John Lynch (serial killer)
| John Lynch | |
|---|---|
| Born |
c. 1813 Cavan, Ireland, |
| Died | 22 April 1842 (aged 28) |
| Cause of death | Execution by Hanging |
| Other names | The Berrima Axe Murderer |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 10 |
Span of killings | 1835–1841 |
| Country | Australia |
| State(s) | New South Wales |
Date apprehended | 21 February 1841 |
John Lynch (circa. 1813 – 22 April 1842) was an Irish-born Australian serial killer convicted of murder in the Berrima, New South Wales district. Over a six-year period in 1835 to 1841, Lynch was believed to have killed ten people. He was known as the Berrima Axe Murderer. Lynch was Australia's first serial killer. He believed that God was protecting him while he robbed and murdered.
Background
John Lynch was born in Cavan, Ireland in 1813. He was convicted of false pretences there in 1830. At 19 he was sentenced to transportation for life to Australia. His voyage to New South Wales was on the ship Dunvegan Castle II, sailing from Dublin on 1 July 1832.
On 16 October 1832, the ship docked at Port Jackson and Lynch was billeted out to Berrima, a village founded in 1832 and located in the southern highlands of New South Wales, roughly 130 kilometres from Sydney.
Lynch was a small but solidly-built man at just 5’3” in height. He worked as a convict labourer on various farms before joining a gang of bushrangers. An 1835 incident saw him and two others convicted of the killing of Tom Smythe after Smythe had given evidence against Lynch’s gang. Despite his admission to the crime, while the other two were hanged, the jury did not believe him and set him free.[1]
Murders
Lynch's murder spree started after he went to the farm of TB Humphrey, where he had previously worked, and stole a team of eight bullocks before setting out for Sydney, where his intention was to sell them. At Razorback Mountain, he met a man called Ireland, along with an Indigenous boy. They were driving a full bullock team loaded with wheat, bacon and other produce. It was meant to be delivered to Thomas Cowper, who was a stranger to Lynch. Lynch decided it would be more profitable to take Ireland’s load and sell it, rather than his initial intention. Early one morning, he asked the boy to help round up the bullocks. Once they were away from the camp, Lynch crept up behind him and smashed the back of his head with a tomahawk. Returning to camp while Ireland was making breakfast, Lynch distracted him before crashing the tomahawk into the back of his head. He hid both bodies and continued to Sydney to execute his plan.
On his way back from Sydney, close to Razorback Mountain, he met a father and son called Frazer, who were driving a team owned by a Mr Bawten. He fancied this team and decided he would have to kill the Frazers to get it. Lynch accompanied the Frazers on their journey. That night, they camped near Cordeaux Flat. Next morning, Lynch killed both men and then buried both bodies.
After killing the Frazers, Lynch decided to deal with the Mulligans. He visited the Mulligan farm in order to collect £30 he was owed for stolen goods Mulligan had purchased off him. He killed the four members of the family and then gathered the bodies, built a pyre and set them alight. He claimed to be the new owner of the property. He bought it off the Mulligans and the family left town without a word to anybody.
Arrest and Trial
On the morning of 19 February 1841, Hugh Tinney was a drover on his way to Sydney with a team of bullocks. After stopping near the Ironstone bridge, which crosses the Wingcarribee River on the edge of Berrima, Tinney noticed a dingo rummaging in the undergrowth, trying to get at whatever was hidden there. Tinney chased off the dingo, and a closer inspection revealed the body of a man. The man had received a few ferocious blows to the back of his head by a large blunt instrument. Items on the dead man’s body identified him as a local farmhand named Kearns Landregan.
Landregan was last seen just two nights previously, having dinner in the company of a farmer named Dunleavy at the Woolpack Inn in Nattai, also close to Berrima and not far from where the body was discovered.
The police then called on to a farm which had been home to a family called Mulligan but was now owned by a John Dunleavy, who claimed he had bought the farm off the Mulligans for £700. He also claimed the Mulligans family had apparently packed up and left town without telling a soul. The barmaid from the Woolpack later identified Dunleavy as local man John Lynch. With that information and other strong evidence gathered by police on 21 February 1841, Lynch was charged with the murder of Kearns Landregan.
His trial began in Berrima courthouse on 21 March 1842 before the chief justice of New South Wales, Sir James Dowling. Despite the evidence presented to the court, Lynch maintained his plea of innocence. But the jury found him guilty in less than an hour. He stuck steadfastly to his story of being innocent, as he went through the appeals process, and it was only after this procedure was exhausted that he confessed to his crimes.[2]
Execution
He was hanged in Berrima gaol on 22 April 1842.
References
- ↑ "Australia's Serial Killers". google.com.au.
- ↑ "Carlow Nationalist — Confessions of an Irish-born serial killer in Australia". carlow-nationalist.ie.