What did Joanna Dennehy do?
In March 2013, Joanna Dennehy killed two of her roommates and her landlord, in what eventually became known as the Peterborough Ditch Murders.
31 year old Lukasz Slaboszewski was the first victim, a guy she met several days prior. After drinking together, she took him to a house her landlord owned and blindfolded him. Joanna then proceeded to stab him in the heart and stored him in a dumpster.
Days later, Joanna killed one of her housemates, 56-year-old John Chapman, using the exact same method. Hours later, she murdered their landlord, 48-year-old Kevin Lee, with whom she was having an affair. However, before killing Kevin she convinced him to wear a black dress before stabbing him.
Joanna used her contacts in Peterborough, notably Gary “Stretch” Richards and Leslie Layton, to transport and dump the victims in ditches, including putting Lee in a sexually explicit position to humiliate him.
The trio then drove west, across to Hereford, looking for more people for Dennehy to murder. Once there, Joanna came across two male dogwalkers at random, John Rogers and Robin Bereza. Dennehy stabbed Robin in the shoulder and chest, and then stabbed John over 40 times. She also stolen the Robin’s dog. Thankfully, medical help came quickly and saved both men’s lives.
Dennehy’s goal was apparently to kill 9 men in total, a bid to emulate the infamous duo of Bonnie and Clyde. Ultimately she failed, given she was tracked down by police and arrested.
Dennehy laughed and flirted with the male police officer who processed her. While awaiting trial, police found Dennehy’s diary too, which detailed an escape plot involving cutting off a guard’s finger and using the fingerprint to trick the security system. Joanna was then placed in solitary confinement for two years until after the court proceedings concluded.
What was Joanna’s childhood like?
Joanna Dennehy had a difficult upbringing. Born in Hertfordshire in August 1982, Dennehy left home at the age of 16 with her boyfriend, 21 year old John Treanor. Dennehy fell pregnant a year later, in 1999, and was irate as she never wanted children.
As soon as her daughter was born, Dennehy drank to excess, took drugs and began cutting herself.
Despite all of this, Dennehy fell pregnant again in 2005, and John Treanor eventually left her and took the kids with him. Apparently Dennehy was also cheating on John and self-harming during this time, becoming a toxic liability to the whole family.
After John left, Denny moved to Peterborough where she allegedly funded her addictions through sex work. This may well explain her hatred for men, along with deep rooted resentment for John walking out on her.
In February 2012, when Joanna was 29, she was arrested for theft and admitted to the hospital for psychiatric treatment. Whilst there, she was diagnosed with anti-social disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. A year later, her killing spree began.
Where is Joanna Dennehy now?
Joanna Dennehy will serve life behind bars. In November 2013, Dennehy pleaded guilty to all three murders and those attempted murders on the dogwalkers. However, Joanne ended up in the spotlight again by finding love in the form of cellmate Hayley Palmer. She tried to marry her in 2018 but Palmer’s family worried that Dennehy would put her in danger. That same year, the two tried to kill themselves in a failed suicide pact.
In 2019, Dennehy was transferred to Low Newton Prison, the same place where notorious serial killer Rose West was being held. Dennehy made a threat on West’s life so she had to be moved for her own safety. However, it’s worth noting that the government actually denied this claim.
In June 2020, Dennehy was reported to be in a relationship with another prisoner called Emma Aitken, a 25-year-old serving time behind bars for helping to murder a man whose body was dumped outside a social club. However, this was short-lived.
In May 2021, Dennehy and Palmer got back together. It’s reported that Dennehy wrote letters to men while in prison in a bid to lure in victims to her game.
Joanna Dennehy will remain behind bars for life though, and her wicked, twisted story shows a distinct lack of humanity. This, coupled with her psychopathic tendencies, make her a threat to herself and those around her, as well as one of the most dangerous women in Britain.
Joanna Dennehy’s journey into the criminal system have been a big talking point recently, especially with recent documentaries highlighting how dangerous she is. What do you think of Dennehy’s case? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
I know Joanna and she will loving the attention you are giving her when you keep churning out these articles.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.
You know, whatever happens from the date you publish is partly your fault.