1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: It's June twenty sixteen in a nondescript brown house in Perth, 2 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:10,559 Speaker 1: and Jemma Lily and Trudy Lennin have been living together 3 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: for just three weeks. From the outside, the twenty five 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: year old British immigrant and forty four year old mum 5 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: of two look normal, ordinary, average, But behind closed doors, 6 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: their conversations are full of homicidal fantasies. And now they 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:33,560 Speaker 1: have a plan and they're ready to kill. I feel 8 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: as though I cannot rest until the blood or flesh 9 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: of a screaming victim is gushing out and pulling on 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: the floor. Rights Jemma to her housemate. It is definitely time, 11 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: replies Trudy. I am ready. You are ready for anything 12 00:00:47,720 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 1: left to do? Find a victim. I'm Claire Murphy. When 13 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: you're listening to True Crime Conversations, a podcast exploring the 14 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: world's most notorious crimes by speaking to the people who 15 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,919 Speaker 1: know the most about them. Aaron Page Sweetman was only 16 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: eighteen when he was brutally murdered by Gemma Lily and 17 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: Trudy Lenin. Trudy had known Arn for eight years. He'd 18 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: been friends with her fourteen year old son. The women 19 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,399 Speaker 1: decided he was easy enough to lure. They told him 20 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:26,960 Speaker 1: they needed help with computer software and invited him over. 21 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: He was attacked as soon as he entered their home, 22 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:35,560 Speaker 1: his body buried in their backyard. Their crime was described 23 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: by the judge who sentenced them as morally repugnant, a 24 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: kill carried out purely for the women's pleasure. Usually people 25 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: kill for reasons of revenge, jealousy, monetary gain, sexual gratification, 26 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: to cure for fun is rare. Female killers are also rare. 27 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: To be honest, everything about this story feels usual and 28 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: uniquely horrible. Former legal affairs editor at The West Australian 29 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: and journalist Tim Clark has covered this case in detail 30 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 1: for multiple publications, providing updates as it unfolded. We invited 31 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: him onto the podcast to unpack it. Tim, thank you 32 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: so much for joining us on True Crime Conversations. How 33 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,239 Speaker 1: did you find working on this case because it is 34 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: quite a bizarre one. 35 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 2: Yeah. No, This was a very strange case, a very 36 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 2: disturbing case, and one that really captured the imagination, not 37 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 2: because of anything other than it was really horrible. It 38 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 2: was a young victim, vulnerable, literally snatched off the street, 39 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 2: and then two women it was discovered we're behind it. 40 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 2: So those elements combined to make it a really shocking 41 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 2: case even before we knew the details behind it. They 42 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:03,839 Speaker 2: all came out during the trial of these two women, 43 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 2: and once they started to be revealed by prosecutors, it 44 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 2: was one of those cases that will always stick with 45 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 2: me and I think we'll probably stick with your listeners 46 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 2: and viewers once we've gone through it. 47 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: We'll gie you the step us through the court case 48 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: in a bit. But you mentioned finding out some of 49 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: the background on the women who were involved in this crime, 50 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: and one of those in particular, Gemma. Can we talk 51 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:33,919 Speaker 1: a little bit about her childhood. Was there anything within 52 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: her upbringing that might have given us some signs about 53 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: where life would eventually take her? 54 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, So this is Jemma Lily. She was sixteen when 55 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 2: she moved to Australia from the UK, but subsequent to 56 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 2: the murder that she was convicted of, it emerged that 57 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 2: she had been very detached as a as a even 58 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 2: as a young child, awkward, lonely, and had interests that 59 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 2: worried her close family and close friends. She she had 60 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 2: always had an interest in the darker side of culture. 61 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,600 Speaker 2: She'd grown up in a nuclear family in the UK, 62 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,160 Speaker 2: but once she got to those later teenage years, the 63 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 2: issues around her personality and her very close family struggling 64 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 2: to cope with those precipitated her moving to Australia to 65 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 2: live with other family members. Originally and then and then 66 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 2: she moved on. She got a job, she made some 67 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:51,919 Speaker 2: friends here, but her whole persona, even from a young age, 68 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:57,039 Speaker 2: appeared to revolve around horror, I'll put it that way, 69 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 2: the macabre horror fiction, horror culture. She once said in 70 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:08,119 Speaker 2: some of her writings that the character Freddy Krueger, who 71 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 2: I'm sure all your listeners will remember from the Nightmare 72 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 2: on Elm Street Movies, was her a father figure. She 73 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 2: felt like he was a father figure to her growing up. 74 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 2: She was obsessed with that character later in life, and 75 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 2: as these interests hardened within her, she then took to 76 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 2: writing herself. She fancied herself as a as a writer 77 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 2: and novelist, and she started commit to commit these fantasies. 78 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 2: She was having this, this this obsession with darkness and 79 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:46,039 Speaker 2: torture and weapons and and and horror fiction. She started 80 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 2: to commit those thoughts to the page, and they started 81 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 2: out as just sort of notes in a diary, almost scribblings. 82 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 2: But then she concocted this world and this character that 83 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 2: she placed basically at the center of her identity. So 84 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 2: there was some swapping of those or mixing and melding 85 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 2: of those. This character in her head was called SOS, 86 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:14,839 Speaker 2: taken from son of Sam, who was a notorious serial 87 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 2: killer in America in the late twentieth century, and she 88 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:23,600 Speaker 2: took on that persona herself first by writing about it 89 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 2: as the central theme of this book that she was writing, 90 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 2: called play Zone. But then it blared over, if you 91 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 2: pardon the term, it melded over into her. So she 92 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 2: had a tattoo of several tattoos depicting this SOS character 93 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:42,839 Speaker 2: on her body. Even the motorbike that she rode in 94 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 2: Western Australia in Perth, the registration number was one SOS one. 95 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,839 Speaker 2: So she obviously as she got thrill out of the 96 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,280 Speaker 2: teens and into her early twenties, saw herself as this 97 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 2: SOS character. And this SOS character was a serial killer 98 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 2: who would torture and murder victims himself, but then more 99 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 2: centrally to the story that emerges in real life, he 100 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 2: had followers that would also do his bidding do his 101 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 2: killing for him. She referred to those as maggots in 102 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 2: the book, and so this became her identity, This became 103 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,680 Speaker 2: her central identity. So she had tattoos. And then, as 104 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 2: we'll go on to explain, the house that she ended 105 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 2: up living in and ended up killing in was a 106 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 2: shrine to this type of material, including assigned photograph by 107 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 2: the actor that played Freddy Krueger, a Chuckie doll, which 108 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 2: was a central character in another eighties horror film, and obviously, 109 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 2: most disturbingly, her obsession with torture methods which were found 110 00:07:54,360 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 2: written and detailed in the house, and also a weapons cash, 111 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 2: particularly of knives that anyone who would have seen would 112 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 2: have been shocked and disturbed by. So she was an 113 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 2: individual that almost seemed and I know it seems hard 114 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:19,040 Speaker 2: to say, but almost seemed destined to kill because that's 115 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:22,760 Speaker 2: what she wanted to do, that's what she'd fantasized doing, 116 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 2: that's what she'd written about doing, and ultimately that's what 117 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 2: she ended up doing. 118 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: But tim people write horror stories, people watch horror movies, 119 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: people make horror movies, recreate awful torturous things on screens 120 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: for us to call entertainment and enjoy. What is it 121 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 1: about Jemma's fascination with this genre that makes it become 122 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: a reality for her? Was there ever a mention of 123 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: her having a mental health issue? Was there ever times 124 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: when that behavior did start to stray over into the 125 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:02,479 Speaker 1: real world before the Murder of Our was there behaviors 126 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: that were concerning in the real world that people worried 127 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 1: that maybe this horror genre and this fantasy fiction world 128 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: she created was bleeding into her real life. 129 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, there certainly were worries amongst a very close 130 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 2: family in the UK. I spoke anonymously, I might add 131 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:23,440 Speaker 2: to one of those people who contacted me during and 132 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,960 Speaker 2: after the trial via email to say, look, this were 133 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 2: we warned people, or we tried to warn people in 134 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 2: the UK that this wasn't just a phase. We didn't 135 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 2: think this was just that your normal teenage sort of 136 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 2: hyper fixation on whatever it might have been. We thought 137 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 2: that this went deeper with her, And then when she 138 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:48,199 Speaker 2: got to Western Australia, which was I think it's fair 139 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:51,679 Speaker 2: to say, was designed to be a circuit breaker for her, 140 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,120 Speaker 2: try and get her out of her own head or 141 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 2: the environment that she'd grown up in. Or the friends 142 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 2: that she had, or the family situation that she was in, 143 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 2: and try and give us some thing else. When she 144 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 2: got here, I mean she appeared, I mean, from the 145 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 2: outside you would say relatively normal. She she had friends, 146 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 2: she had a job stacking shells at a local supermarket, 147 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:18,880 Speaker 2: and at one point she even did get married, but 148 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:23,120 Speaker 2: that was for convenience because she had visa issues and 149 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:24,960 Speaker 2: would have had to go back to the UK. So 150 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 2: she befriended a man, a gay man, and they got married. 151 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 2: But even then the marriage ceremony which her family did attend, 152 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 2: come to some family did come from the UK to attend. 153 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:42,960 Speaker 2: It was odd, it was it was it was themed, 154 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:47,079 Speaker 2: there was there was Freddy Krueger memorabilia at that wedding. 155 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 2: So as you say, yeah, I'm sure ninety five percent 156 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 2: of the population of at some point, you know, ingested 157 00:10:57,120 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 2: a Stephen King novel or watched a horror movie or 158 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 2: you know, listen to death metal or whatever it might be, 159 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 2: and you know, and not become us. But with her, 160 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 2: with Jemma, from very early on, people were saying, this 161 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 2: is this is this is becoming her identity, this is 162 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:18,600 Speaker 2: how she feels like she exists in the world. This 163 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 2: is what makes her who she is, and there's obviously 164 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 2: a psychology behind that, and the psychology was explored somewhat 165 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:31,199 Speaker 2: during the trial, but more during the sentencing in terms 166 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 2: of the potentiality of her having some psychopathic traits there. 167 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 2: It was eventually agreed that there was some psychopathy there 168 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 2: because the elements of her that took on that SOS 169 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:49,880 Speaker 2: character then obviously drilled so far deep into her that 170 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,839 Speaker 2: she she basically carried through with it, and then after 171 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 2: she'd done it, was referring to herself as SOS and 172 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 2: was having her partner in crime. Truly, Lennon referred to 173 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:10,319 Speaker 2: her as SOS as well. So the traits that eventually 174 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:13,240 Speaker 2: exploded in Western Australia had been there for a long 175 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 2: time and people had been worried about them for a 176 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 2: long time. 177 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:21,679 Speaker 1: You mentioned her marriage, the marriage of convenience. The man 178 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:25,400 Speaker 1: that she married, she ended up giving him a serial 179 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:26,520 Speaker 1: killer nickname. 180 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 2: Right, Yes, strangely so, this was a chap that she'd 181 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 2: met through friends, and she nick named him Gasey, as 182 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:42,559 Speaker 2: in John Wayne Gacy, who's another notorious serial killer from 183 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:43,440 Speaker 2: the US. 184 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:45,439 Speaker 1: He's the clown killer, right. 185 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:49,000 Speaker 2: The clown killer. Correct, yes, not only was Freddy Krueger 186 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 2: her father figure, but these these serial killers, son of 187 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 2: Sam Gaysey and others, she not only had an interest in, 188 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,560 Speaker 2: but she obsessed over. I think it's probably to say 189 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 2: she wrote about them, She listed them, she diarized them, 190 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:07,080 Speaker 2: she liked, did sort of books about them, and once 191 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 2: she got to Western Australia and had really sort of 192 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 2: doubled down into her writing, she actually wrote semi serious, 193 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:21,280 Speaker 2: researched articles about serial killers and had them published in 194 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:25,640 Speaker 2: various sort of publications online magazines that centered around this stuff, 195 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:30,840 Speaker 2: including one about the Port Arthur massacre and the individual 196 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:35,520 Speaker 2: that carried out that that horrific crime. So she just 197 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 2: constantly surrounded herself with this stuff. But you know, to 198 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 2: the point, as you say, where she gave the man 199 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 2: that she married and was obviously friends with but not 200 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 2: sexually involved with because he wasn't that way inclined, and 201 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 2: she described actually she described herself as asexual as well. 202 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 2: She gave him the nickname of one of these killers 203 00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:58,520 Speaker 2: because she thought a it was funny and b that 204 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 2: he had unphysical traits that reminded of of that particular 205 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:05,240 Speaker 2: that particular murder. 206 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:09,440 Speaker 1: I am Timmy spoke to some of Jemma's work colleagues 207 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:12,520 Speaker 1: who worked with her back in the day. When you 208 00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:14,680 Speaker 1: work with people closely, especially you know, when you're stacking 209 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 1: shelves at you know, the supermarket, you get to know 210 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 1: each other pretty well. You're working sometimes, you know, by 211 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: sales at night in places. Did they see anything that 212 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: made them think that she was capable of doing what 213 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: she eventually did? 214 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:31,000 Speaker 2: Yees, So we heard. We heard from them during doing 215 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:33,920 Speaker 2: during the trial, and then subsequently I did reach out 216 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 2: to a couple of them after the trial just to 217 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 2: just to try and get a fuller picture, even though 218 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 2: we had a lot of material already. And they struck 219 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 2: me as they I mean, they were just normal West Australians, 220 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 2: right they were, and they were just living their lives, 221 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 2: going to work and you know, having relationships with your 222 00:14:56,040 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 2: colleagues as you as you normally would. And hindsight's a 223 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:06,560 Speaker 2: wonderful thing, right. I got the impression that before this 224 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 2: this happened, they thought she was They thought she was strange, 225 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 2: they thought she was a little bit off kilter. But 226 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 2: I got the impression I don't think they thought this 227 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 2: woman is destined to kill someone, let alone in the 228 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 2: circumstances that she went on to do. But when it 229 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 2: comes to a trial, so you and then you hear 230 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:26,480 Speaker 2: about the circumstances, and it comes to a trial and 231 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 2: you're proofed, and the prosecutors ask you certain questions, right, 232 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:31,640 Speaker 2: you then get the impression over they always knew, so 233 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 2: why didn't they speak up? But I got the impression that, 234 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,000 Speaker 2: as I say, they they they she was. She was. 235 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 2: She was weird. She was she you know, she was 236 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 2: she was always talking about this this darkness, this horror material. 237 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 2: She had the tattoos, she had the hair, the piercings, 238 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:51,800 Speaker 2: she wore dark clothing. But as you said before, like 239 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:54,800 Speaker 2: thousands and thousands of young men and women do that 240 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 2: and don't go on to do what Gemma Lily did. 241 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 2: So impression I got was they thought she was strange, 242 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,760 Speaker 2: but they never thought they had a killer in their 243 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 2: break room until it broke and then they realized, gosh, 244 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 2: we were seeing next to this person, working next to 245 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 2: this person, you know, having conversations with this person, not 246 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 2: realizing that all the time, you know, she was planning 247 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 2: or certainly fantasizing about eventually committing one of the crimes. 248 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:31,520 Speaker 2: That really shook Western Australia to its core. This in 249 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:33,600 Speaker 2: the last twenty years at. 250 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: The time of Aaron's murder. In the lead up to that, 251 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,920 Speaker 1: we're talking about a time where you know, Instagram was 252 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,840 Speaker 1: brand new in twenty sixteen. Social media wasn't really a 253 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: huge part of our lives yet, but you know, the 254 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: Internet still existed and there were opportunities to join, you know, 255 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,720 Speaker 1: forums and chat rooms and things. Was she involved in 256 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,680 Speaker 1: any communities online that could have given us an idea 257 00:16:57,720 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: of where her motivations. 258 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 2: So this were coming not overly, but from quite early, 259 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:10,720 Speaker 2: from around about twenty eleven. From memory, she was spooking 260 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 2: this this book and this character that that she was, 261 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:18,320 Speaker 2: that she was in the midst of creating, as I say, 262 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 2: the book. The book was called play Zone. It was 263 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:24,879 Speaker 2: written under a pseudonym, and she was very proud of it. 264 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 2: She was very she was very proud of it. She 265 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:29,400 Speaker 2: would tell people about it, she would give people hard 266 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,280 Speaker 2: copies of it, anyone who showed any interest. And then 267 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:35,879 Speaker 2: on a she created a Facebook page around the book 268 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,360 Speaker 2: for you know, ostensibly for marketing purposes, and she would 269 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:46,040 Speaker 2: post about it. And then slowly, as was we dug 270 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,439 Speaker 2: into her social media profile a little more. There was 271 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 2: some very you know, sort of bizarre and disturbing photographs 272 00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 2: that she'd shed, that she'd fashioned and taken and obviously 273 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:05,440 Speaker 2: stylized herself that became sort of the book art. There 274 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 2: was one that depicted a young man on his knees 275 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:15,280 Speaker 2: in a sort of dexter like room that was covered 276 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 2: in top all ins and things with with this with 277 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:21,760 Speaker 2: this metal mask, this mask, it turned out, that had 278 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:24,800 Speaker 2: been made for Jemma by her father as a sort 279 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 2: of strange sort of gift or you know, acknowledgment that 280 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:33,480 Speaker 2: you know, yeah, okay, you're you're into this stuff, so 281 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,920 Speaker 2: you know, maybe I could you know, share this interest somehow. 282 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:39,200 Speaker 2: But she went on to use this mask in the 283 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 2: in the in the fanner of of of this book, 284 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:45,919 Speaker 2: and those pictures were there, you know, if you've chosen 285 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:47,479 Speaker 2: to see them, or if you were friends with her 286 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 2: on Facebook. She didn't have many, but she did have 287 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:53,760 Speaker 2: some that were there there to see. So again, even 288 00:18:53,840 --> 00:19:00,639 Speaker 2: her online personality was enmeshed with this, with this so character, 289 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:05,879 Speaker 2: with her pride and obsession with the book and the 290 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:10,880 Speaker 2: central theme of her life basically, which was killing someone, 291 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:16,120 Speaker 2: how to kill someone, How to torture someone and how 292 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 2: to do that, what weapons to do that with. So 293 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:25,560 Speaker 2: that was again, once we started digging into this story 294 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:30,200 Speaker 2: in this personality a little deeper, that was illuminative as well. 295 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: You're listening to true crime conversations with me, Claire Murphy, 296 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:39,679 Speaker 1: I'm speaking with former journalist Tim Clark about the murder 297 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: of Aaron Page. Sweetmen. Up next, When did Jemma Lily 298 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:47,520 Speaker 1: develop this strong urge to kill before the age of 299 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,919 Speaker 1: twenty five? And how did Trudy Lennin come into the picture? 300 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:59,320 Speaker 1: Do we know when things change from being this obsession 301 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:03,960 Speaker 1: with horror and creating this book in this character to 302 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: giving herself that goal that's mentioned throughout the trial of 303 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: wanting to kill someone before she turns twenty five? Like, 304 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,439 Speaker 1: do we have an understanding of when that became a 305 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:12,920 Speaker 1: thing for her? 306 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:17,600 Speaker 2: Well, personally, having covered the trial, followed the story and 307 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,080 Speaker 2: written about it after, I really feel that it was 308 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:28,919 Speaker 2: when she met Truly Lenin, who was her became her 309 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 2: best friend, became her muse, became her confidant, and ultimately 310 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:39,600 Speaker 2: became her accompanies. Truly Lenin was older, much older, in 311 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:47,080 Speaker 2: her forties, divorced, not really enjoying her life. She had 312 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 2: been a participant in the BDSM scene in Perth for 313 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:57,040 Speaker 2: some years as a submissive. So she was someone who 314 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:06,439 Speaker 2: sexually enjoyed being dominated, and through Truly's son, if I 315 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:12,000 Speaker 2: remember correctly, they met. So you've got these two personalities, right, 316 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:16,080 Speaker 2: You've got You've got Gemma, who is even though she's 317 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 2: lonely and she's weird, and she's on the fringes, let's 318 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:26,680 Speaker 2: let's call it, she was also articulate, confident, attractive, and 319 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:31,560 Speaker 2: was had had a had a belief in herself, even 320 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:34,359 Speaker 2: though that was a very sick belief that she was 321 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,520 Speaker 2: she was she was going to do this thing right. 322 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,359 Speaker 2: But I believe that she felt that she couldn't do 323 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:43,120 Speaker 2: it alone. And that jump, if you jump back to 324 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:45,600 Speaker 2: the central or one of the central themes of her 325 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 2: book was that she needed someone she s s had 326 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:53,480 Speaker 2: these followers, these these you know, these sycophants that would 327 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:55,639 Speaker 2: do his bidding for him and do his killing for 328 00:21:55,720 --> 00:22:00,199 Speaker 2: him and and honored him and worshiped him. And in 329 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,639 Speaker 2: Truly Lenin, that's what Jemma found. She found someone that 330 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:08,080 Speaker 2: was willing to be dominated because she knew she'd be 331 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 2: dominated sexually previously and that was part of her psychology, 332 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 2: so she could be and was willing to be dominated. 333 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 2: And as we went through the trial and the text 334 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,239 Speaker 2: messages between these two women were revealed, that was that 335 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 2: was very much their relationship dom sub and truly Lenin 336 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,600 Speaker 2: in finding Jemma, Lily found someone that she could talk to, 337 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 2: that she could hang out with, that she could feel 338 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 2: important with, that she could converse with. But it wasn't 339 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:44,760 Speaker 2: a male right because truly Lenin's persona and life up 340 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:48,240 Speaker 2: until that point has been had been a literal submissive 341 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:52,639 Speaker 2: and not a very happy one in a series of 342 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 2: heterosexual relationships. Now that there was a there was a 343 00:22:56,520 --> 00:23:01,359 Speaker 2: subtext that Gemma and Truly were love that was never 344 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 2: really explored because it didn't really have to be in 345 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 2: terms of the crime that they committed, because the relationship, 346 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,239 Speaker 2: their relationship, in terms of the physical acts that they 347 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 2: ended up doing together and planning together and then discussing 348 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:20,200 Speaker 2: together afterwards, was it was clear that they were as 349 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 2: close as to people could be, even if they were 350 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:28,400 Speaker 2: sharing a bed. So I I believe, having having gone 351 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,239 Speaker 2: through the trial, that that that that the moment that 352 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 2: Gemma found truly and realized that truly will do basically 353 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,960 Speaker 2: anything I ask of her, within reason and without reason. 354 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,720 Speaker 2: As it came to be. That was when it went 355 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,199 Speaker 2: from a fantasy to a rep from from fantasy to 356 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:49,199 Speaker 2: reality for her, because she had a maggot, right, she 357 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:53,159 Speaker 2: had she she dreamed up this this scenario in her 358 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:55,240 Speaker 2: head and then suddenly it was it was playing out 359 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,119 Speaker 2: in real life. She had someone living with her, you know, 360 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 2: hanging out with her, doing her bidding, really like read 361 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:04,919 Speaker 2: really reading her book, giving her notes, giving her suggestions, 362 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 2: and all the while it was building this confidence in 363 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:10,920 Speaker 2: the lead that right, I'm ready to do this now. 364 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 2: She'd set herself that timeline. I think that was a 365 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,280 Speaker 2: bit of drumatis persona. I think that was just her 366 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 2: building herself up. But whatever it was, it came to be, 367 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 2: and it came to be because they crossed paths and 368 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:33,639 Speaker 2: then they emboldened each other to do it. And really tragically, 369 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:40,840 Speaker 2: it was through truly Lenin and her son that they 370 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:46,120 Speaker 2: came into contact with Aaron, who was then for one 371 00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:49,320 Speaker 2: of the better I mean, he was targeted. He was 372 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:54,320 Speaker 2: targeted because of who he was, and that that really 373 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 2: is a piece of his story that is desperately, desperately sad. 374 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:04,160 Speaker 1: Well, speak about Aaron in a moment. But you mentioned 375 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:09,439 Speaker 1: the text messages between Trudy and Gemma, and there were 376 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:11,760 Speaker 1: quite a few of them, and they were quite central 377 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 1: to the court case. Can you talk us through what 378 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:15,240 Speaker 1: these women were saying to each other? 379 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:20,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, so again it revolved around this SOS character, right, 380 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 2: So that's that's how Lenin was addressing Lily Gemma in 381 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,920 Speaker 2: these in these text messages and truly was given a 382 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:36,720 Speaker 2: persona as well. They were egging each other on. So yeah, 383 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:43,679 Speaker 2: it's this dominant submissive relationship that was was able to 384 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:48,760 Speaker 2: be illustrated geographically in court literally by with graphics of 385 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:52,439 Speaker 2: the of the text messages. For instance, at one point, 386 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:57,439 Speaker 2: Lenin to Lily texts, I will fear you, but respect you. 387 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:01,479 Speaker 2: I see you as my dominant. That's that. That just 388 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:05,280 Speaker 2: lays it out in less than twenty words, right, Lily 389 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 2: to Lenin, one hundred percent perfect. It would seem you 390 00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 2: truly understand my SOS role. And then Lily to Lenin again, 391 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,359 Speaker 2: my mind is the darkest being you will ever be 392 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 2: laying your life in the hands off. And if you 393 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 2: read Lily's book, I wouldn't recommend it. It's terrible in 394 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:29,480 Speaker 2: terms of just spelling errors and plot development and characters 395 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:35,560 Speaker 2: and everything. But it's also two hundred odd pages of 396 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,399 Speaker 2: literally a window into Lily's mind as we now know 397 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:46,160 Speaker 2: that type of language is, you know, just strewn all 398 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 2: over the pages there. So just those three and there 399 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 2: were there were dozens and dozens of these text messages 400 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:58,320 Speaker 2: back and forth, really just you know, confirming to each 401 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 2: other what their roles were, also emboldened in each other 402 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 2: to build up to the day where they went to 403 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 2: that shopping center and got Aaron into their car. And then, 404 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,400 Speaker 2: as we'll probably go on to discuss, there were text 405 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 2: messages after the crime that they committed that showed that 406 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,840 Speaker 2: they weren't regretful of what they've done at all. In fact, 407 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:28,400 Speaker 2: Lily was elated at what she'd done because she'd done 408 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,160 Speaker 2: what she always wanted to do. Along with the messages 409 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 2: to each other about each other and embolding each other, 410 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:42,240 Speaker 2: they were also quite graphic messages about the act or 411 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,159 Speaker 2: the act that they were building up to, or certainly 412 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 2: that Lily wanted them both to build up to. This 413 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:50,399 Speaker 2: message that I'm about to read out was very similar 414 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:51,960 Speaker 2: to some of the passages in the book, but this 415 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:56,160 Speaker 2: was actually written to Lenin. She wrote to her, I 416 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 2: feel as though I cannot rest until the blood or 417 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 2: the flesh of a screaming, pleading victim is gushing out 418 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:09,960 Speaker 2: and pulling on the floor. Now that's horrifying enough. But 419 00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:14,439 Speaker 2: as we got into the trial, there was a photograph 420 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:17,680 Speaker 2: that was tendered by the prosecutors after they'd been into 421 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:22,919 Speaker 2: Lily's house where the crime was committed, and echoing that 422 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,199 Speaker 2: cover art for the book, there was a room that 423 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 2: had been basically blocked off in the house, a tiled floor, 424 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:35,000 Speaker 2: and it had blue top haul in all the way 425 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:42,160 Speaker 2: around it, floors and ceiling, allah dexter tild floor covered walls, 426 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 2: and two other items. There were photographs which were chilling, 427 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 2: and the photographs online if anyone is interested in seeing it. 428 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 2: In one caller was a toolbox, one of those tall 429 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:57,040 Speaker 2: red toolboxes with draws in and on the other was 430 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 2: a hospital gurney for one of the better words. This 431 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:07,840 Speaker 2: is where ultimately police deduced that Aaron's body was kept 432 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:11,560 Speaker 2: after he was killed, and then it was later moved 433 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 2: and buried in the crudely buried but buried nonetheless in 434 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:23,480 Speaker 2: the backyard of the Lily home, and that that text 435 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:26,600 Speaker 2: message or pleading victim is gushing and pulling on the floor. 436 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:31,200 Speaker 2: You can only read that as a foretaste of what 437 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 2: was to come, unfortunately, because it's so close to the 438 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 2: to the physical evidence that the police later found. 439 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 1: So these two women are living together at this stage, right, 440 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:46,080 Speaker 1: So they are in the same home. They've prepared this 441 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:51,920 Speaker 1: home for their potential victim. Who is Aaron Paige sweet Men. 442 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,160 Speaker 1: How does he come into the picture? You mentioned that 443 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:59,760 Speaker 1: they met him through Trudy's son, but how did they 444 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 1: managed to lure him into their home? 445 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, the physical connection is, as I say, through Truy's son. 446 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 2: Aaron played Sweetman was as his name suggests, a very 447 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:14,480 Speaker 2: sweet young man, but he was also a very vulnerable 448 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 2: young man. He came from let's say, difficult family circumstances. 449 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:24,479 Speaker 2: There was animosity there but between his mom and his 450 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:29,640 Speaker 2: dad and his stepmom. He had learning difficulties. He had 451 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:37,960 Speaker 2: some diagnosed neurodiversience. But he was also interested in technology 452 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:43,479 Speaker 2: and computers and gaming as many many young teenage men are, 453 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:48,280 Speaker 2: and he had friends, He had interests. He was independent 454 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:50,400 Speaker 2: as far as he could be, but it was through 455 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,240 Speaker 2: Lenin and through a friendship with Lennon's son, who was 456 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 2: younger than Aaron, but nevertheless they were friends that Truly 457 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:04,800 Speaker 2: knew him and eventually had his contact details. She contacted 458 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:09,840 Speaker 2: Aaron to ask him whether he would come to their 459 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:16,000 Speaker 2: home to download and upload some software, some gaming software, 460 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 2: and Aaron b and Aaron, with the interests he had 461 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 2: and the naivete let's say he had, he agreed to 462 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,840 Speaker 2: do this, and so they arranged to meet at a 463 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:34,400 Speaker 2: shopping center quite close to Lily's home. They met there. 464 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:41,800 Speaker 2: CCTV captures the meeting there, and completely innocently, thinking that 465 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 2: all he's doing is doing a favor for a friend's mum, 466 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:50,400 Speaker 2: he gets in Gema's car and they drive. They drive away, 467 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:54,080 Speaker 2: and they end up at Eli's home, where Aaron is 468 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 2: doing exactly what he'd been asked to do. He was 469 00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 2: in a chair in a side bedroom uploading and downloading 470 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:06,720 Speaker 2: some software onto Truly's computer. But at that point, Truly 471 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:11,720 Speaker 2: Lennon knew exactly what was going to happen, because it 472 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:15,600 Speaker 2: had been discussed in great detail between her and Lily, 473 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,720 Speaker 2: so she stood back, but not far enough that she 474 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:23,160 Speaker 2: couldn't see what was happening. Eema Lily came up behind 475 00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 2: Aaron as he sat in the chair with a garrotte, 476 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:33,840 Speaker 2: an old style garrot with thin wire, and choked Aaron 477 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,720 Speaker 2: with that quite severely, but not severely enough to actually 478 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:42,200 Speaker 2: end Aaron's life. She did that with a knife, one 479 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 2: of the knives that she collected and proudly displayed it 480 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 2: in her home. She stabbed Aaron multiple times. Aaron fell 481 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:56,960 Speaker 2: forward onto the floor of that room, and they watched 482 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:03,160 Speaker 2: that young man bleed to death in their home. The circumstance, 483 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 2: as we understand it then, was they moved the body 484 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 2: to that room that we spoke about, that hidden room. 485 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:11,920 Speaker 2: They cut the piece of the carpet out underneath the 486 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:16,600 Speaker 2: window where Aaron had bled most and got rid of that. 487 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,880 Speaker 2: And then they, for two or three days just went 488 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:28,680 Speaker 2: about their their daily lives, the while, all the while 489 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:35,400 Speaker 2: congratulating each other verbally but also by a text message, 490 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,840 Speaker 2: which I found some of the hardest material to hear, 491 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:42,959 Speaker 2: because they've not only ended this young man's life, they 492 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:49,200 Speaker 2: destroyed the asley, destroyed the families of of his you know, 493 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:52,800 Speaker 2: his close relatives, his friends. But then they reveled in it. 494 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:57,840 Speaker 2: They congratulated themselves, They you know, emboldened each other with 495 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:00,000 Speaker 2: you know how good we are and how brilliant we are, 496 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:01,960 Speaker 2: and we got away with it, et cetera, et cetera, 497 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:08,279 Speaker 2: thinking cruelly that because Aaron was living away from home 498 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:10,960 Speaker 2: and vulnerable, and you know that no one would miss him, 499 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 2: which is almost the cruelest part of all, right, that 500 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:18,440 Speaker 2: they'd eraised this young man also, they thought, and the 501 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,359 Speaker 2: people would just forget him. But that wasn't the case 502 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 2: at all, as we discussed right at the start, and 503 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:29,720 Speaker 2: Aaron was declared missing by his family almost immediately, maybe 504 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 2: two days less than seventy two hours after his death, anyway, 505 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:38,080 Speaker 2: and police immediately started looking for him. They looked into 506 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 2: his background, they looked into his connections, and they looked 507 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,359 Speaker 2: into his phone records, as police obviously do these days. 508 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,680 Speaker 2: And the last phone call, one of the last phone 509 00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:51,200 Speaker 2: calls that he'd received, was from Trudy Lennon's fine. So 510 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:54,200 Speaker 2: they tracked Lennon down, find out where she was living, 511 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 2: went to that house, and what they found there not 512 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:03,799 Speaker 2: only was the paraffername of murder and horror, but they 513 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:07,560 Speaker 2: also found physical evidence of it, right that one that 514 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:12,480 Speaker 2: piece of carpet cut out. But the most striking thing 515 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:14,239 Speaker 2: that they found when they got to the house was 516 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:20,960 Speaker 2: very recently, very shoddly constructed patio which had obviously been 517 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:28,080 Speaker 2: something had been laid on this grass patch cement, and 518 00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:30,560 Speaker 2: then on top of that had been laid some pretty 519 00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:35,560 Speaker 2: horrible looking thirty by thirty tiles. So they had a 520 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:39,440 Speaker 2: missing man, young man. They had a phone call to 521 00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:44,200 Speaker 2: this woman. They had this house which literally was signed 522 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:47,400 Speaker 2: Elm Street because that's what Lily had put on the 523 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:51,319 Speaker 2: back porch was, you know, Elm Street. And then they 524 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:56,359 Speaker 2: had this weird DIY project. And when they put all 525 00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:59,840 Speaker 2: the police put all that together, they came to a 526 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:05,520 Speaker 2: very quick and horrible conclusion. And so they dug this 527 00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:09,800 Speaker 2: patio for one of the better word up. They found 528 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,600 Speaker 2: concrete underneath. They dug that up, and then they found 529 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:17,200 Speaker 2: disturbed earth. And when they redisturbed that earth, they found 530 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:22,320 Speaker 2: a white sheet and inside that was Aaron Pietry's body. 531 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:24,279 Speaker 2: Was that. 532 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:27,600 Speaker 1: The way they disposed of his whole body? I know 533 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:31,279 Speaker 1: there was some discussion, and there's CCTV footage of these 534 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:34,960 Speaker 1: two women at local hardware stores collecting up lots of 535 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:39,160 Speaker 1: supplies to commit the murder, but also to get rid 536 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,879 Speaker 1: of his body. Was it true that they'd tried other 537 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:45,920 Speaker 1: ways to dissolve his body before ending up burying him 538 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:46,600 Speaker 1: in the backyard. 539 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 2: Part of this story and part of their planning was 540 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:53,760 Speaker 2: they went to a Bunning's store in the days before 541 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:58,879 Speaker 2: Aaron went missing. CCTV of it, and in that CCTV 542 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,720 Speaker 2: you can see Gemial early at the till and behind 543 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:06,920 Speaker 2: her Trudy Lennon with one of those long flat led trolleys, 544 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:11,360 Speaker 2: and on that trolley was a significant amount of acid 545 00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:17,760 Speaker 2: which they purchased. When police later went through that house 546 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:23,800 Speaker 2: forensically in an annex I believe, either behind the house 547 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:27,720 Speaker 2: or attached to the house, they found an old oven 548 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:32,560 Speaker 2: with an old pot, and there was some meat in there. 549 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:36,359 Speaker 2: This meat, this raw meat, hadn't been cooked. It had 550 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:44,640 Speaker 2: been submerged in acid. And the logical conclusion, the one 551 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:49,799 Speaker 2: that was put as a theory before the jury, was 552 00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:54,480 Speaker 2: that this was those two testing what was possible, what 553 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:58,560 Speaker 2: would happen if you put a piece of raw meat 554 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 2: into this acid into a pot. The remains of it, 555 00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:06,040 Speaker 2: the remnants of it were there, and so it hadn't 556 00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:10,960 Speaker 2: had worked completely because you can still see what it was, 557 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:15,279 Speaker 2: that some acid and a piece of meat, So you 558 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:21,600 Speaker 2: know presumably these two had done that test thought better 559 00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 2: of it, or realized it was harder than they thought 560 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,040 Speaker 2: it was going to be and it wasn't as easy 561 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:30,000 Speaker 2: as the movies make it seem, and so they came 562 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:33,000 Speaker 2: up with another plan, which was the one that they 563 00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:36,719 Speaker 2: ended up going through with, and was the one that 564 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:42,279 Speaker 2: you know, ultimately was the jury saw and accepted. Was 565 00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:46,880 Speaker 2: the way that Aaron's body had been disposed of. The 566 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:54,319 Speaker 2: one thing I didn't mention when they found Aaron in 567 00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:57,839 Speaker 2: the sheet, they also found that his face had been 568 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:06,600 Speaker 2: enveloped with plastic cling film for some reason, because the 569 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:11,279 Speaker 2: pathology suggested that the stab wounds that Aaron suffered would 570 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:15,800 Speaker 2: have been fatal. So what that was about, who knows. 571 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:22,560 Speaker 2: But it was a final indignity that was inflicted on 572 00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:26,719 Speaker 2: Aaron before before he was so crudely disposed of. 573 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:36,080 Speaker 1: After the break we learned how police discovered Aaron's body. 574 00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:41,200 Speaker 1: How cooperative were Gemma and Trudy in the aftermath of 575 00:39:41,239 --> 00:39:44,160 Speaker 1: police finding Aaron's body buried in the backyard. Did they 576 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:48,799 Speaker 1: assist police in their investigation, did they try and lead 577 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:50,840 Speaker 1: them astray? What were they like? 578 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:56,120 Speaker 2: This was fascinating. At another fascinating part of this case 579 00:39:57,239 --> 00:40:01,239 Speaker 2: because Lily ad Or always wanted to do this right. 580 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,160 Speaker 2: She'd written about it. She fanstized about it, she diorized 581 00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:07,759 Speaker 2: that she thought about different ways, but when it came 582 00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:09,960 Speaker 2: to it, when it came to it, she denied it. 583 00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:16,879 Speaker 2: She denied murdering Aaron Piech. She blamed truly Lennon. And 584 00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,439 Speaker 2: the two interviews or the multiple interviews with the two 585 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:25,600 Speaker 2: women were some amazing police work, I have to say, 586 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:31,480 Speaker 2: because not only did they unpick this relationship pretty quickly, 587 00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:35,160 Speaker 2: they then used this relationship to get to the truth. 588 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:40,120 Speaker 2: They knew it was more than likely that Lily had 589 00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:44,080 Speaker 2: done that deed because she was gem and Lily and 590 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:46,600 Speaker 2: they and then they had all the material on her. 591 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,560 Speaker 2: But they knew that Lennon must have helped her. So 592 00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:52,879 Speaker 2: they were really interested to work that. When then when 593 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:55,680 Speaker 2: Lily got into the interview room, she blamed Lenmon and 594 00:40:55,719 --> 00:40:57,759 Speaker 2: she said, oh I watched and I couldn't stop, et cetera, 595 00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:03,480 Speaker 2: et cetera. They used that non confession or that that 596 00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:07,920 Speaker 2: blame that Lily was was heaping on Lenin in Lenin's 597 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:14,359 Speaker 2: interview interviews to break her down because initially she was like, oh, 598 00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:15,840 Speaker 2: I didn't know, I didn't know what was happening. I 599 00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:18,200 Speaker 2: didn't know it was going to happen. It was completely 600 00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:21,000 Speaker 2: shocked to me, et cetera, et cetera. But then slowly 601 00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:26,279 Speaker 2: and surely they broke this, this this submissive woman down 602 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:30,399 Speaker 2: to the point where they came to the truth as 603 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:33,160 Speaker 2: the facts and the evidence would would would had it 604 00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:38,600 Speaker 2: have it been, And ultimately Lennon said, no, I didn't 605 00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:43,640 Speaker 2: actually kill Aaron. It was truly and so irony of ironies. 606 00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:47,480 Speaker 2: We get to a court case and we have what's 607 00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:52,520 Speaker 2: colloquially known in legal terms as a cutthroat defense, which 608 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:56,480 Speaker 2: is they're blaming each other to try and absorb blame 609 00:41:56,680 --> 00:42:02,799 Speaker 2: from each other. And that's that's how that's how it 610 00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:08,080 Speaker 2: played out. The whole trial was that they denied, they downplayed, 611 00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:14,120 Speaker 2: they denuded their own roles while you know, pointing out 612 00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:18,600 Speaker 2: or amplifying or you know, not exaggerating, but certainly emphasizing 613 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:22,319 Speaker 2: the role of the other person. So were they cooperative? 614 00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:27,799 Speaker 2: You could say yes they were, because ultimately that all that, 615 00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:32,560 Speaker 2: all that cross pollinating evidence and testimony led the jury 616 00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:35,120 Speaker 2: to the to the verdicts that they got to. But 617 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:41,120 Speaker 2: they didn't ultimately confess they had to be found guilty. 618 00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:45,239 Speaker 2: They had to put Aaron's family and the state and 619 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,440 Speaker 2: the lawyers and the judge and the witnesses through that 620 00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:51,320 Speaker 2: ordeal of a trial. And it was an ordeal. It 621 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:53,520 Speaker 2: was a long trial, it was a graphic trial. It 622 00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:56,440 Speaker 2: was an emotional trial. Aaron's family had to give evidence, 623 00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:00,680 Speaker 2: that Lily's friends had to give evidence, pathologies, some police 624 00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:03,960 Speaker 2: had to give evidence, and that's you know, that's that's 625 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:06,400 Speaker 2: a big thing to do when a young man is 626 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:12,480 Speaker 2: dead and in such graphic ways. So yeah, it was 627 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:17,839 Speaker 2: the psychology of that was and the psychology of it 628 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:21,480 Speaker 2: was interesting. But the way that the police, the detectives 629 00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:27,360 Speaker 2: came at this case was also really really fascinating and ultimately, 630 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,000 Speaker 2: I mean, you have to praise the work that they 631 00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:32,640 Speaker 2: did and the interviews that they did because they got 632 00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:33,520 Speaker 2: to the truth in the end. 633 00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:37,720 Speaker 1: Tim, How did Jemma's family handle this, because they've obviously 634 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:40,160 Speaker 1: at one stage tried their best to help her by 635 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:44,080 Speaker 1: sending her out to Australia, hoping to interrupt these dark 636 00:43:44,120 --> 00:43:47,440 Speaker 1: thoughts and fantasies and life that she was living. I 637 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:50,840 Speaker 1: understand that Jimma spoke to her dad about it, denied 638 00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:53,280 Speaker 1: that she did it. So she continued to deny evento 639 00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:57,360 Speaker 1: those closest to her, But how did her family handle 640 00:43:58,000 --> 00:43:59,240 Speaker 1: her being accused of murder? 641 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:03,680 Speaker 2: The family in the UK and those closer in the UK, 642 00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:08,160 Speaker 2: certainly the ones that I communicated with, Some of them said, well, 643 00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:10,440 Speaker 2: this is just this was just always going to happen. 644 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:14,920 Speaker 2: Richard Lilly, who was Jama's father, who is Jem's father, 645 00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:21,319 Speaker 2: categorically one said she didn't do it. He came to 646 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:24,320 Speaker 2: the UK. I came from the UK, sorry to Australia, 647 00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:28,120 Speaker 2: was attended the trial, spoke to us at a certain level. 648 00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:31,279 Speaker 2: I mean, the media who were covering this trial was 649 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:35,040 Speaker 2: obviously didn't like the way the trial was panning out 650 00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:39,640 Speaker 2: in terms of evidence, but also coverage. I certainly got 651 00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:42,960 Speaker 2: the impression he was he felt that we were unfairly, 652 00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:48,239 Speaker 2: you know, casting his daughters as this monster. And he's 653 00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:50,440 Speaker 2: stuck to that and he has stuck to that. He 654 00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:55,920 Speaker 2: did interviews following the conviction where he again said she 655 00:44:56,600 --> 00:44:59,799 Speaker 2: just couldn't have done this, This isn't her. But I 656 00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:04,200 Speaker 2: after the trial, I tracked down a chap called Roland Hulker, 657 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:08,759 Speaker 2: who was a very close friend of Richard Lilly, back 658 00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:12,560 Speaker 2: in the UK, who ultimately Jemma stayed with when she 659 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:16,920 Speaker 2: first moved here. So that's how close Richard and Roland were. 660 00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:21,320 Speaker 2: And I went to Roland's house and he was hugely 661 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:23,480 Speaker 2: hospitable and we had a cup of tea and had 662 00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:27,879 Speaker 2: a long chat and he said two things. He said 663 00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:31,520 Speaker 2: one Gemma was it wasn't too bad when she first 664 00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:34,839 Speaker 2: got to Australia in terms of her dark obsessions, but 665 00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:38,560 Speaker 2: then he could see her slipping back into that. She 666 00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:43,239 Speaker 2: was getting you know, darker clothing, darker music, more tattoos 667 00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:48,040 Speaker 2: and etc. And eventually he wasn't comfortable with her living 668 00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:51,520 Speaker 2: with him, so he moved She moved out into the house. 669 00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:55,840 Speaker 2: Eventually with she was arrested. But he also said that Richard, 670 00:45:56,760 --> 00:45:59,640 Speaker 2: in his eyes as a close friend, was always a 671 00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:06,719 Speaker 2: overprotective and maybe not realistic in his assessment of Gemma's 672 00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:12,440 Speaker 2: mental health, mental state, interests, etc. So he said it 673 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:15,960 Speaker 2: to me. I had conversations with Richard about Gemma while 674 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,040 Speaker 2: she was here. I said, I'm worried about her. I 675 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:19,960 Speaker 2: don't think she's well. I think you need to do 676 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:22,120 Speaker 2: something or come here, and do you know, I'm just 677 00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:27,000 Speaker 2: informing you and Richie went up, She's fine. I truly 678 00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:31,320 Speaker 2: believe she's fine. So again, an interesting dynamic, a split 679 00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:36,120 Speaker 2: if you like, between her father, who was always hugely supportive, 680 00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:38,120 Speaker 2: and then other members of the family and other people 681 00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:43,800 Speaker 2: close to Gemma said, yeah, now that this has happened, 682 00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:45,000 Speaker 2: I can understand or I. 683 00:46:45,400 --> 00:46:48,000 Speaker 1: Can see why did it take the jury long to 684 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:50,480 Speaker 1: make a decision after being shown all that evidence, the 685 00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:54,160 Speaker 1: text messages, the testimony they've given, or the interviews that 686 00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:57,320 Speaker 1: they'd given, blaming each other, and all of those experts 687 00:46:57,320 --> 00:46:59,640 Speaker 1: that stepped up. What did the jury think of all 688 00:46:59,680 --> 00:46:59,920 Speaker 1: of that? 689 00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:03,400 Speaker 2: Two and a half hours was how long the jury 690 00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:08,040 Speaker 2: were out, which, in a when you're deliberating over not one, 691 00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:12,080 Speaker 2: just but two people on a murder charge, that's not 692 00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:14,840 Speaker 2: long at all. As graphic as it was, it was 693 00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:18,440 Speaker 2: also as obvious as it came to be right as 694 00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:21,000 Speaker 2: what had happened. And again, I will go back to 695 00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:24,560 Speaker 2: the detective work, the police work in this case. I 696 00:47:24,600 --> 00:47:29,080 Speaker 2: worked quite closely with one of the detectives that worked 697 00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:32,680 Speaker 2: on this case in other cases, and he was one 698 00:47:32,719 --> 00:47:36,480 Speaker 2: of the interviewing officers actually, and I know how much 699 00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:40,080 Speaker 2: this case affected the Serious Crimes squad in Western Australian 700 00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:46,040 Speaker 2: Police because just because of everything right, the victim, the 701 00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:48,600 Speaker 2: family circumstances, the way he was killed, the way he 702 00:47:48,680 --> 00:47:51,800 Speaker 2: was disposed of the way these two then conducted themselves 703 00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:55,240 Speaker 2: in court. This was a trial in more than one 704 00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:58,640 Speaker 2: sense of the word. But you know, it didn't take 705 00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:02,000 Speaker 2: the jury long for good reason and for the right reasons. 706 00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:05,320 Speaker 2: And they you know, I can say this now I'm 707 00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:08,360 Speaker 2: not a court reporter anymore. It was the right decision. 708 00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:11,200 Speaker 2: It was obviously the right decision because that's that's that, 709 00:48:11,440 --> 00:48:14,920 Speaker 2: that was the truth of what happened. But I will 710 00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:19,520 Speaker 2: also give some insight into the effects that these trials 711 00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:24,439 Speaker 2: can have. So what I knew both the lawyers who 712 00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:29,279 Speaker 2: were tasked with defending truly Lennon and and Gemal Lily, 713 00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:35,680 Speaker 2: And certainly I know the lawyer that defended Gemal Lily 714 00:48:36,239 --> 00:48:40,480 Speaker 2: was deeply, deeply affected by this trial. There's a misnomer 715 00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:42,839 Speaker 2: out there, right, the defense lawyers and they just rock 716 00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:45,080 Speaker 2: up and take the money and you know, a life 717 00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:47,279 Speaker 2: for a living and all this type of thing. But 718 00:48:47,440 --> 00:48:50,320 Speaker 2: you know, without them, the justice system wouldn't work because 719 00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:54,279 Speaker 2: every defendant it needs a defense lawyer, right, and when 720 00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:57,320 Speaker 2: you're on such a serious chargers murder, you need a 721 00:48:57,440 --> 00:49:00,239 Speaker 2: very experienced defense lawyer, and Gemal Lily had one of 722 00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:05,040 Speaker 2: the most experienced in Perth at that time and I've 723 00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:09,960 Speaker 2: spoken to him since about this trial and he it 724 00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:14,680 Speaker 2: was it's deeply deeply affected him as well, just because 725 00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:16,960 Speaker 2: of not only the material that he had to deal with, 726 00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:18,920 Speaker 2: but the person he was having to deal with as well, 727 00:49:18,960 --> 00:49:23,160 Speaker 2: and having to defend and having to try and advise 728 00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:28,239 Speaker 2: in a legal sense. So yeah, it's it's it's it's 729 00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:30,560 Speaker 2: one of those cases when you when you when you 730 00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:33,719 Speaker 2: wrap it all up, that is just so it's so 731 00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:37,919 Speaker 2: bizarre that this, this could, this could happen in Perth. 732 00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:39,880 Speaker 2: And we say it, We've said it a lot about 733 00:49:39,880 --> 00:49:44,200 Speaker 2: crimes in Perth and sometimes Perth can seem a different 734 00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:46,799 Speaker 2: world and a different country to the rest of Australia. 735 00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:51,200 Speaker 2: And in some ways it is because every so often 736 00:49:51,440 --> 00:49:55,120 Speaker 2: a criminal case will pop up that is so you know, notorious. 737 00:49:55,160 --> 00:49:57,960 Speaker 2: You think, how the hell could that happen? And then 738 00:49:58,000 --> 00:49:59,719 Speaker 2: on top of that, how could the help, how the 739 00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:03,000 Speaker 2: health that happened in Perth, because you know, we're the 740 00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:05,880 Speaker 2: big side sort of paradise that everyone comes to to 741 00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:09,200 Speaker 2: have fun and come away with their talent, right, But 742 00:50:10,719 --> 00:50:14,160 Speaker 2: there's some dark there's some dark undercurrents in this city 743 00:50:14,160 --> 00:50:15,879 Speaker 2: that sometimes comes to the service and. 744 00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:18,160 Speaker 1: This was one of them, I understand. Tou aside from 745 00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:20,239 Speaker 1: the jury not taking a hell of a long time 746 00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:22,600 Speaker 1: to make the decision, that the judge handed down quite 747 00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:24,080 Speaker 1: a significant sentence too. 748 00:50:24,600 --> 00:50:27,879 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, the most significant sense you can ever hand 749 00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:30,120 Speaker 2: down his life and life is mandatory for murder in 750 00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:33,640 Speaker 2: Western Australia, so that's what these two women got, and 751 00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:36,560 Speaker 2: that's what these two women are serving. But in our system, 752 00:50:36,680 --> 00:50:39,120 Speaker 2: as in others in Australia and around the world, a 753 00:50:39,239 --> 00:50:42,760 Speaker 2: judge also has to set a minimum term for the 754 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:47,120 Speaker 2: minimum amount of time that a murderer has to serve 755 00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:50,560 Speaker 2: before they can be eligible for parole. In this case, 756 00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:54,400 Speaker 2: it was twenty eight years each for Lily and Lennon. 757 00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:59,080 Speaker 2: So the judge ruled that they were equally culpable of 758 00:50:59,160 --> 00:51:02,959 Speaker 2: this crime and they should serve the same So twenty 759 00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:05,800 Speaker 2: eight years, which at the time that they were sentenced, 760 00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:09,800 Speaker 2: was one of the longest minimum terms ever set for 761 00:51:10,440 --> 00:51:14,640 Speaker 2: any murder in Western Australia, but particularly for female killers. 762 00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:18,960 Speaker 2: We've had at least one notorious one of those in 763 00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:22,600 Speaker 2: Western Australia as well, but two of them working together, 764 00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:27,720 Speaker 2: living together, in a relationship together. They are extremely rare, 765 00:51:27,880 --> 00:51:31,960 Speaker 2: as was this case, and it warranted an extremely rare sentence, 766 00:51:31,960 --> 00:51:32,880 Speaker 2: which is what they've got. 767 00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:37,520 Speaker 1: It's now been ten years since Aaron Page Sweetman's murder 768 00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:40,200 Speaker 1: and there was a great outpouring of grief in the 769 00:51:40,239 --> 00:51:45,439 Speaker 1: community after his death, something that Trudy and Jemmy didn't 770 00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:48,040 Speaker 1: count on because they figured he would just be invisible, 771 00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:51,719 Speaker 1: seeing that he was on the spectrum. Do we know 772 00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:57,800 Speaker 1: what life has been like for Trudy and for Gemma 773 00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:01,280 Speaker 1: whilst behind bars they treated in prison? 774 00:52:02,520 --> 00:52:04,960 Speaker 2: Well, firstly, there was i have to say, sort of 775 00:52:05,800 --> 00:52:09,279 Speaker 2: revulsion at what they've done and the way they've done 776 00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:12,520 Speaker 2: it and how they conducted themselves. During the trial, it 777 00:52:12,560 --> 00:52:17,000 Speaker 2: made headlines back in the UK for certain there were 778 00:52:17,880 --> 00:52:22,360 Speaker 2: sort of TV interviews with Aaron's mum and dad, but 779 00:52:22,520 --> 00:52:29,320 Speaker 2: also with Lily's father as well. Since then, life hasn't 780 00:52:29,440 --> 00:52:34,600 Speaker 2: been that easy for truly Lenin, at least when whilst 781 00:52:34,600 --> 00:52:39,440 Speaker 2: she's in custody. She's been attacked twice, once very seriously 782 00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:46,600 Speaker 2: by another prisoner who poured boiling water over her while 783 00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:50,520 Speaker 2: they were waiting in a queue for medication. She suffered 784 00:52:51,239 --> 00:52:54,799 Speaker 2: third degree burns to her head, the back of her neck, 785 00:52:54,840 --> 00:53:01,040 Speaker 2: her shoulders are back the battocks, and that person who 786 00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:05,279 Speaker 2: committed that crime was very open as to why they'd 787 00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:10,480 Speaker 2: done it. They didn't like, in fact detested, what Lenin 788 00:53:10,560 --> 00:53:15,120 Speaker 2: had done, and they wanted her to pay an extra price. Now, 789 00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:19,879 Speaker 2: obviously vigilanteism in prison is frowned upon very seriously by 790 00:53:19,880 --> 00:53:22,840 Speaker 2: the authorities, as it should be. Justice had been served, 791 00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:25,800 Speaker 2: she had been sentenced, and she didn't deserve to be attacked. 792 00:53:26,280 --> 00:53:28,879 Speaker 2: The person who did the attack got nearly five years 793 00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:36,640 Speaker 2: I think for that attack. But again, the public when 794 00:53:36,680 --> 00:53:38,800 Speaker 2: I wrote that story and followed that trial and followed 795 00:53:38,840 --> 00:53:42,440 Speaker 2: that sentencing, that the overwhelming messages I got were not 796 00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:46,759 Speaker 2: sympathetic towards Judie Lennar. So that goes to show the 797 00:53:46,880 --> 00:53:51,919 Speaker 2: level of as I say, revulsion that still exists in 798 00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:57,120 Speaker 2: the public domain for her. They come to Lily, She's 799 00:53:57,160 --> 00:54:02,480 Speaker 2: a slightly more interesting life in prison so far. A 800 00:54:02,560 --> 00:54:06,560 Speaker 2: former colleague of mine, Kate Campbell, had impeccable still does 801 00:54:06,800 --> 00:54:13,000 Speaker 2: impeccable prison contacts, and she was reliably informed and then 802 00:54:13,400 --> 00:54:18,520 Speaker 2: in fact corroborated that generally had been placed in a 803 00:54:18,600 --> 00:54:22,759 Speaker 2: prison away from the main prison population, unlike len And 804 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:26,280 Speaker 2: because she was on another level, or the prison authorities, 805 00:54:26,320 --> 00:54:29,080 Speaker 2: i should say, felt she was on another level again 806 00:54:29,520 --> 00:54:35,239 Speaker 2: in terms of her risk of being of what her 807 00:54:35,239 --> 00:54:37,719 Speaker 2: fate might might have been in prison, and so they 808 00:54:37,719 --> 00:54:41,080 Speaker 2: placed her in a special unit. Also housed in that 809 00:54:41,440 --> 00:54:45,880 Speaker 2: unit was a lady called Melanie Atwood, who again was 810 00:54:46,000 --> 00:54:50,960 Speaker 2: another one of my former trials and cases. Melanie Atwood 811 00:54:51,280 --> 00:54:54,680 Speaker 2: was a lady who had far right leanings let's let's 812 00:54:54,760 --> 00:54:58,520 Speaker 2: so we say, and fell into a relationship with a 813 00:54:58,560 --> 00:55:03,040 Speaker 2: neo Nazi. That neo Nazi felt so strongly that Melanie 814 00:55:03,080 --> 00:55:05,960 Speaker 2: Atwood should be with him and not her current partner, 815 00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:11,640 Speaker 2: that she murdered Melanie Atwood's partner with Melanie Autwards knowledge. 816 00:55:11,840 --> 00:55:14,720 Speaker 2: In fact, Melanie Atwoods was quite happy for her partner 817 00:55:14,760 --> 00:55:17,000 Speaker 2: to die so she could be with this neo Nazi 818 00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:20,960 Speaker 2: chap in prison. Melanie Atwood, it would appear, and Jemma 819 00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:23,800 Speaker 2: Lily had struck up a relationship. They were sell mates first, 820 00:55:24,680 --> 00:55:29,440 Speaker 2: then they became intimate and it made it no secret 821 00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:31,480 Speaker 2: at all in the prison system that they were a 822 00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:38,120 Speaker 2: couple until it became public knowledge through Kate's reporting, and 823 00:55:38,200 --> 00:55:42,760 Speaker 2: Jemal Lily was then moved away from Melanie Atwood's orbit. 824 00:55:43,440 --> 00:55:47,480 Speaker 2: I haven't heard much from Jemal Lily since then, I 825 00:55:47,480 --> 00:55:49,759 Speaker 2: would assume because she's trying to keep her head down. 826 00:55:49,960 --> 00:55:52,719 Speaker 2: I hope she's trying to keep her head down. I 827 00:55:52,760 --> 00:55:55,600 Speaker 2: hope she's reflecting on the life she's lived up to now, 828 00:55:55,640 --> 00:55:59,719 Speaker 2: because she's still a young woman, and the possibility that 829 00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:04,040 Speaker 2: she might get parole in some distant future and she 830 00:56:04,120 --> 00:56:06,359 Speaker 2: might do something with it if she was ever granted it. 831 00:56:06,400 --> 00:56:09,640 Speaker 2: But that will ultimately be up to the prison system 832 00:56:09,640 --> 00:56:12,799 Speaker 2: and then ultimately up to our Attorney General here in 833 00:56:12,840 --> 00:56:15,560 Speaker 2: Western Australia, who has to sign off on any parole 834 00:56:15,840 --> 00:56:20,719 Speaker 2: applications for serious criminals like Lily. And it'll be an 835 00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:25,880 Speaker 2: interesting day when that piece of paper comes across whomever 836 00:56:25,960 --> 00:56:28,759 Speaker 2: attorney General might be sitting in that position in twenty 837 00:56:28,800 --> 00:56:29,400 Speaker 2: odd years or so. 838 00:56:30,200 --> 00:56:33,360 Speaker 1: Tim, thank you so much for taking us through this case, 839 00:56:33,880 --> 00:56:40,759 Speaker 1: as wildly unhinged as it is, and for keeping us 840 00:56:40,800 --> 00:56:42,040 Speaker 1: up to date on where it stands. 841 00:56:42,280 --> 00:56:45,719 Speaker 2: Pleasure. Just one last thing. I had a lot of 842 00:56:46,960 --> 00:56:51,040 Speaker 2: significant contact with Aaron's family during the trial and during 843 00:56:51,320 --> 00:56:57,320 Speaker 2: actually appeals as well, that did eventuate but obviously fail. 844 00:56:57,800 --> 00:57:01,480 Speaker 2: They were amazing people still are. Aaron's father, in particular, 845 00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:04,080 Speaker 2: was an absolute tower of strength. He was dealing with 846 00:57:04,120 --> 00:57:06,640 Speaker 2: the loss of his son, he was dealing with health 847 00:57:06,680 --> 00:57:11,640 Speaker 2: issues for his wife, and also the fallout of inevitable 848 00:57:11,719 --> 00:57:15,160 Speaker 2: emotional fallout of this that happens in any family. But 849 00:57:15,880 --> 00:57:18,880 Speaker 2: anytime we asked to speak to them, they were gentle, 850 00:57:19,360 --> 00:57:22,960 Speaker 2: They answered our questions and I often well, particularly this 851 00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:24,920 Speaker 2: week when he contacted me and asked me to talk 852 00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:26,800 Speaker 2: about this case, and going back and reading about it, 853 00:57:27,320 --> 00:57:31,480 Speaker 2: I had and have nothing but admiration for Aaron's family 854 00:57:31,520 --> 00:57:35,640 Speaker 2: and so I hope this podcast doesn't bring up anything 855 00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:38,960 Speaker 2: too traumatic for them, But if they are listening, and 856 00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:44,520 Speaker 2: if it does, it just please take that you were 857 00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:48,120 Speaker 2: absolutely amazing doing the trial. You endured something that no 858 00:57:48,240 --> 00:57:53,360 Speaker 2: family should, and myself and I'm sure every West Australian 859 00:57:53,440 --> 00:57:58,200 Speaker 2: remembers this case will also remember your kindness and endurance 860 00:57:58,320 --> 00:57:59,720 Speaker 2: and yeah, we think of you. 861 00:58:05,760 --> 00:58:08,120 Speaker 1: Tim told us after this interview that he spoke to 862 00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:11,320 Speaker 1: the detective who worked this case many years later. He 863 00:58:11,400 --> 00:58:14,200 Speaker 1: told him that he was so relieved that they'd managed 864 00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:17,440 Speaker 1: to get these two behind bars after they so callously 865 00:58:17,480 --> 00:58:22,320 Speaker 1: took Aaron's life because he was absolutely sure if they 866 00:58:22,360 --> 00:58:26,200 Speaker 1: hadn't caught them, they would have done it again. Thank 867 00:58:26,200 --> 00:58:28,400 Speaker 1: you to Tim for helping us tell this story. If 868 00:58:28,440 --> 00:58:30,480 Speaker 1: you want to see photos and videos from this case, 869 00:58:30,680 --> 00:58:33,720 Speaker 1: head over to our Instagram page at true Crime Conversations. 870 00:58:33,880 --> 00:58:37,200 Speaker 1: Oh I've posted some of them for in depth case explainers. 871 00:58:37,280 --> 00:58:40,560 Speaker 1: Follow us on TikTok under the same handle. True Crime 872 00:58:40,600 --> 00:58:43,960 Speaker 1: Conversations is hosted by me Claire Murphy. Our senior producer 873 00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:47,520 Speaker 1: is Charlie Blackman. The group executive producer is a Larier Brophy, 874 00:58:47,640 --> 00:58:50,320 Speaker 1: and there's been audio designed by Jacob Brownt. Thanks so 875 00:58:50,400 --> 00:58:53,080 Speaker 1: much for listening, Jemma Bath. We'll be back next week 876 00:58:53,200 --> 00:59:05,920 Speaker 1: with another True Crime Conversation. True Crime Conversations acknowledges the 877 00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:08,840 Speaker 1: traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast was 878 00:59:08,880 --> 00:59:09,440 Speaker 1: recorded on