Britain's most dangerous inmate plotted to use guard's severed fingers to escape jail

Triple killer became known for her thirst for blood, describing her murders as "moreish and fun" - and an expert has now warned she still poses a threat from behind bars.

Dennehy, 42, stabbed three men to death while on a 10-day murder spree in Peterborough in 2013 and showed no remorse for her heinous crimes. Her victims were love interest Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, housemate John Chapman, 56, and her landlord and lover Kevin Lee, 48.

She dumped their bodies in a where she subsequently stabbed dog walkers Robin Bereza, 64, and 56-year-old John Rogers, who both survived their ordeal in the random attack. The frenzied killer went on to become one of only four women in the UK to be handed a whole-life order, meaning she will die behind bars.

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But even while locked up, Dennehy poses a great threat to her inmates and prison staff. As soon as she arrived at high-security women's prison in Surrey, HMP Bronzefield, she threatened to take down - who was convicted of 10 murders and also serving life - in a bid to prove her seniority. The brash move saw West immediately transferred for her safety.

Dennehy was kept in isolation to stop her from claiming more victims, and when she outrageously sought compensation for her solitary confinement in 2016, claiming it was a violation of her human rights, Jenni Richards QC, for the prison, said she is "arguably the most dangerous female prisoner in custody".

Her High Court damages claim, which was unsuccessful, exposed her grim plot to escape prison by murdering a guard and using their severed fingers to open biometric doors that operate the prison locks. The triple killer claimed at the time the plot had just been a 'doodle' after guards discovered a drawing of the jail's layout in Dennehy’s diary. She was punished by being placed in segregation.

Her antics didn't stop there as in 2020, she had to be transferred to HMP Low Newton after allegedly embarking on an affair with a male prison officer. And even then, she continued to cause major problems after the move to County Durham and struck up a romance with murderer Emma Aitken.

Aitken, from Derby, her dad Vincent Aitken, and then-boyfriend Nathan Doherty, were jailed for life for the murder of Barry Smith, whose beaten and burnt body was discovered outside Kilburn Welfare Social Club in Derbyshire in 2013. “They make cheesecake and trifles while other ­people are locked away in their cells," said a source about Dennehy and Aitken's romance behind bars.

"Other inmates are scared of Joanna because of her crime and her attitude. She is not someone to be messed with.”

Professor David Wilson, a criminologist who began his career in the Prison Service, says Dennehy is a lost cause due to her history of extremely violent behaviour. "Dennehy is one of the very few female spree killers in criminological history," he told the .

"Spree murders tend to be a male phenomenon but here you have someone who killed three men and tried to kill two more alongside her accomplice, Gary Stretch. There is some indication that Dennehy and Stretch were operating inside a folie à deux, which is a term for a shared psychosis or 'madness of two'.

"But in this one it is quite clear that she was the dominant partner, and Stretch was subordinate and afraid of her. I don't know what can be done with her in terms of changing her behaviour because she seems to have extreme violent tendencies, and that is based on having interviewed people who were very close to her - including her former husband."

Author Christopher Berry-Dee, who met Dennehy in jail for his book Talking With Female Serial Killers, called her "without doubt, the most evil person I have ever met".

He added: "She had shaved hair and had put on a lot of weight since the time of her arrest. She was well-spoken and her voice was quiet and menacing. I could smell evil coming off her - it’s a smell like no other so it’s impossible to describe but it’s acrid and dirty."