Paul Denyer Police Interviews

In my previous post I wrote about the murders carried out by Paul Denyer and alluded to the incomprehensible thought processes behind his actions. This post contains some of the answers he provided during his police interviews.

The first to die was Elizabeth Stevens.

I saw her get off the bus. I was walking across the road. Just something hit me straight in the head, you know, go! So I ran across the road in front of all these cars and got to the other side where I followed her around the corner…
I walked up behind her and stuck my left hand around her head…
Walked in a bit of bushland beside the main track in Lloyd Park…
I started choking her with my hands and she passed out after a while. You know, the oxygen got cut off to her head and-and she just stopped. And then I pulled out the knife … and stabbed her many times in the throat. And she was still alive. And then she stood up and we walked around and all that, just walked around a few steps and I threw her on the ground and stuck my foot over her neck … to finish her off…

Can you tell me why you attacked her on that night? What led to it?

Just … I just had … just the feeling, that’s all.

What sort of feeling? Can you possibly describe it – where you had this feeling?

Just wanted … just wanted to kill, just wanted to take a life because I felt my life had been taken so many times.

By whom?

David.

Who is David?

My eldest brother.

When did he … do you wish to say what he …?

No, no.

Was it of a sexual nature?

Yeah.

When you were younger?

Mm.

Abused you.

Mm.

And you felt cheated by that or something.

Yeah.

It is unlikely that this is true. David and his wife Julie live in London, largely to escape the impact that Paul had on their lives. They claimed he had made death threats before the murders. In 2004, somehow he found their address and wrote to them, apologising for the sex abuse claims. He wrote “I’m sorry about allowing lies to be said about you David”.

… when you said you were stabbing her at this location back in Lloyd Park what were you feeling at the time? For example were you angry?

Happy, sad, angry, many things.

Are you saying that she got up after that? Did that surprise you?

Yeah, it did in a way. She got up and walked. And she didn’t cry. She was just normal.

So how far … when you say she walked, how far bid she actually walk?

Around in circles with me.

You were holding her still?

Yeah, just under one arm.

Why were you doing that? Did you help her up? Is that what you’re indicating?

Yeah.

So what happened after she walked around in circles?

There was a puddle of like … flooded area there .And I pushed her into there so she could wash her … you know … blood off her and all that. And then I dragged her across the water.

Well, when did you put your foot on her neck as you described before?

When she was lying on the side of the sort of flooded area with her legs in the water.

And why did you do that?

To kill her.

So you did that and then she went into a sort of spasm you said before, or some sort of quivering?

Yeah, her whole body just shook and everything .. and then she stopped.

Did you think she was dead?

No, she was still breathing … from her neck.

How did you know that?

I could hear it.

How long did that last for?

Five minutes.

Roszsa Troth escaped a certain death.

I wrestled with her. She ran out on the road but no one stopped. And I grabbed her by the hair and dragged her back toward the park.
I said “Shut –up or I’ll blow your f***ing head off’
I was just gonna drag her in the park and kill her, that’s all

He tried to articulate the feeling building up inside him.

Yeah, every day it was just going up, boiling up til I got to that stage.

Debbie Fream was murdered when her baby was only a few days old.

What caused you to select her at that time?

Just that go feeling. While she was in the milk bar I walked up to the driver’s door and it was unlocked …, so I opened the door and put my hand through and unlocked the back door. I hopped in the car and crouched down behind the seat and pulled out a gun that I had. Then I looked up out of the car window and I saw her in the milk bar. I crouched down and I could hear her footsteps coming closer to the car. And the she opened the door. The interior light went on and then she hopped in the car. She didn’t see me in the back. And then she closed the door, you know, the light went out and everything and it was dark. And I waited for her to start up the car so no one could hear her scream or anything. And she put it into gear and went to do a U-turn. And I startled her just as she was doing that turn and she kept going into the wall of the milk bar, which caused a dent on the bonnet. I told her to, you know, shut up or I’d blow her head off and all that shit.

He ordered her to drive. When they got to Taylor’s Road, they got out of the car. He jammed the fake gun down his pants and pulled a cord out of his pocket

I popped it over her eyes real quickly so she didn’t see it ... cause I was gonna strangle her. But I didn’t want her to see the cord first. I lifted up the cord and I said “Can you see this?” And she just put up her hand to grab it to feel it and when she did that I just yanked on it real quickly round her neck. And then I was struggling with her for about five minutes.

She was struggling?

Yeah, until she started to faint a bit. And then when she was, you know, like weaker, I pulled me knife out of me sock then … and started stabbing her around the neck and the chest several … several times.

You strangled her. Is that the first thing that happened?

As she sort of weakened and fell onto the ground that’s when I stabbed her in the throat.

Once?

Many times, and once in the stomach.

Where was she?

Lying on the ground.

Was she dead or alive when you stabbed her in the throat?

Almost dead.

So you stabbed her a number of times. And what happened then?

She started breathing out of her neck, just like Elizabeth Stevens. I could just hear bubbling noises.

Did Debbie Fream put up any resistance?

Yeah, she put up quite a fight. And her white jumper was pulled off during that time as well. I felt just the same way as I did when I killed Elizabeth Stevens.

What happened after you stabbed her around the throat and chest area?

I lifted up her top and just ploughed the knife into her gut.

You lifted up the top to do that?

Yeah.

Do you know why you lifted up the top?

I wanted to see how big her boobs were.

Was that part of the fantasy?

I don’t know.

You actually recall thinking that way?

Sort of. And I saw her bare stomach so I just lunged at her with the knife.

Why did you kill her?

Same reason I killed Elizabeth Stevens. I just wanted to.

Natalie Russell left school early and walked home along a lonely track.

I went up there earlier that day and cut the holes in the fences.

He admitted being armed with a red handled knife.

Oh, and the leather strap

What was that? What sort of leather strap?

Just a thin – you would have found it at the scene – in two pieces.

What was that used for?

Strangling.

I saw her walk … she was coming up the track and I saw her walk past, like, that way and I ran out through the hole in the fence again and followed her.

Did she see you?

She turned around once and saw me. And I stuck about ten meters behind her until I got to the second hole, I walked up behind her and stuck my left hand around her mouth and held the knife to her throat …

Dragged her through the fence…

Was she struggling?

At first, and then she sort of stopped.

Why?

Because I told her I was gonna cut her throat … I said I was gonna, yeah, cut her throat. And I walked through the hole in the fence. I followed her through and I dragged her into the trees. Like she offered, she said “oh, you can have sex with me if you want.” She goes “You can have all my money, have sex with me,” and things – just said disgusting things like that really.

And did that upset you?

In a way … and I got her to kneel down in front of me and I held the knife blade over her eye, really closely, and yeah, she had the same colour eyes as I have.

Why did you hold that knife so close to her eye?

Just so she could see the blade.

And why was she kneeling?

No, she was lying on the ground at that stage and I was lying on top of her. I wasn’t lying, I was kneeling. Just holding her up by the throat with the knife next to her eye. And she struggled and then the knife cut her on the face. And she was bleeding a bit then … yeah and then when she got up she started to scream a bit. And I just said “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.” And “If you don’t shut up, I’ll kill you. If you don’t do this I’ll kill you, if you don’t do that.” And she said what do you want from me. And I said “all I want you to do is to shut up.” And so when she was kneeling on the ground, I put the strap around her neck to strangle her and it broke in half. And then she started violently struggling for about a minute until I pushed – got her onto her back again – and pushed her head back like this and cut her throat. I cut a small cut at first and then she was bleeding. And then I stuck my fingers into her throat … and grabbed her cords and I twisted them.

Why’d you do that?

My whole fingers – like that much of my hand was inside her throat.

Do you know why you did that?

Stop her from breathing … and then she slowly stopped. She sort of started to faint and then when she was weak, a bit weaker, I grabbed the opportunity of throwing her head back and one big large cut which sort of cut almost her whole head off. And then she slowly died.

Why did you want to kill her?

Just the same reason as before, just everything came back through my mind again. I kicked her before I left.

Why’s that?

While she was dead, just booted her.

Why did you kick her after? Like she was obviously dead at that stage.

Make sure she was dead.

Kicking her, would that make sure she’s dead?

Well, if she had’ve moved, I would have known…

Yeah, I slashed her across the face

Who’s that?

The last victim.

What do you mean you slashed her across the face. After she was dead?

Yeah, I just cut her straight down this side of the face.

Why was that?

Don’t know.

After his account of the three murders, he added more detail.

Yeah, I’ve been stalking women for a few years in Frankston.

How long do you think you’ve been doing that?

Three or four years, since I was seventeen I think. I’ve been following heaps of women around.

Just waiting for the opportunity?

Waiting for the sign.

Without any emotion, he confessed to planning the murder of Donna Vanes.

She moved out of Claude St. because I broke into her place and killed all of her cats.

When did you do that?

Earlier this year.

What did you do that for?

I went there to kill her but she wasn’t home.

Did you prepare yourself for that?

Yeah, I had a large knife on me.

Where did that come from?

Well, I bought that for about $7.50 from Aussie Disposals in Frankston, Beach St.

Was there any other preparation?

I had gloves so I wouldn’t leave any prints. I don’t think I did leave any prints, no.

When did you put the gloves on?

Just as I walked up to the front door. I knocked on the door first to see if there was anyone there, but there was no one there so I walked around the back and climbed through the window. Cut a hole through the fly screen and sort of wedged myself through.

Was the window open?

Yeah, wide open.

What did you want to kill her for? You knew her, didn’t you? Isn’t she …

Vaguely.

Tricia, who lives in Flat 3. Isn’t it her sister? What had she done wrong? Or had she done anything wrong?

Don’t like her sister.

Trish?

No ,don’t like Trish at all.

So, what did that have to do with Donna?

Well, I knew that she was home by herself most of the time.

Donna was? Did you dislike Donna for any reason?

Never really liked her, no.

And you went to Donna’s flat in Claude St. to kill her?

Yeah.

And she wasn’t home?

No, wasn’t home.

So you broke in and what did you do?

I killed her cats.

How many?

Three.

How did you kill her cats?

Stabbed ‘em all. I walked slowly into the lounge room because the lights were on, just cause I thought that somebody was there. And then I just went into a blind rage and just killed anything that was alive in the house.

What would have happened if Donna was there?

I would’ve cut her throat.

Can you explain what happened to the cats? Where were they?

Well, the mother cat ran into the laundry and I chased after it. It lunged at me and I just stabbed it in the side and it died straight away.

And what happened to the others?

I slit their throats and threw them in the bath tub.

Can you explain why we have women victims?

I just hate ‘em.

I beg your pardon?

I just hate ‘em.

Those particular girls or just women in general?

General.

You told Detective Senior Sergent Wilson that you stabbed them in the throat. Is there any particular reason why there?

Well, it looked like the most vulnerable spot.

Did each girl get stabbed in the throat?

All of ‘em. I saw it in a movie once and it looked effective.

What movie was that?

It was called “The Stepfather”. And a guy stabbed a guy in the neck and yeah, it just looked effective.

How did you feel afterwards?

Like the temperature gauge was coming down.

What do you mean?

Well, it was going up to boiling point, then afterwards it just came down ‘til it stopped at a level and then climbed up again.

You’re referring to what type of feeling?

Hate, anger.

Is this something that you plan?

No, I would just go to a certain area and then pick targets around, just you know, anyone you see walking around is … anyone women, woman by herself. So I’d just wait for them. No, it wasn’t premeditated in that way

Wait for the right opportunity to come along. Is that fair to say?

Yeah, just sort of go to the area and hope for the best.

It all defies belief.