car pulled over.
00:19:21Johanna Dennehy got out of the car and inflicted a really, really serious stabbing attack on Mr. Bresa.
00:19:28So vicious was the attack that Mr. Bresa put his arm up to try and defend himself.
00:19:33And the blow was so significant, he actually broke a bone in his arm.
00:19:39So it was a really, really vicious and completely random attack.
00:19:46He's a retired firefighter. He was a postman.
00:19:49You'd often see Robin running. He was a runner. He was a member of a running club.
00:19:52So his face was very familiar to me.
00:19:54The whole events were incredibly shocking, but the fact that in some way I kind of got a personal connection to Mr. Bresa as somebody I knew locally made it even more shocking.
00:20:06My gut instinct was it was drugs related. I had no other information.
00:20:15But alongside of that, I am thinking, this is school holidays. This is a nice day.
00:20:22There are loads of children and families out on the streets when perhaps normally they would be in school.
00:20:28So I didn't know what was going to unfold, but that was really, really forefront of my mind,
00:20:34that we needed to get hold of this really, really quickly.
00:20:40Mr. Robin Bresa, he was stabbed three times in total.
00:20:44Had defensive injuries, a fracture to his rib and defensive injuries to his right arm as he's tried to fend off Joanna.
00:20:52And then he manages to basically escape, walk back home where he reports it to his father-in-law
00:20:58and the ambulance is called and the emergency service response comes in then.
00:21:02Mr. Bresa described to us a star tattoo on the cheek of his attacker, which was a really, really key piece of information
00:21:12and enabled us to bring this together very quickly.
00:21:16So after Joanna Dennehy had stabbed Mr. Bresa three times, she got back into the car and they just callously drove off towards the city centre.
00:21:26All she kept saying was, I need to get my fun. That was fun. I want another one. He's got to have a dog. He's got to have a dog.
00:21:40She's going on about, get me one, get me one, get me one.
00:21:48She's pulled the knife out the bar.
00:21:50But this time she's getting ready because Gary's saying we're getting closer to where the dog walkers are.
00:21:56The blokes walking from the left down towards the footpath. She's gone out and it was brutal.
00:22:14Caught in tow by Spice. There was no turning around. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
00:22:26Then he was on the floor. She's then gone on top of him. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
00:22:34Oh, three plus, maybe more. Yeah, I mean it was, it was, it was frenzy. That was horrific. That was, the trailer blow was unbelievable.
00:22:47This is Golden Post, quite residential area. And this is the location at which John Rogers was attacked.
00:23:05John Rogers was here or hereabouts with his dog. Joanna inflicted an incredibly violent attack on Mr. Rogers.
00:23:12A significant number of stab wounds to his back. A really, really significant wound across his abdomen, which was really, really severe.
00:23:23And of course, he was injured so badly that he pretty well collapsed where he'd been attacked.
00:23:32He had the lacerated bowels, lacerated kidney. And then at one stage, Joanna turns John onto his front and repeatedly start stabbing him.
00:23:43It is a truly ferocious attack. And by this stage, pools of blood's performing around him.
00:23:52He's drifting in and out of consciousness. He's pleading with her to stop.
00:23:57The distinctive phrase that I remember said that, oh, look, you're bleeding. I've got to do it some more.
00:24:03And continues to stab him.
00:24:05Having attacked John Rogers, and in reality, in my mind, I think Joanna Denny thought that she was leaving him for dead.
00:24:15As an additional twist of fate, she stole John Rogers' dog that he had there with him.
00:24:22Took it in the car. Goodness knows what the reason for that. It was almost like a final indignity.
00:24:32Stabbed a man, left him for dead. And then you've taken his dog as well.
00:24:36She put the dog in the back seat with me with the leech and collar on. And he was covered in blood from the head to the neck.
00:24:46And I just tried calming it down because it was shaking like a leaf.
00:24:48And I was thinking that was just something out of a horror movie.
00:25:18Up until the point at which she committed these very, very serious attacks, she was a petty minor criminal.
00:25:30There was nothing about what she'd done either was non-crime or a criminal history that could have given anybody an indication of what she was about to do.
00:25:40But we found nothing unusual about Joanna Denny's upbringing.
00:25:43Joanne grew up in Harpenden. Joanne had a stable, loving upbringing. Her dad, Kevin, was a security guard.
00:26:05Her mum, Kathleen, was a retail manager.
00:26:12Her parents owned a four-bedroom house.
00:26:15Her mother was very, very loving to her. And they wanted the best for Jo. I mean, there was no doubt about it.
00:26:21Joanne had a sister called Maria. They were really close. They got on really well.
00:26:27She was a really girly girl. She used to love dressing up in her mum's clothes, doing her hair and make-up.
00:26:36She went to a nice school, Roundwood Park School. People would have been, you know, happy to get their child into that secondary school.
00:26:47The interesting thing about Jo is she's very eloquent. She writes beautifully. Not a spelling mistake on the horizon.
00:26:54Grammar, syntax, everything's perfect with her, you know, beautifully presented on the page.
00:26:59Very cool, calm, educated girl.
00:27:02There weren't really any signs in her early childhood that she was going to be problematic.
00:27:10She was just a typical sort of Harpenden teenager, really.
00:27:15She'd hang around the park with friends and do things like have a sneaky drink of alcohol or smoke, those kind of things.
00:27:22Around about the age of 14, this is when the alcohol and the drugs started to come into her life.
00:27:32And she started meeting some fairground workers that were in Harpenden.
00:27:37They started giving her drink and some drugs. And I'm talking hard drugs. And I'm talking hard liquor.
00:27:44She ran away from home eight times. And every time, the police would bring her back.
00:27:55Rebellished at school, parents on her back all the time, trying to bring her back.
00:27:58She wanted to escape that. She wanted to break free. And then she moved with John Trainor.
00:28:08John Trainor, he was 21 at the time. She was 15.
00:28:11And they started living in a DOS bed sits. Mixing with a lot of very, very rough people.
00:28:20And, of course, it got worse and worse.
00:28:23Joanne had her first baby at 17.
00:28:27She had two children.
00:28:31She never cooked. She never cleaned.
00:28:34So she used John Trainor as a sort of house husband.
00:28:40For him to babysit where she went out with her other boyfriends and getting drunk and coming back.
00:28:45Smashed out of her head in front of John Trainor and the babies.
00:28:49And sticking a big dagger through the floor.
00:28:51Because he was upset about it.
00:28:54He was terrified.
00:28:55And that's when he fled with the child.
00:28:57John decided that it was not good for the children to be around Joanne at all.
00:29:04And took them off and he brought them up as a single dad.
00:29:08That was then the catalyst for Joanne to just really go off the rails.
00:29:14Nobody could have predicted that that beautiful blue-eyed girl would have gone on to be a monster.
00:29:23These were awful, awful attacks.
00:29:26In broad daylight to innocent members of the public going about their business, walking their dogs.
00:29:32There was no connection between Mr Rogers and Mr Bresa.
00:29:36No connection at all that we'd been able to establish between those who attacked him and Mr Rogers.
00:29:41He just was in the wrong place at the wrong time and fell victim to this really, really vicious attack by Joanne Denedy.
00:29:51John was 56 or 58 and he was in the wrong place.
00:29:54He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
00:29:57And fell victim to this really, really vicious attack by Joanne Denedy.
00:30:01John was 56 or 58 at the time and was in ill health.
00:30:14It had been for some time.
00:30:16But he was a gent.
00:30:18His wife was lovely and, you know, very caring of Archie as well.
00:30:23I mean, I'm not saying the first one was bad.
00:30:29It was bad, but the second one, as if she'd gone up another level then.
00:30:39And she just went absolutely...
00:30:43And fair use to that bloke, he crawled another 30 foot to the footpath.
00:30:51And then she's grabbed the dog, got back in, and then drove back up towards West Coast.
00:30:59And by this time, I'm here in multiple, multiple silence.
00:31:06I'm thinking that's it now.
00:31:07We're not going to get any further.
00:31:09Police response is huge, as it would be and should be for these types of incidents.
00:31:20And very quickly, you've got uniformed police response officers and detectives, local detectives, turning out to hunt down Joanna and Gary.
00:31:30Within 20 minutes of the second attack on John, they've gone to try and sell the stolen goods nearby.
00:31:40It's just at the back of the Oval.
00:31:42Oval shops is the scene, set back off the main Belmont Road.
00:31:47The attack of John Rogers has actually been very close to the Oval.
00:31:52Amongst my team are a group of experienced detectives.
00:31:55So their gut instinct was to get to the Oval.
00:31:58That there's likely to be something going on there.
00:32:01At the back of there, the Vauxhall Astra is parked and Joanna Dennehy is inside with Archie the dog.
00:32:17On this occasion, those officers faced the highest level of risk.
00:32:20They knew that they were going to arrest somebody who had just tried to kill two members of the public on the street.
00:32:32That was the highest degree of bravery to step forward and potentially face that confrontation.
00:32:38I expected her to put a fight up or put a knife.
00:32:49Well, no, she very calmly.
00:32:51I'm telling you I'm wrong when she had, you know, surrounded.
00:32:53She very calmly, got out of the car, put her hands out and then put her in the back of the Vsvan.
00:32:59That was it.
00:33:02They placed her under arrest.
00:33:04She offered no resistance to that and she offered no threat to those officers.
00:33:34Okay.
00:33:44And Joanna?
00:33:47Joanna, Christina, Dennehy.
00:33:51Joanna, do you have to be custody of the program?
00:33:52Yes.
00:33:55Is it Ms. Ms. Ms.
00:33:57Miss?
00:33:58Okay, what she said over again, please?
00:33:59Dennehy.
00:34:00Do you even double any?
00:34:01Your child.
00:34:02OK.
00:34:03How much do we have straight to that?
00:34:06Um, half a bottle of whiskey's mine.
00:34:10Expensive, sir.
00:34:13£80.
00:34:17Given the severity of what she's just inflicted
00:34:19on two innocent members of the public in the street,
00:34:22her behaviour was bizarre, really.
00:34:25Am I too sorry?
00:34:26No.
00:34:27Am I too cheery now?
00:34:28Yes.
00:34:29Good.
00:34:30Even though I am strict.
00:34:32Would you be cheery if you got flirted at the temperature moment?
00:34:35I wouldn't, but...
00:34:36No, I'm just smiling.
00:34:39On the video footage, she can clearly be seen
00:34:41flirting with officers in the custody block,
00:34:44which is incredibly unusual.
00:34:47I'm doing a t-shirt. This is amazing.
00:34:50That's good.
00:34:51Thanks, mate.
00:34:52That makes me feel so good.
00:34:54Really sexy.
00:34:57What you can see on the footage is I'm in the next booking area,
00:35:03you know what I mean?
00:35:04And I can hear her going on about eyebrows.
00:35:08It could be worse.
00:35:10It's like having a Sunday dinner.
00:35:12It's not very sensitive to eyebrows, isn't it?
00:35:13It's all right.
00:35:14Yeah.
00:35:15Yeah.
00:35:16I'll pluck them.
00:35:17They go right up all the time.
00:35:18It's all really...
00:35:19It's a little strip-dive on that.
00:35:20I used to dream it.
00:35:21Strip-dive.
00:35:22Up and down.
00:35:23Strip-dive eyebrows.
00:35:24Strip-dive eyebrows.
00:35:25Strip-dive eyebrows.
00:35:26I think that just goes to show how narcissistic she was.
00:35:53She was more concerned about how she was being perceived by others at that time, in that moment,
00:35:59rather than the very significant trauma she caused to so many people.
00:36:08Laughing I read off.
00:36:09As if it's all one big happy party to her.
00:36:13In the time that she was on the run, they likened herself to Bonnie and Clyde with Gary, and clearly I think one of the motivations for her was seeking that infamy.
00:36:28As well as controlling other people, and some people being put under her spell, she wanted to be known for murdering, for causing these horrific crimes.
00:36:38Because there's two cell suites in Eryford, I've gone to the left-hand one.
00:36:46She's gone to the right one.
00:36:48Last one, I remember, was literally, as she's been walked, ticked over and saying, singing in the rain.
00:36:54And that's the last hustle work.
00:36:57So what did I get arrested for?
00:36:59Due to the nature of the offences for which you've been arrested, you've been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and murder.
00:37:06Okay.
00:37:07Due to the nature of those arrests, officers clearly have got some inquiries to do and investigations to do.
00:37:16So when the team received the calls to say that Denny had been arrested, it was a huge relief.
00:37:21There'd been a lot of effort that had gone into trying to locate her, and finally she was in custody.
00:37:34The day after Denny's arrest, I was in the Major Crime Unit office, and there was a phone call.
00:37:41I went over, spoke to a control room operator, who told me that two further bodies had been found in a ditch.
00:37:52I was conscious that Kevin Lee's murder could be linked to the murders of these two individuals.
00:38:00If that were to be the case, we would be dealing with a serial killer.
00:38:04I'm running in my phone back.
00:38:11At the moment, they'll be seized as part of the investigation.
00:38:14So I'm going to jail, on a run, with nothing?
00:38:17I don't know you're going to jail, you have to do with jail.
00:38:20I do.
00:38:21Well, we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.
00:38:24No, I will.
00:38:25I do.
00:38:26I will.
00:38:27I will.
00:38:28I will.
00:38:29We've got the keys to the plates.
00:38:31Yes, we might.
00:38:32We'll just find the water, please.
00:38:34Not good.
00:38:35So we're now on a farm track which runs from Forney Dyke which is a couple of miles northeast of Peterborough.
00:39:00So the bodies were located here in this ditch and they were found by a farmer who was walking in the area that morning.
00:39:15There were two bodies lying adjacent to each other, not next to each other in the ditch but long ways along that ditch.
00:39:24And I could see from the position that I was stood in that they appeared to be the bodies of two men.
00:39:33Some days previously we had Kevin Lee's body found in a ditch as well.
00:39:37And so there was every chance that these matters were connected.
00:39:42One of these individuals in the ditch was identified as Lukasz Slabczewski.
00:39:47He had been in a relationship with Joanna Dennehy in the days and weeks leading up to his death.
00:39:52Lukasz was a Polish national living in Peterborough.
00:39:56And some days before it is believed that he was murdered, he met Joanna Dennehy in Peterborough.
00:40:03And it's believed that he struck up a relationship with her.
00:40:11Lukasz was last seen on the 19th of March at a catch point in Peterborough.
00:40:16And thereafter, there's no further sign of him, no trace.
00:40:32Lukasz, if anything, was quite naive.
00:40:34He thought he met a nice girl and, you know, she invited him round to the house.
00:40:39And he was excited and he told his sister, look, I'm happy, I've met somebody.
00:40:44A pretty little girl with a star on her face is flirting with him.
00:40:49He went there in all innocence.
00:40:54Dennehy lured him across to Eleven Rolleston Garth.
00:41:00And they murdered him by standing him in the chest.
00:41:09As he's bleeding to death, she's got Gary to make her a sandwich.
00:41:12Apparently a nervous day deserved it.
00:41:16There was forensic evidence at Rolleston Garth which proves that he was killed there.
00:41:22There was never a motive firmly established for the murder of Lukasz.
00:41:26It was clear that he had been texting Dennehy prior to his death.
00:41:31And the suggestion is that they were in some form of relationship.
00:41:36After Lukasz was stabbed at Rolleston Garth, that for a period of time his body was kept in a wheelie bin close to the premises.
00:41:43And I've got absolutely no doubt that she couldn't have achieved that on her own.
00:41:48And I strongly believe that Stretch was responsible with her for putting that body in the bin.
00:41:54When Lukasz's body was in the bin, Dennehy had been bragging about the fact that she'd killed him.
00:42:04She even showed a young 14-year-old girl the body in the bin.
00:42:06We're aware that Joan of Dennehy was familiar with this area and had come here before this general area.
00:42:16And probably when it was time for her to decide where she was going to deposit the bodies, this probably came to mind.
00:42:36It's a remote location and it doesn't appear that there are many people that walk past on a routine basis.
00:42:42Yes, of course, it's maybe not quite as remote as the location where Kevin Lee was found.
00:42:49But nevertheless, I think you could still drive here without being seen, without creating any interest in what you were doing.
00:42:56And have time to dispose of the bodies and make your getaway without being reported to the police.
00:43:02Lukasz was deposited here in the ditch first.
00:43:05The second body was identified as John Chapman.
00:43:12John Chapman was living in the same house as she was living in and had been missing.
00:43:20So ultimately, we're able to link these two men to Joanna Dennehy.
00:43:25I don't come back here much often now because I made a fresh life away from here.
00:43:39John always remained in my heart.
00:43:42It feels really weird coming here, seeing the house again, where it all happened.
00:43:45Where I can see directly, over there, is Joanne's room.
00:43:49Very community-minded people at the time when I was living here.
00:43:52I don't come back here much often now because I made a fresh life away from here.
00:43:55John always remained in my heart.
00:43:57It feels really weird coming here, seeing the house again, where it all happened.
00:43:59Where I can see directly, over there, is Joanne's room.
00:44:11Very community-minded people at the time when I was living here.
00:44:16Going to each other's houses for a cup of tea.
00:44:19You know, going to the shopping centre together.
00:44:22You know, it was that happy, go-lucky community.
00:44:25When she first moved in, we didn't know she was capable of murder.
00:44:31You don't expect that, do you?
00:44:33You can tell by looking at her she had problems, but not that severe.
00:44:41I've known John for a good few years.
00:44:46He went downhill when his wife died.
00:44:50And then he started drinking a bit more and people just take advantage of him.
00:44:55He was a sweet-natured man.
00:45:00He was sorry.
00:45:03Sorry.
00:45:07Joanne Denny has moved into Byfield with Gary Stretch.
00:45:11She started making John Chapman's life a misery.
00:45:17And he was scared.
00:45:19John was scared of her.
00:45:20He was saying, like, she's got to get rid of me.
00:45:22She don't like me.
00:45:24She don't like John.
00:45:25John's in the way.
00:45:26And all that, she wants to take control of the place.
00:45:29You know, if I'd known then, what Joanne was going to do, I would have just taken John in.
00:45:35And then one day, uh, John was drunk.
00:45:41He'd fallen asleep on his bed.
00:45:44And, uh, she stabbed him to death as he slept.
00:45:47John Chapman died as a consequence of stab wounds to the chest.
00:45:50The premises at Byfield, where we knew that Joanne Denny had been living.
00:45:56It was searched.
00:45:58And in the garden, there was a mattress found that had blood staining to its underside.
00:46:02But she said, Mark, I had to kill him because I was having a bath.
00:46:14He's coming to the bathroom, knowing that I was in there.
00:46:18He was a pervert. He was looking at me.
00:46:24So I had to kill him.
00:46:25I don't, for one moment, believe that's likely to be true.
00:46:31I think she killed John Chapman because she had a bloodlust and wanted to kill somebody.
00:46:36And John Chapman just happened to be there.
00:46:41To wait till he was asleep, you know, to do it, stab him five times in the chest and once in the neck.
00:46:49No.
00:46:50No, no way's a good way to die but to be knifed that many times.
00:47:01Miss you, John.
00:47:11We, at that stage, hadn't quite established what the motive was.
00:47:15We needed to understand why Denny had committed those crimes.
00:47:20I can't state what drove Joanna to make that step from committing petty crimes to becoming a serial murderer.
00:47:30It's a significant step to make.
00:47:32But if you look at the facts that were gathered during the course of our investigations, and the things that Joanna said, for example, to witnesses, you know, I want my phone, I want to kill, this victim selection, and a demeanor, as described by key witnesses, the motivation is clearly thrill-seeking.
00:47:52And that desire and lust, I call it, to kill.
00:48:01Joanna's sort of criminal career starts off with minor offences, shot lifting, I think she attacked somebody with a razor blade, a gradual progression.
00:48:09I mean, you know, it's all predictable.
00:48:12Everything is predictable.
00:48:18With serial killers, it's a graduation.
00:48:21Almost like an apprenticeship.
00:48:22But they cross the threshold, one threshold, two threshold, then it comes to kill.
00:48:31And then they get a taste for it, they got away with it.
00:48:33Joanne Dennehy, her first kill was exactly for that.
00:48:36Can I do it on my own?
00:48:38Because I hate men.
00:48:40And she did.
00:48:41And she got a taste for it.
00:48:42Joanne Dennehy also had this innate desire to control.
00:48:49And I think, for her, the step up to using that control, to be able to lure somebody to murder them,
00:49:00that added something to her in what she was doing, and of course, Gary Stretch was part of that journey.
00:49:06And having done it once, and then a second and a third time,
00:49:10it is almost like this desire to, and what can I, what is the next step?
00:49:14What can I do now?
00:49:16And in my view, we saw that clearly manifested on the streets of Hereford,
00:49:20where two victims were just randomly attacked.
00:49:24No prior planning, no prior connection, not lured to a location.
00:49:28They were just randomly attacked viciously on the street.
00:49:30All she said to me was, it was easier than I thought,
00:49:36because, Mark, I've always fantasized about doing it,
00:49:39but when I did it, it was easy.
00:49:41And when I did it, I wanted to do some more.
00:49:45She just, she liked it.
00:50:01No.
00:50:02Am I cheery now?
00:50:03Yes.
00:50:05Good.
00:50:06Would you be cheery, Joanne?
00:50:07Yeah.
00:50:08Even though I am strict.
00:50:09Would you be cheery if you got something to mow and mow?
00:50:12I wouldn't, but...
00:50:13No, but I was a slyther.
00:50:14Once the bodies were found, there was some concern
00:50:33as to how many bodies we're likely to be finding in remote locations.
00:50:38Kevin Lee's body had been found, two further bodies here at this location,
00:50:42and the obvious concern was that somebody, if these were all connected,
00:50:46may be responsible for further murders, and bodies were yet to be found.
00:50:51It was never established why Dennehy just chose men to murder.
00:51:04There is evidence that suggests that she was not interested in murdering women or children,
00:51:10particularly when she tried to murder those two men in West Mercia.
00:51:15There's lots of speculation as to why she wanted to kill men as opposed to women.
00:51:21Kevin Lee was found in a woman's dress, and the buttocks were exposed.
00:51:29So it may well have been a sex game that went wrong.
00:51:33The body could have been put in that position to humiliate the victim.
00:51:38Equally, there is the possibility that he may have been aware of the murders
00:51:43that she committed with Lucas and John,
00:51:46and that Kevin Lee, at that point, became somebody who presented a risk to Dennehy,
00:51:52and she killed him for that purpose.
00:51:57Kevin Lee ran a business called Quick Let's in the area.
00:52:02Joanna Dennehy, she was a tenant at a number of his properties over time.
00:52:08Kevin Lee would use any means to get rid of a tenant and move somebody else in,
00:52:15without going through the problems with the courts.
00:52:18Joanna Dennehy, she was viewed as a bit of an enforcer.
00:52:22She was used to go into properties where Kevin Lee wanted people evicted,
00:52:26or, in fact, where there wasn't rent paid on time,
00:52:30and he wanted her to recover monies from people,
00:52:33and she was used as a little bit of an enforcer for him.
00:52:36Muscles were high for Kevin, weren't she?
00:52:39They'd go around collecting rent and debts for him.
00:52:42If you ain't got no money, bang, she used to beat you up.
00:52:46She ended up in this relationship with Gary Stretch that was one of control and bullying vulnerable tenants who were getting behind with rent,
00:52:59and that petty criminality and that bullying nature and culture obviously grew and became pervasive.
00:53:09I think Dennehy used men as utilities in her life, you know, to get what she wanted,
00:53:14and, you know, there is no doubt that, you know, her relationship with Kevin Lee brought for her some advantages.
00:53:22Certainly the influence she had over Stretch, again, brought for Dennehy further advantages.
00:53:32She was cold towards Gary, but I don't think Gary saw that.
00:53:35Gary was like, I've got an attractive girl.
00:53:38Someone actually likes me, someone trusts me and all that,
00:53:41and I'm looking at Gary thinking, come on, mate.
00:53:44She has to know, she's absolutely no interest in you at all.
00:53:48You're just, like she said, you're just the driver.
00:53:51I swear if John Dennehy could have driven her, she'd have probably dumped Gary in Cambridge.
00:53:56You just got to use Gary, mate.
00:53:58Simple as that.
00:54:01Gary's, he's a big man, he could have picked you up, John Dennehy,
00:54:05just breaking you like a twig, but he didn't, he was under the smell.
00:54:08She was very, how can I put it, intimidating. You could see that she had that in her.
00:54:17I was a bit weary of her, because, you know, she had scars all over her body, and she was very flirtatious.
00:54:23And once she fell into that spell of hers, that's how she controlled them,
00:54:28controlled them little puppets on the string.
00:54:34She was flirting with me, touching my thighs.
00:54:38Because, oh my God, I could have so much fun with you.
00:54:40But when she touched me, it was like being touched by a rattlesnake.
00:54:42She wanted men to be influenced by her. She wanted them to do what she wanted.
00:54:55When you look at the video of her in custody at West Mercia Police,
00:55:01again, even at that stage, she's flirting with police officers, she's, you know, batting her eyelids.
00:55:05I think what you're seeing with that behaviour with Joanna Dennehy is her ability to switch from extreme violence to,
00:55:22you know, almost a lighthearted mood. It's just really, really odd behaviour.
00:55:27And to some degree, the flirting with officers is an extension of the way in which she
00:55:32sort of build relationship with men to exert some control over them.
00:55:36I'm doing a t-shirt, Colin. This is amazing.
00:55:40Looks good.
00:55:41Thanks, Matt.
00:55:43You're so good.
00:55:45Real sexy.
00:55:47But I don't think she ever gave a second thought to the consequences of what she'd done.
00:55:52Moreover, she just wanted to further her reputation as somebody who was a cold-blooded killer.
00:55:57Properly understood the detail associated with the how, the where and the when.
00:56:04But the why was a question that we couldn't quite establish without Dennehy cooperating.
00:56:12Joanna Dennehy was a control freak and a master manipulator.
00:56:16And that's not going to stop when she goes to court.
00:56:18She's got an audience there. She knows that everybody else expect her to plead not guilty.
00:56:29Most of the detectives involved in the investigation wanted to understand why she'd committed these offences.
00:56:35She'd entered a not guilty plea. We had anticipated a full trial over a number of weeks to test all the evidence.
00:56:41So, having identified Dennehy as a clear suspect in the murders of all three men, it was important for us to be able to put the evidence.
00:56:46that we'd gathered to Dennehy to get her account.
00:56:50So, having identified Dennehy as a clear suspect in the murders of all three men, it was important for us to be able to put the evidence that we'd gathered to Dennehy to get her account.
00:57:13In terms of the evidence, obviously, we had the individual evidence of the two victims, Mr. Bresa and Mr. Rogers, as we know.
00:57:22Mr. Bresa spotting the star tattoo was really, really key.
00:57:26Forensic examination of the wounds, of the weapon that was used, of Joanna Dennehy's clothing, which, you know, would potentially have blood spattering on it.
00:57:36We can now start to prepare and get ready to interview Dennehy.
00:57:45My officers then went to Cambridgeshire Police Station to interview her regarding the two attempt murders in Hereford.
00:57:57No comment.
00:58:06The only person that ever commented on the interview out of Gary and Joanna was Gary.
00:58:11On the initial interview at Hereford Police Station, after which he was charged.
00:58:19Gary tried to minimise involvement, so he didn't go no comment, admitted to driving, the vehicle, the sequence of events he went through.
00:58:28But then the key moments, well, didn't see anything. Didn't know what Joanna was doing.
00:58:35Yeah, she got out of the car, didn't see anything. She got back in the car.
00:58:37Following Dennehy's interview, we were satisfied that we had sufficient evidence to put before a court for the murders of Kevin Lee, John Chapman and Lukas Slabijevsky.
00:58:49And the Crown Prosecution Service authorised the charge and she was charged with their murders.
00:58:55In court, Dennehy seemed very relaxed in the dock, laughing and chatting to the other defendants before the proceedings started.
00:58:58In court, Dennehy seemed very relaxed in the dock, laughing and chatting to the other defendants before the proceedings started.
00:59:15And that smiling, relaxed behaviour continued throughout the hearing.
00:59:28People are fixated with this case because Joanna Dennehy is female.
00:59:36Clearly there are occasions when women are convicted of multiple murders over a period of time.
00:59:46But usually that's when they're working with or in support of a male perpetrator.
00:59:51And in these circumstances, that was somewhat reversed in so much as Stretch was there pretty much supporting Dennehy,
00:59:58who was the driving force behind everything.
01:00:00We had a wealth of evidence.
01:00:03So we had the bloodstained knife, the fast-track forensics back.
01:00:07We had the CCTV evidence reconstructing the journey.
01:00:11The witness evidence, in particular of Mark Lloyd.
01:00:14It was clear that he was under duress at the time when he was in the vehicle.
01:00:20And he was a witness to everything that went on.
01:00:24So you didn't have a choice?
01:00:26Well, I did have a choice, but I wouldn't have made it to the front door.
01:00:31Not a chance at all.
01:00:33And where was I supposed to go?
01:00:35And I'm thinking, if I leave these two, knowing that they know that I'm going to go to the police,
01:00:41she might just go on a rampage.
01:00:44And there was the potential that, during that trial process, we would establish further facts
01:00:53and maybe understand why Dennehy had committed those crimes.
01:00:58Joanne Dennehy was a control freak and a master manipulator.
01:01:03And that's not going to stop when she goes to court.
01:01:06She's got an audience there.
01:01:08She knows that everybody else expect her to plead not guilty.
01:01:13We had anticipated she'd entered a not guilty plea.
01:01:18We had anticipated a full trial over a number of weeks to test all the evidence.
01:01:26Joanne Dennehy stood up and said, guilty, which took us all by surprise.
01:01:37I think that was a sign of her trying to take control of the situation with her barrister,
01:01:45because it was completely unexpected.
01:01:51That played once again into Dennehy's character,
01:01:55the way in which she wanted to choreograph events to build her notoriety.
01:02:00That was Joanne's final act of control.
01:02:05That she was able to control the whole court in that way.
01:02:10Gary Stretch and others actually pleaded not guilty and went to trial.
01:02:15Gary Stretch was sent to prison for life,
01:02:21but with a minimum recommendation that he serves 19 years in custody.
01:02:25She is terribly dangerous, she's so dangerous that
01:02:55when she first was admitted to HMP Bronzefield, she threatened to kill Rose West.
01:03:03She's terrified Rose West that they shipped Rose West into Rule 43 and moved her out the next morning.
01:03:09She has attempted an escape.
01:03:12If they bring her out, she gets into the general population, the chances are she's killed somebody.
01:03:20The fact is that someone like Dennehy will never be rehabilitated.
01:03:23She will never reform, she will always present a danger to the public.
01:03:26And it's quite right in those circumstances that that's the sentence that she received.
01:03:35No one knew that she was capable of what she was doing, what she'd done.
01:03:40No one did.
01:03:41If I had known, I would have just taken John under my wings and put him in Byfield with me,
01:03:50because John was homeless.
01:03:52Like Lucas was and Kev was.
01:03:55Kev was a doubt.
01:03:56He's not going to see his children grow up.
01:03:58Lucas, he's not going to see his mum and dad no more.
01:04:02And John, he's with his wife again.
01:04:06Does it mean like, she's done up to three families.
01:04:11The motivation is clearly thrill-seeking.
01:04:16And that desire and lust, I call it, to kill, that she developed.
01:04:23And that transposed itself from killing people she knew,
01:04:29then to random attacks on strangers in Hereford.
01:04:32But I don't think we'll ever find out the answers unless she chooses to tell us.
01:04:37Joanne Dennehy doesn't care about anything.
01:04:43It's difficult to explain.
01:04:45This woman has got no conscience.
01:04:47There's nothing in her head to say sorry or I'm trying to brag about it or anything else.
01:04:53She does it because she loves it.
01:04:59Joanne Dennehy is an individual driven by narcissism.
01:05:06And her own desire to be notorious.
01:05:11And she deserves to spend the rest of her life in prison.
01:05:16And if you or someone you know has been affected by what you've seen in this programme tonight,
01:05:33organisations offering support can be found at channel5.com slash helplines.
01:05:38Next, officers finally tracked down a man suspected of a series of armed robberies.
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