Female serial killer admits murdering three men before dumping their bodies in ditches

(Clockwise from top left) Serial killer Joanna Dennehy, victims John Chapman, Lukasz Slaboszewski and Kevin Lee  Photo:

Female killer Joanna Dennehy pleads guilty to the murder of three men, including her landlord 

A female serial killer has pleaded guilty to murdering three men before dumping their bodies in ditches.

Joanna Dennehy stabbed her landlord Kevin Lee, 48, and housemates Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, and John Chapman, 56, within days of each other.

The body of Mr Lee, who was a married father, was found stabbed to death in a roadside ditch in March. Four days later, a farmer found the corpses of the two other men in a remote dyke five miles away.

A post mortem found Mr Slaboszewski, who was unemployed, had been stabbed in the heart.

Dennehy, 30, from Peterborough, appeared in the dock in a white shirt with a star tattooed under her right eye. She stood alongside her boyfriend Gary Richards, who is 7ft 3in tall, and also known as Gary Stretch.He denied three charges of preventing burial and the two attempted murders.
Dennehy had been due to stand trial charged with the three murders and preventing the lawful burial of the victims.
But she told the court on Monday: "I have pleaded guilty and that's it."
Her shock guilty pleas left the oak-panelled courtroom stunned.
Her barrister, Nigel Lickley QC, said: "The course of the arraignment is not one we had anticipated."
Dennehy also pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to the attempted murders of another two men, Robin Bereza and John Rogers.
She objected to her lawyers being given more time to check her guilty pleas and said: "I'm not coming back down here again just to say the same stuff.
"It's a long way to come to say the same thing I have just said.'
At the time of the murders neighbours claimed Dennehy had been involved in a row over the rented property she was living in.
Mr Slaboszewski and Mr Chapman, who was also unemployed, were said to have lived with Dennehy in a shared house in Orton Goldhay, Peterborough owned by property developer Mr Lee.
Friends said Mr Lee had been trying to evict Mr Slaboszewski, Mr Chapman and Dennehy in the weeks before the killings.
Toni Roberts, 25, who used to live in the house, said the tenants had been served an eviction notice by Mr Lee ordering them out by April 25 so the house could be renovated.
"Kevin was my landlord and really kind to me and didn't make me pay a deposit or anything," she said. "I can't say a bad word about him really.
"I moved out and then Joanna moved into my room. I don't know if she paid rent or anything though."
The bodies of all three men were found between March and April.
Mr. Lee died from stab wounds to his chest, while Mr Chapman was knifed in the neck and chest.
At the time of his Mr Lee's death, his family described his death as a "tragic loss"
They said in a statement: "He was a wonderful husband, father, loving brother and son. His naturally infectious personality touched everyone who knew him.' His friend Chris Wilson, a plasterer, said: 'We have no idea why he would be targeted or what has happened."
Two other defendants appeared at the hearing by videolink.
Leslie Layton, 47, and Robert Moore, 55, have previously denied helping to cover up the killings and harbouring Stretch and Dennehy when they were wanted by police.
Moore, of Peterborough, denies two counts of assisting an offender, while Layton, of Bifield, Orton Goldhay, pleaded not guilty to perverting the court of justice at an earlier hearing.