Murder Monday - Katherine Knight

Cooked part so f him and served him up with baked potatoes and veggies.

TODAY on Murder Monday, we look at a female killer called Katherine Knight. An Australian born murderer who had the accolade for being the first woman to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Found guilty of murdering her husband; cooking parts of him and serving him as dinner for the waiting children around the dinner table.

Strap yourselves in for one hell of a ride.

Younger of twins, Katherine was born on 24th October 1955 to parents Barbara Roughan and her stepfather Ken in the small town of Aberdeen in New South Wales. Her biological father had passed away early in Katherine’s life. The family moved to another township called Tenterfield.

The town of Tenterfield was a typical small rural Australian township, and the family kept themselves to themselves. There was considerable racism in the town and as Katherine’s grandmother was an indigenous Australian, this could have posed a problem for the family.

Ken was an alcoholic, behaved violently. Openly abusing Barbera and raping her in front of the children. Inappropriately, Barbera would go into graphic detail about sex to the children. Katherine had confided in her mother about a family member who had approached the young girl for sex. Her mother chided her, told her to put out and shut up.

 Katherine was a dichotomy while at school. She was a model pupil, helpful and inclusive in the class. She was however a loner and had no friends. Small innocuous things would spiral her into a murderous rage. Bullying smaller children and picking on the boys form the class. She injured one teacher with an iron bar after the teacher had the audacity to question her academic prowess.

Katherine left school at the tender age of 15 without the ability to read or write.

She left school and got a job at a material cutter with a clothing company. After a few months, she landed her dream job working in an abattoir as the person responsible for cutting up the offal. This was her dream job, something she revelled in.; Having been given a set of butcher’s knives, these knives were attached to the wall above Katherine’s bed saying, ‘you never know when they would come in handy.’

In 1973, Katherine met a co-worker, David Stanford Kellett. Kellett was a working man who liked to drink. Katherine from the get-go wore the trousers in the relationship, dominating him in every sense. Katherine was also his wingman in the bar. When Kellett got into a fight with other drinkers, Katherine was first in throwing pouches wildly at the men trying to beat her boyfriend up. It offered anyone who came across her and upset her a scrap.

They married two years later, turning up together on a motorbike. Kellett drunk and a pillion with Katherine in the front seat. So drunk was Kellett, Katherine tried to strangle the poor bugger. The reasoning for this, Kellett could only have sex three times on their wedding night which infuriated Katherine.

There was no wedding bliss either. Katherine would slide into a rage at the drop of a hat, once smashing Kellett so hard about the head with a frying pan, fracturing his skull. While pregnant, she burned all his clothing. A case of domestic abuse and the police although they knew the lengths Katherine would go to abuse her husband, were powerless to do anything. Katherine would be on her best behaviour when the police had been called and sweet-talked her way of the situation.

After the birth of their first child, they committed Katherine for post-natal depression in a psychiatric hospital, which was the least of her woes. She was seen slamming the pushchair from side to side with the crying baby inside. It was this time Kellett left Katherine for another woman in another state which would have done nothing for the growing rage in this woman.

After her release, a worrying development with Katherine, she left her baby on the railway track and headed into town with an axe. She wanted to kill people. It wasn’t until the towns tramp was wandering down the railway when he happened upon the crying baby on the track. He picked the baby up which the train minutes later trundled past.

Katherine was arrested and presented to the hospital for more treatment. It was only going to be a matter of time when she killed someone.

Still angry about her ex-husband, she car jacked a vehicle, slashing the drivers face with a knife and demanding she was driven to Queensland to find Kellett so she could kill him.

The journey was going to be a long one, and the car needed gas. At the first service station, the driver got out and made her escape. The police were called which backed Katherine into a corner, grabbing a young child with the knife and threatening to kill the child if the police came any closer. After the stand-off, the police peacefully disarmed the deranged woman.

They sectioned Katherine to a psychiatric hospital for ongoing treatment. Kellet was told about the events and was horrified. He immediately left the woman and headed back to Aberdeen to take care of Katherine. Considering the turmoil, she had put him through; I think this was madness as well.

In 1976, the Katherine fell pregnant with another child to Kellet. At this point she comes across as stable, holding down a job at another abattoir. Here, in 1986, she met a co-worker called David Saunders. This was a tempestuous relationship too. With Saunders keeping his apartment. This infuriates Katherine, in fits of rage, she would throw him out. Saunders would simply just go to his own flat annoying Katherine further. When Katherine had calmed down, would beg Saunders to return.

In one of Katherine’s rages with Saunders, she had corralled a dingo, cut its throat from ear to ear, telling him this was going to happen to him unless he fell into line and did what she was told.

After having another baby girl but to Saunders, the relationship ebbed and flowed from shouting matches to outward violence toward Saunders. After one argument, Katherine smacked Saunders in the face with a hot iron then stabbing him in the guts. Saunders fled back to his apartment, in fear of his life he took extended sick leave and disappeared which triggered Katherine into another rage. It was almost a year when Saunders returned, wanting to see his daughter. Katherine had thought about this and reported to the police she was in fear of her life. The police took Katherine’s side of the story and a warrant for Saunders arrest was issued.

In 1990, Katherine entered another relationship with a different man, John Chillingworth. There was nothing of note in this relationship which I guess is a good thing, but the relationship ended three years later after Katherine left him for John Price. Price, or Pricey to his mates was having an affair with Katherine for some time while she was still in the relationship with Chillingworth. 

Price was a hard worker; he didn’t fit the regular profile of drinker/bar brawler types. He had three children from a marriage which ended while having the affair with Katherine. Price knew about Katherine’s behaviour, and that she could turn violent on a six-pence.

Things turned sour when Katherine urged her boyfriend to marry her, he refused. This was the final straw for Catherine. Pricey had taken medical assistant kits which were out of date from his works garbage area for charity. Katherine videotaped the items and sent them to his bosses. Although times were discarded by the company, Price still found himself fired from his job.

The murder.

In 2000, Price had been living away from the family home. He still loved Katherine but couldn’t face living with her.

The day before Price was murdered, he had informed friends, if he were to disappear, they were to contact police and speak with Katherine.

At 6am the following morning, a neighbour had noticed Price’s car was still on his driveway. Given the admission from Price the previous day and knowing Price would be at work called the police.

Police entered the property to discover a macabre scene.

Katherine was unconscious after overdosing, and Price’s body was also discovered.

Katherine had stabbed Price, the coroner had determined Price had 37 stab wounds, strategically placed, so it achieved maximum damage on Prices major organs.

Katherine hadn’t stopped there, she skinned the corpse, hanging the skin up on one of the hallway doors on a coat hanger. His head was removed and butchered parts of Price’s body and cooked his flesh into a casserole. Baked potatoes, courgette and pumpkin were also mixed, and the meal planned for the children the dining table laid out for dinner.

Prices head was discovered still on the hob in a cooking pot, submerged in broth, still gently simmering away.

His body staged in what they considered an act of defiance towards Price, a handwritten note, poorly written using appalling grammar left next to the body.

Time got you back Johathon for rapping [raping] my douter [daughter]. You to Beck [Price’s daughter] for Ross — for Little John [his son]. Now play with little Johns Dick John Price. (sic)

It took the police hours to process the crime scene. The flayed skin hanging, police thought was an animal pelt. On closer inspection, the skin had dark curly hairs, the mouth and the nose was identifiably human. The cleaned wounds littered the skin which was later determined to be stab wounds. A trail of blood led from the hanging skin through to the kitchen, the stove in particular. Police felt the pot, it was still warm. Looking inside, the stripped-out head of Price, submerged in the rolling water.

The corner confirmed Price was skinned before being decapitated. The cutting was deliberate and measured which unsettled the officers. Normally when processing a crime scene such as this, evidence of a frenzied attack would have been obvious. Here, there was skill attributed to the skinning and removal of the victim’s head.

A blood trial down the hallway told detectives Price was fighting for his life as Katherine slowly murdered her partner. The scene was harrowing and horrific. Prices murder would have taken Katherine at least forty minutes to complete the murder along with the skinning of the victim.

The perpetrator of the murder was clear to officers, Katherine. They took her to the local hospital and received treatment. After all clear, officers arrested the woman.

At the trial, Katherine maintained she had no recollection of the murder. Psychologist confirmed Katherine was entirely sane at the time of the murder, planning and executing here plan without a second thought to the consequences of her actions. On the flip side, after an initial not guilty plea, Katherine changed her plea to guilty, sparing Price’s family from the harrowing ordeal of hearing the evidence of a murder which would not be fully understood in the Australian legal system.

They set a precedent in this case, a life sentence for murder followed the UK legal system and a life term didn’t mean a whole life. Judges often set a tariff to the life term before parole could be considered depending on several factors.

In Katherine Knight’s case, so brutal and psychopathic was Prices murder along with a raft of testimonies for domestic violence. Katherine presented to the court as an unstable woman where, in the best interest of the public, she ought to never see the light of day again. The judge just did that. He sentenced Katherine Knight to life in prison with a caveat; she was to never be released into society.