In the grim annals of British crime, only four women have ever been handed a whole life sentence, meaning they will die behind bars. Among the infamous names of Myra Hindley, Rosemary West, and Lucy Letby sits Joanna Christine Dennehy, a killer whose motive was distilled into one chilling 12-word phrase.
The "Fun" of Murder: A Ten-Day Killing Spree
In March 2013, over a brutal ten-day period, Dennehy embarked on a murderous rampage in Cambridgeshire that would claim three lives. Her stated reason was shockingly simplistic: she found it "fun". As she told an accomplice in her own twisted words: "I want my fun. I need you to get my fun."
Dennehy, born in St Albans in August 1982, had a seemingly stable start. From an affluent and loving family, she was academically successful with hopes of a legal career. However, her descent into alcohol, drugs, and petty crime began in her mid-teens. By 15, she had left home to live with an older man, John Treanor, with whom she had two children before the relationship turned violent and he left, taking the children and leaving her homeless.
In 2012, she was diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder. After her release from a theft charge, she met 48-year-old Kevin Lee, a Peterborough landlord. They began a sexual relationship and she worked as his rent enforcer.
The Victims and the "Moreish" Taste for Killing
Her killing spree began with Lukasz Slaboszewski, a Polish man who believed he was in a relationship with Dennehy. After luring him with sexual messages, she stabbed him in the heart. She later told a psychiatrist she killed him "to see if I was as cold as I thought I was". She dumped his body in a wheelie bin.
Dennehy showed the body to a teenage girl, describing the murder as "moreish" and developing "a taste for it". Just over a week later, she murdered her 56-year-old housemate, John Chapman, texting an accomplice: "Oops, I’ve done it again."
She killed Kevin Lee on the same day, luring him with the promise of sex before stabbing him. In a final act of humiliation, she dressed his corpse in a black sequined dress and posed it in a ditch, intentionally exposing him.
Capture, Trial, and a Life Behind Bars
Unsated, Dennehy then travelled to Hereford where she randomly attacked two men walking their dogs within nine minutes, leaving both for dead. She was arrested soon after.
In November 2013, she pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and two of attempted murder. The trial judge, Mr Justice Spencer, labelled her "a cruel, calculating, selfish and manipulative murderer". He revealed she suffered from paraphilia sadomasochism, gaining sexual enjoyment from inflicting pain and humiliation.
Despite her claims that she would only target men and never hurt a woman or mother, her actions were deemed so dangerous she received a whole life order. Her accomplice, Gary Stretch, received a life sentence, while two others were jailed for 14 and three years.
Since her imprisonment, Dennehy has entered relationships with other inmates and attempted to sue over her solitary confinement, which she claims violates her human rights. Prison authorities have described her as "arguably the most dangerous female prisoner" in the United Kingdom.
