Joanne Dennehy, the Peterborough ditch murderer, killed three men in March 2013 including Lukasz Slaboszewski, her housemate, and Kevin Lee – singing Britney Spears after the third murder
Joanne Christine Dennehy, the notorious Peterborough ditch killer who slaughtered three men during a savage 10-day killing rampage, had a twisted celebration song after murdering her third victim.
Dennehy exclusively hunted men, declaring she would never harm a woman, particularly not a mother. Following years of minor offences and drink problems, the mum embarked on her deadly spree in March 2013.
She revealed her twisted motivation to an accomplice in 11 bone-chilling words: “I want my fun. I need you to get my fun.”
Dennehy’s initial victim was Lukasz Slaboszewski. The Polish man was convinced Dennehy was his partner. Upon meeting Dennehy, Slaboszewski messaged a friend saying: “Life is beautiful”, reports the Mirror.
Dennehy later confessed to a psychiatrist that she murdered Slaboszewski “to see if I was as cold as I thought I was”. She lured the man to her home with explicit messages before plunging a blade into his heart and disposing of his corpse in a wheelie bin.
Shockingly, she displayed the body to a 14-year-old girl she had manipulated, claiming she found the killing “moreish” and had acquired “a taste for it”. Seven days later, she attacked once more, stabbing her 56-year-old flatmate to death with a pocket knife.
On the same day, she murdered Kevin Lee employing an identical honey-trap technique, fatally stabbing him within her own residence. She subsequently clothed his corpse in a black sequined gown and positioned the body in a ditch, deliberately exposing his buttocks.
Throughout her trial, the judge stated she had purposefully sought to degrade Lee even in death. Disturbingly, following this incident she rang a mate to perform the Britney Spears track “Oops… I Did It Again” and celebrated gleefully upon witnessing a television news bulletin about the slayings, which occurred over a fortnight.
However, her killing spree wasn’t over. Weeks afterwards, her accomplice Gary Stretch transported her to neighbouring Hereford where she randomly assaulted two gentlemen walking their pets, abandoning both for dead and stealing the second victim’s dog.
Eventually, Dennehy admitted guilt to three murder charges and two attempted murder counts in November 2013. The presiding judge, Mr Justice Spencer, branded her “a cruel, calculating, selfish and manipulative murderer”.
Stretch also received a life sentence, whilst two additional accomplices were handed terms of 14 and three years respectively. There’s no apparent motive behind Dennehy’s killing rampage beyond a simple urge to murder.
Trial witnesses testified that Dennehy fantasised to them about emulating Bonnie and Clyde. Gary Stretch revealed she had described the killings as “entertainment” for her.
She also allegedly expressed a desire to harm and kill only men, vowing never to attack a woman, particularly one with children like herself. During the trial, Mr Justice Spencer declared that Dennehy was afflicted with paraphilia sadomasochism, a psychological disorder characterised by deriving sexual pleasure from inflicting pain and humiliation.