True Crime Friday: Joanna Christine Dennehy, Peterborough Ditch Serial Killer

Joanna Dennehy is a British serial killer. In March 2013, she killed at least three people and critically injured two people throughout her reign of terror. On more than one occasion, she would get out of her car and attack people walking their pets. She was a lust killer. She met a man at a bar, proposed sex and drugs to lure him to his apartment. Once he took her back to his apartment she stabbed him to death. The authorities began to discover male’s bodies being found in ditches through the countryside. Hence the moniker of Peterborough Ditch Serial Killer

The Early Childhood of Joanna Dennehy

Joanna Dennehy was said to have had a normal childhood. She was bright, energetic and fun loving said by those who knew her. She has many friends and enjoyed spending time with family. Unlike most serial killers, she did not wet the bed, kill small animals or have an abusive childhood or lived in poverty. She even married and had a child but during this time she began displaying psychopathic tendencies. She began to see a psychiatrist before she started serial killing and was diagnoses with a range of serious mental conditions. She was described as having anti-social behavior disorder which would manifest itself in anger, aggression, losing unabated impulse control and overall irresponsibility.

She has no empathy or sympathy for the suffering of others. Remorse was unknown emotion to Dennehy according to her doctors. It was said by those who knew her that she was a master manipulator, which is a classic trait of psychopaths. She had a history of being in constant trouble with the law. She was arrested for drug use several time and she also had a history of alcohol abuse.

The Victims of Joanna Dennehy

• Kevin Lee, 48
• Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31
• John Chapman, 56

The Survivor of Joanna Dennehy

• Robin Bereza
• John Rogers
• Her Child
• Ex-Husband

The Accomplices of Joanna Dennehy

• Gary Stretch, 47
• Leslie Layton, 36
• Robert Moore, 55

Dennehy’s partner in crime and her boyfriend was Gary Stretch. He was driving the car when she got out an attacked Robin Bereza as he was walking his dog. John Rogers was also walking his dog when he was stabbed by Dennehy. Robert Moore was travelling in the car unwillingly with Dennehy and Stretch. He was later cleared of all criminal involvement. Joanna Dennehy was living rent free and assisting Kevin Lee with collecting rent money from tenants. He owned several properties and was the lover and landlord of Dennehy. He once told his wife that Joanna was tough and everyone paid their rent for fear of reprisal from her. He ended up being one of her victims.

Lady Justice

When Dennehy was arrested and booked in jail she can be seen laughing it up and flirting with the police officers on video. It was as though she was just making a visits to the precinct instead of being booked on first degree murder charges. Joanna Dennehy was tried and convicted for murder and attempted murder in the Crowns Court in Britain. While in prison on a whole life term, meaning she will never be released, she requested permission to marry her cellmate Hayley Palmer. In 2018, both Dennehy and Palmer tried to kill themselves at the same time. In June, 2020 Dennehy was reported to be in a relationship with another prisoner, Emma Aitken, a 25-year-old serving a twelve-year sentence for her part in the murder of a man whose body was dumped outside a club. It was again reported that Dennehy and Palmer reunited and still intended to marry.

Eventually, Dennehy was moved to Low Newton Prison. Upon her arrival she allegedly threatened to kill the guards and her cellmate.

Reference

• From netball team to psychopath: the strange descent of Joanna Dennehy
• Joanna Dennehy: serial killer becomes first woman told by judge to die in jail
• Joanna Dennehy knife attack survivors relive their ordeals in court
• Peterborough ditch murders