12/02/2014 Look East - West

heading our way and wet and windy again. That is all

Guilty of assisting this serial killer ASH two people are convicted

of helping Joanna Dennehy. In the programme tonight: The sweet faced

schoolgirl who became a cold`blooded killer, and the family who still

can't believe what has happened. can't believe what has happened

There was a girl that we like to turned into a monster.

Also, tonight: As the floods continue to rise, how our region is

helping out as more bad weather head this way.

And on Charles Darwin's birthday, the project that aims to re`houses

collections. Good evening. First, tonight, the

mother from Peterborough who became a serial killer, and the two men who

helped her cover her tracks. Tonight, Gary Stretch and Leslie

Layton are behind bars awaiting sentence. Joanna Dennehy has already

admitted killing three men and trying to murder two more. Her own

family have described her as a monster. Stretch and Layton both

claimed they were under her control, but neither took to the stand to

defend themselves. Neil Bradford was in court as they were convicted.

It took the jury of eight women and four men more than 27 hours to reach

their guilty verdicts in the dock. In the dark, both men stared ahead

as the jury delivered those verdicts to the courts. Despite their pleas

to the contrary, both men were found guilty of being converses to Joanna

Dennehy. They were caught on camera covering the tracks of the serial

killer, standing is Gary Stretch. He's seen filling a petrol can use

to burn out the car behind him, which belonged to one of the

victims. Inside is Joanna Dennehy, described as a woman driven by a

thirst for blood. In this picture, she's seen posing with a knife while

on the run. Kevin Lee was her landlord and lover ` he was her

second victim. His family spoke today.

As a family, we feel an immense pressure to fill this void. Life is

now very dull without Kevin around. Joanna Dennehy has taken over our

lives, and has callously created a whole which cannot be filled.

The killing spree began in March last year. She knew all her victims,

stabbing them through the heart The first, a friend ` a polish worker,

Lukasz Slaboszewski, she'd enticed by text. Ten days later ` Kevin Lee.

On the same day, she murdered her house mate John Chapman ` he'd

flirted with her, said Dennehy. Helped by Stretch and Layton, the

bodies were dumped in a ditches around Peterborough. Hand in hand,

Dennehey and Stretch went on the run ` an unholy union, the court was

told. They headed to Hereford, hunted by the police. Dennehy,

buying cigarettes before what she called having her fun. This time,

two random knife attacks With her is Mark Lloyd ` a friend of Gary

Stretch. He was in the car at the time.

She was evil. She knew exactly what she was doing.

Stretch picked the victims, he said. Dennehy then attacked.

Gary gestured out the window and ask, will he do? Dennehy was all

over him ` literally 15 to 20 stab wounds.

Their first victim was Robin Bereza. I'm going hurt you, kill you, she

told him. Then, ten minutes later, John Rogers ` the attack brutal and

frenzied. Moments later, Dennehy and Stretch were arrested.

Apart from what you've just told me, are you on any other medication?

are you on any other medication Stretch's defence ` he feared he'd

be next. Not so, say prosecutors. They were friends. I don't know how

far that friendship was the bond that gave the loyalty to him to

assist her. He must have felt safe in her company. Not only had she

committed three murders, and he had assisted in the disposal of the

bodies, but he had driven her into Norfolk. He drove her to

Herefordshire. He must have felt quite safe.

Gary Stretch told a witness, I'm a professional burglar, not a

murderer. Leslie Leyton was called a petty thief. Two men ` willing

partners, the court was told ` in her ghastly tale of criminality.

her ghastly tale of criminality Stretch and Leighton claimed they

were frightened of Dennehy, and that they feared for their lives.

Instead, they fuelled her need for violence and assisted her in living

out her fantasies. Gary Stretch is seven tall, and was described in

court as Dennehy's nodding dog. A third man has already admitted his

part in the crimes, and will be sentenced at a later date.

Piecing together events and bringing Dennehy, Stretch and Layton to

justice has been a complex operation for the Police, involving a number

of forces. It was led by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and

Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit. The case has preoccupied Detective Chief

Inspector Martin Brunning for almost a year. I spoke to him outside court

a little earlier. Today is about families of those who

were murdered, and the two men in Hereford who survived the attack by

Dennehy. Today is about them, it's not about me or the investigation

team. But I am delighted for them that they can start to move on now,

knowing who is responsible in entirety for the terrible events of

that affected their loved ones. The family have described Joanna as an

evil monster. I'm interested to know how you would describe her?

She is quite clearly a woman capable of the most despicable acts. She has

demonstrated that. She is, in my view, a sadistic serial killer.

Anyone who is prepared to behave in the way that she has, over the

course of 14 days, taking the lives of three men and inflicting

horrendous injuries onto others on an entirely random basis. She is

clearly a significant danger to the public, and on that basis, it's very

difficult to comprehend how anybody could be thinking when they are

committing such atrocious acts. Are you any closer tonight to really

understanding why Dennehy did what she did?

I don't think it's within the scope of anybody's, retention and to

understand what Joanna Dennehy was thinking, or why she did what she

did. We don't have the benefit of her explanation. To put three men to

their deaths in the way that she did, and carry on a seemingly for

fun in trying conservatively to kill two more men, is simply beyond

anybody's, retention. The court heard how she was very

controlling and manipulative. In a way, she's still got some kind of

control, hasn't she? Through her silence, she is failing to explain.

She is very capable of making her own decisions. Why she made those

decisions I don't know. What I do know is that she made them

coherently ` as horrendous as unwarranted as the acts were, she

made those decisions. Maybe in the fullness of time we will get some

explanation. Let's take a look at Dennehy's ten

day killing spree in a little more detail. It began in Peterborough on

the 19th March when she murdered Lukasz Slaboszewski in Dogsthorpe.

Ten days later, she murdered Kevin Lee in the same place. A few hours

after that, she killed again. This time, the victim was John

Chapman.Their bodies were later discovered in ditches in Newborough

and Thorney Dyke. But by then. Dennehy and Stretch were already on

the run across Suffolk and Norfolk ending up at King's Lynn. The next

day, she drove to Hereford where she tried to kill two other men. So,

what turned this sweet faced schoolgirl into a cold blooded

killer? Out Home Affairs correspondent Sally Chidzoy has this

report. Killing men was Joanna Dennehy's

idea of fun. Up close and personal was her style. She plunged this

knife into the hearts of three men. There was a girl that we loved, who

then turned into a monster. I can't describe it any other way. You can't

really give it a word. Sick, I suppose. I could never picture in my

own head that she was capable of doing something so monstrous. I hope

that she never sees daylight again. Ever.

The killer with a psychopathic disorder, and the little girl she

once was, going up in a comfortable home in Hertfordshire.

They worked the people who didn t work. They weren't alcoholics or on

drugs. They were just normal people like you and I `` they wed the

people who didn't work. As a teenager, Joanna turned her back on

her family and moved out. Often homeless, she turned to drugs and

alcohol and was a familiar sight on the streets of Peterborough.

She's lost her soul. I don't think she even knew who she was herself.

She had a history of self harming. She also spent time in prison for

petty crime. In March last year, she petty crime. In March last year she

started her killing spree. It was here that two of Joanna Dennehy's

here that two of Joanna Dennehy s victims met violent deaths. She was

said to have a spell over them. She looted Leuchars slavers at the here

by text, and dumped his body in a wheelie bin. Later, his body was

found slashed in a black sequinned dress. Dennehy lived in this house

were she killed the third victim John Chapman. Least believe he died

because he saw her in the bath. I just think she's a nasty piece of

work. There was no need for it. John was so lovely.

The men's bodies were dumped it in Peterborough. Afterwards, she called

Gary Stretch quoting from the Britney Spears song, oops, I did it

again. Dennehy and stretch went on the run,

driving across Suffolk and Norfolk, ending up on this estate. She wanted

to see an old prison friend. Also in the house, was plumber Sean Keeble.

He was shocked when she described what she had done with one of

victims. She said she had put bleach on him.

Dennehy said that she and stretch were like Bonnie and Clyde. She

wanted the killings to make her famous. She was ecstatic when she

saw a TV report saying she was wanted for murder.

She had removed in your hands, jumping up and down, really happy. I

said to her, don't you feel bad? She said to her, don't you feel bad? She

was laughing and said no. Dennehy and stretch headed for the

Midlands will stop they were captured holding hands at this

service station. On arriving in Hereford, Dennehy 's start to more

men in random attacks. Miraculously, they survived and gave evidence

John Rogers was out walking his dog when Dennehy stabbed him for...

40 times. She said, you're bleeding, I'd better do some more. I was just

waiting for it to stop. When it did finally stop, I just thought well

this is it ` I'm going to die. A short time later, they were

arrested. Her so`called fun was over.

She's the most dangerous woman that I have met in 20 years of policing.

I would love to hear her story at some stage in the future, because

when you look at the extent and destruction she has brought to

people 's lives, she owes somebody an explanation as to why she decided

to do that over that 14 day period. Well, I'm joined now by Dr Samantha

Lundrigan ` Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Anglia Ruskin

University. As we heard there, the police are no closer to

understanding what her motive was. Can you shed any light? I think

there is only one person who really knows what motivated this crime `

and that's Joanna Dennehy herself. I don't think she'll ever tell us,

because that's the ultimate control for her. I think control is at the

heart of her motives. This gave the complete power and dominance over

men that she wanted. She stabbed them in vicious attacks. She also

got a great deal of thrill out of it.

We know that she did have psychiatric problems. Is she evil or

is she'll? She is certainly evil, she's bad and

has very bad things. She is suffering from psychological

disorders `3 personality disorders, all of which fall under the

classification of antagonistic disorders, whether it is a great

deal of hostility involved. It also includes reckless behaviour, not

having care for the consequences of your actions. Don't get me wrong,

she knew exactly what she was doing. She chose to kill again and

again. She was known to the authorities as

a petty offender, wasn't she? What escalates that into a serial killer?

I think the clues, perhaps, the little we know about her background

` she came from a loving, stable home. When she reached adolescence,

she disassociated herself with those family environments. She got

involved in chronic drug and alcohol misuse, and the personality

disorders, together with that alcohol and drug misuse, meant that

it escalated. Her default position, the way she thought, the way she

perceived people around her, was with hostility. It wasn't much of a

stretch from the life characterised by hostility to killing.

How unusual for those actions to be done by a woman? White

extremely rare. About 10% of serial killers are female. That equates,

through our databases, to about two or three I year worldwide. To

display these types of characteristics is rarer still.

Thank you very much. There's comprehensive coverage of

this story online and on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Breakfast Show

tomorrow morning, when Paul Stainton will be asking can Joanna Dennehy

ever be rehabilitated? Other news, now, and there are fears

of further flooding over the next few days as more bad weather hits

the region. High winds and heavy rain mean we could see a repeat of

last Friday. Where roads and properties were flooded. We'll hear

from the Environment Agency in just a moment, but first the efforts of

farmers and firemen from this region who are helping those affected by

flooding along the Thames and in Somerset.

For people in Northampton, the flooding is a painful reminder of

this ` the Easter floods of 199 , this ` the Easter floods of 199 ,

when two people died and 10,000 people had their homes and

businesses ruined. The experience of dealing with Northampton's floods

led to the development of the county's own flood rescue team,

which is now helping Fire Brigade across the south`east. The memories

of the devastating flood is still fresh in the mind of one of the

town's MPs. Can I remind the Prime Minister that

in 1998, Northampton suffered periods floods. Will the Prime

Minister, after this episode has been dealt with, ensure that we

don't build on flood plains so that people shouldn't be inconvenienced

in this way. But it's not just the emergency

services helping out. One Cambridge farmer has set up a Facebook page,

asking for donations. That sort of thing could easily

happen here. We've been let down by the Environment Agency and

government. Apart from Friday's flash floods, this part of the

region has escaped relatively unscathed.

With rivers on flood alert, field saturated and more rain on the way,

both farmers and the emergency services are watching the forecast

closely over the coming days. Well, earlier, I spoke to Norman

Robinson of the Environment Agency who told me we should be on our

guard for the next few days. I think, the worst case for us

between now and Friday, we could see the same rainfall as last Friday

that top we could be back in the same situation, with rivers very

high. The key will be how the water gets from the fields to the rivers,

which could lead to some surface water issues locally. There could be

some flooding. Dangerous driving conditions?

Could be. Last Friday, we saw some is dumb act cars stuck. The general

advice for the end of this week is if you see water, don't drive into

it. Is there anything that the

Environment Agency could be doing to limit the damage?

The key thing is keeping the river is clear. Potentially, trees fall.

We are out on the ground keeping the rivers clean of debris. We are

watching the flood defences to make sure that they are prepared for

Friday. In our control centre, we watch the forecast.

Your advice to people is to keep intact and the watching?

Absolutely. Your forecast will tell you what's coming on Friday. Sign up

with our flood warnings direct, and we will tell you if your property is

under threat. The main thing is being prepared. Have a floods plan `

what would you do if the worst happened? That type of thing is very

important. Thank you. This is something It s an

unenviable task. You wouldn't want to do. To pack up four million

delicate exhibits, ranging in size from a tiny beetle to the skeleton

of a whale in just eight months That's the challenge facing workers

at the Museum of Zoology in Cambridge. It's got to close for

over two years as it undergoes an ?18 million revamp. But more money

still needs to be raised. Louise Hubball reports. Moving can be a

stressful experience at the best of times. Even more so when your cargo

is an extinct river dolphin. There are millions of specimens here from

the great White orc, which died out over 150 years ago, to the Tasmanian

tiger which was with us until 1 36. tiger which was with us until 1936.

Now, all are being packed up as part of the transformation of Cambridge's

Museum of Zoology. It's an absolutely huge challenge.

You could use the words mammoth task. We have four million specimens

in the museum. We have up until September to get them all packed,

and then we have to move them to new stores. It's not something that

museums do everyday ` we don't pack up all our collections, but this new

development means we can have new stores, which means that we can give

guided tours around store rooms, and guided tours around store rooms, and

see many items as they're being conserved and researched. That will

mean access to treasures not normally on display.

Many of them connected to Charles Darwin. Darwin set sail for South

America aboard the Beagle in 18 1. He collected many species, including

these finches, and formed the basis of his ground`breaking theory of

evolution. Now, the museum itself is evolving. This is what it will look

like in 2016. An impressive ?18 million interactive space, telling

the story behind the artefacts. We still need an extra ?3 million to

be able to fully realise our ambitions. This is a grand project,

a very ambitious project, but we have the collections to match our

ambitions. The revamped museum will aim and not

just to be about the past, but form part of a wider campus that will

draw on current research from world experts based here, who, in turn,

will use the collections to try to predict the future of life on Earth.

But in the short`term, even the building contractors are but which

by then latest project ` a museum moving with the times in an

ever`changing world. We've heard about some pretty horrid

weather on it's way, but the strong wind is already taking an effect. A

tree is down on the East Midlands rail line causing delays through

Kettering and there also problems on the line between Ely and Norwich.

Julie Reinger hello. Yet more wet weather this

afternoon. Here it is on the radar. The heaviest rain producing up to

seven millimetres. Accompanied by strong south`westerly winds. These

are the strongest gusts, up until 5pm. Tween 50 and 70 mph. During

tonight, it looks like some further showers coming in behind that main

band of rain. Some could turn wintry, with some sleet and hail

mixed in. Lows of `` we should see the winds easing down. Temperatures

in rural spot could drop down to freezing. In sheltered areas, we

can't rule out some frost. Tomorrow, the system responsible for today's

weather pulls away. This low is set to bring more wet and windy weather

for Friday. Tomorrow, we are in between. It's not looking too bad.

It looks like a scattering of showers again, which could turn

wintry. A lot more dry weather, with spells of sunshine. It will be

blustery, although not as windy as this afternoon. Temperatures at

highs of six degrees. Certainly not feeling the warmest. We finish the

day with a few showers around, but largely fine and dry. The outlook:

Here we go again! Friday will probably be a dry start, but we are

expecting an area of low pressure to push up from the South West,

bringing more rain. Heavy at times, and could produce ten millimetres in

places. The strongest winds will actually follow in behind the main

band of rain, once it has pulled away. We could see some strong to

gale`force southerly winds. Into Saturday, when we will hopefully see

those winds easing down. Some blustery showers which could turn

wintry. Sunday, is looking uncertain. As it stands, a largely

fine and dry day. Much lighter winds. Before I go, these are your

overnight lows. On Thursday night, frost and ice could be a problem.

The jury just didn't buy the defence case for Gary Stretch and Leslie

Layton. They said they were scared and were going along with it because

they were forced. Prosecution said they could have told the police at

any time. This is a case of Harrow converses. It has brought into sharp

focus the spotlight on her. What is your take on Dennehy?

Might take is based on conversations with detectives, and looking at

police tapes. She has no empathy for the victims. She tried to joke with

detectives shortly after the attacks. We know that she's very

bright, and that she psychopathic. We understand that she had many

violent relationships with men and women. We also understand from

psychiatrists that it was very likely that she was a victim at some

point in her life of serious violence or sexual assault. The

secret she will take weather is why she did this.

Thank you. All three face prison sentences. The families of those who

were killed face a different sentence, and the unanswered