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Joanna Dennehy stabbed victims in heart, court told Joanna Dennehy 'cast spell' over men she stabbed in heart, court told
(about 7 hours later)
A woman stabbed three men in the heart in a 10-day spree of violence, the trial of her two alleged accomplices has heard. Serial killer Joanna Dennehy "cast a spell" over her victims before going on a 10-day spree of violence, a court has heard.
Joanna Dennehy, 31, has admitted stabbing to death three men and dumping their bodies in ditches in Cambridgeshire. After the killings she drove to Hereford where she selected two other men at random and stabbed them in the street, Cambridge crown court heard. Both men survived. The 31-year-old has admitted stabbing three men in the heart and dumping their bodies in ditches in Cambridgeshire but until now little has been known of the killings.
Until now little explanation of how or why Dennehy carried out the killings had been given in court. As the trial of her alleged accomplices Gary Stretch, 47, and Leslie Layton, 36, began on Wednesday, prosecutor Peter Wright QC said both men helped Dennehy in her bid to cover up the "terrible truth" of the murders, adding: "These men came under the spell of Dennehy."
Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said two men, Gary Stretch and Leslie Layton, helped Dennehy to cover up the "terrible truth" of the murders. "These men came under the spell of Joanna Dennehy," he said. The bodies of Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, Kevin Lee, 48, and John Chapman, 56, were found dumped in ditches in March and April last year.
The bodies of Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, John Chapman, 56, and Kevin Lee, 48, were found dumped in ditches in Cambridgeshire in March and April. The prosecutor described how, after the killings, Dennehy and Stretch drove to Hereford where they selected two other men at random. She repeatedly stabbed them in the street but both survived.
Wright said: "The first to die, Lukasz Slaboszewski, was befriended by Dennehy and lured to his death at a property she had access to. His body was left in a green wheelie bin for some time until she moved it to a ditch on farmland nearby." Wright added that Slaboszewski and Lee were also drawn by Dennehy's spell: "They paid for that with their lives."
It is alleged that Stretch helped her move the body after the killing, which happened between 19 and 29 March. Dennehy met Slaboszewski, a heroin addict, shortly before his death. She lured him to a house in Rolleston Garth, Peterborough, with a series of texts on 19 March and he was never seen again, Wright said.
Chapman, the second victim, was stabbed to death in a bedsit in Orton Goldhay on 29 March before being dumped alongside the body of Slaboszewski. His body was kept in a wheelie bin before being transported to the isolated Thorney Dyke.
Lee, a businessman who ran a property letting firm and was having an affair with Dennehy, was killed on the same day as Chapman, Wright said. "She murdered him by stabbing him to death." Wright told the court: "She even showed the body to a teenage girl quite casually as it lay in the wheelie bin."
Dennehy, of Orton Goldhay, Peterborough, pleaded guilty to the murders at the Old Bailey in London in November and is in custody awaiting sentencing. She also admitted preventing the lawful and decent burial of the dead men and two charges of attempting to murder Robin Bereza and John Rogers in Hereford in April. Chapman and Lee were both killed on 29 March.
Stretch, real name Gary Richards, 47, of Orton Goldhay, has denied three charges of preventing the lawful burial of all three men and two counts of attempted murder. Chapman, who served with the Navy in the Falklands war but had fallen on hard times, lived in a bedsit in the same run-down property as Dennehy in Bifield, Orton Goldhay, Peterborough.
Layton, 36, also of Orton Goldhay, has denied perverting the course of justice and two counts of preventing the lawful burial of the bodies of Chapman and Lee. Residents of the bedsits had dubbed her the "man woman" because of her intimidating nature.
A third man, Robert Moore, 55, of Peterborough, has admitted assisting an offender and is also awaiting sentence. Wright said Chapman, under the influence of drink and drugs, was "at the mercy" of Dennehy as she stabbed him to death in his bedsit.
Wright said Dennehy and Stretch drove across the country seeking out further victims on 2 April. "Not satisfied with murdering three men in the east of the country, Joanna Dennehy and Gary Stretch set off by vehicle and made their way to Hereford," he said. "There they together committed further acts of serious violence against two entire strangers who just happened to come across their path." Afterwards she invited the two defendants to the property and Layton photographed Chapman's body on his mobile phone, the court heard.
After driving around Hereford searching for victims, Dennehy selected Bereza and Rogers and repeatedly stabbed them, Wright said. "They were people they had never met who just happened to be on the street at the time. Joanna Dennehy got out of the vehicle while Gary Stretch waited. Both men were left for dead." Lee, a property manager who was having an affair with Dennehy, had let the bedsit to Chapman.
Dennehy and Stretch were "acting as a couple, they were a team", Wright said. "Joanna Dennehy may have been the killer but Gary Stretch was able to act as her willing accomplice in disposing of their bodies and was comfortable in her company. He had every opportunity to leave but he chose to participate." He was described as being in love with Dennehy and had used her to intimidate residents who would not do as he wished.
Wright said Layton was a willing participant who took steps to distance Dennehy from responsibility for the murders. But he became her victim and was stabbed multiple times after visiting her at the same address where Slaboszewski died.
The trial continues. Wright added that Dennehy and Stretch then drove across the country seeking out further victims on 2 April.
"Not satisfied with murdering three men in the east of the country, Dennehy and Stretch set off by vehicle and made their way to Hereford," he said. "There they committed further acts of serious violence against two entire strangers who just happened to come across their path."
After driving around Hereford searching for victims, Dennehy selected Robin Bereza and John Rogers.
Wright said: "They were people they had never met who just happened to be on the street at the time.
"Both men were left for dead."
Describing the involvement of the two defendants, Wright said: "Joanna Dennehy may have been the killer but Gary Stretch was able to act as her willing accomplice in disposing of their bodies and was comfortable in her company."
He added that Layton had also been a willing participant who took steps to distance Dennehy from responsibility for the murders.
Lee's body was found by a dog walker in a ditch near Newborough on 30 March and a farmer found the remaining two bodies four days later.
Dennehy, of Orton Goldhay, pleaded guilty to the murders at the Old Bailey in November and is in custody awaiting sentencing.
She also admitted preventing the lawful and decent burial of all three victims and two charges of attempted murder.
Stretch, real name Gary Richards, of Riseholme, Orton Goldhay, has denied three charges of preventing the lawful burial of all three men and two counts of attempted murder.
Standing at 7ft 3in tall, Stretch sat in the dock wearing a blue T-shirt and a crucifix necklace and listened to proceedings through a hearing aid.
Layton, of Bifield, has denied perverting the course of justice and two counts of preventing the lawful burial of the bodies of Chapman and Lee.
A third man, Robert Moore, 55, of Belvoir Way, Peterborough, has admitted assisting an offender and is also awaiting sentence.
The case is expected to last up to four weeks.
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