#lesliecamilleri

[intriguingpeoplebyangelafloyd]

BEGA SCHOOLGIRL MURDERS

BEGA SCHOOLGIRL MURDERS

6 October 1997         

            Best friends, Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins were aged 14 and 16, when they were kidnapped, raped and murdered in Bega, NSW by Leslie Camilleri, 28, and Lindsay Beckett.

            On 5 October, on the long weekend, Nichole and Lauren decided to go to a party. The two men were driving on the highway when they noticed the girls walking and offered them a lift. Camilleri threatened them with a weapon and started screaming at the girls to ‘shut up’. The men repeatedly raped the girls over 12 hours whilst driving them to different remote locations throughout rural NSW and Victoria. The men then made the girls walk down to Fiddler’s Green Creek, Victoria; the girls worried for their lives, asked them if they were going to kill them, Camilleri said no. Camilleri then told Beckett to kill the girls which he did, one was stabbed to death and the other was drowned.  

            The men spent the next few days destroying evidence and then drove to Sydney. They became the main suspects and on 5 November, Beckett admitted that he killed both the girls and took the police to the location to show were the girls were. Camilleri told the court he was asleep the entire time and took no responsibility for what he did and tried to pin the entire crime on Beckett. Both men were sentenced to life behind bars and today are still locked behind bars.  

            Camilleri had a history of crime and was on bail for charges of raping a female child, aged 11, numerous times when she was in his care. It was only three days after Camilleri was released on bail for raping a child when Lauren and Nichole were killed.

            Before the men raped and killed the schoolgirls, on 13 September, the two men had picked up a female drug addict, aged 19, and threatened her with a weapon and repeatedly raped her. When they turned their back to go to the toilet, she ran off half dressed. They told the police that she had consented in return for drugs and that she was crazy. The woman was so terrified she was too afraid to press charges.

            In 2012, Camilleri pled guilty of the murder of Melbourne schoolgirl Prue Bird, 13, who disappeared from her home in 1992. Camilleri had planned the crime before it took place. Bird was last seen calling for help in the back of a vehicle being driven from her home. Her lunch was found uneaten on a table in front of the television and the family home’s front door was wide open. Camilleri, 22, kidnapped Bird with another man, held her captive inside a shed and raped her before killing her.

#begaschoolgirlmurders #laurenbarry #nicholecollins #lesliecamilleri #lindsaybeckett #pruebird

[criminol]

The Bega Schoolgirls Murders

14-year-old Lauren Barry and 16-year-old Nichole Emma Collins were Bega High School students and best friends. Their case is often referred to as the Bega Schoolgirls Murders.

On 3rd October 1997, Nichole's father set up a campsite for Nichole to invite her friends to stay at for Labour Day weekend. It was agreed that the girls would regularly call at the house while camping to change their clothes, shower and eat and that Nichole's father would regularly call at the camp to check on the girls. On 5th October at 9 pm, Nichole and Lauren left the campsite to go to a nearby party, the pair walked together along a road. The girls were not seen again and were reported missing the next day.

When the girls had left the party two men, Leslie Camilleri and Linsday Beckett were riding in a car aimlessly nearby. The pair were consuming beer and taking amphetamines. They saw Nichole and Lauren walking and offered them a lift. At around 10 pm after a short conversation, the girls willingly got into the car. A distinctive pink portable television was removed from the back seat of the car and discarded on the side of the road to make room for the girls to sit down.

Rather than give the girls a lift as promised the girls were driven to a rubbish dump and raped. They were then driven further south and repeatedly raped at stop-offs along the journey. The final stop was just south of the Victoria/ New South Wales border. Camilleri ordered the girls to remove their clothing and wash thoroughly in an attempt to get rid of DNA evidence. The girls were then tied and gagged while Camilleri and Beckett discussed what to do next. They argued about who should kill the kills to prevent them from reporting the crime.

Beckett attempted to drown Lauren but struggled, as Lauren tried desperately to get away Beckett was splashed which made him angry. Beckett viciously stabbed Lauren in the neck, killing her. Beckett then ran up the bank to Nichole, who was tied to a tree and out of view from Lauren. Nichole asked if he was going to kill her. Beckett stabbed and slashed Nichole's throat, she did not die and thrashed in pain. Beckett punched and kicked her until she stopped moving.

Camilleri and Beckett then fled the murder scene, burning their blood-stained clothing, gags and ropes. They threw their knives from a bridge and returned home. They spent 6 hours cleaning their car including removing the seats and carpet. Beckett attempted to retrieve the discarded television from where they picked up the girls but could not find it. The television was found by a local council worker and later used as evidence.

On 25th October 1997, police found a car stolen by Beckett and he was arrested. Maps of the Bega area in which the girls were murdered were found along with other items which made police suspect they may have caught Lauren and Nichole's killer. Police interviewed Camilleri the next day. Both men denied any knowledge of the murders.

On 12th November, Beckett made a full confession and agreed to take police to the crime scene and remains of the girls' bodies. Camilleri attempted to insist he was in a drug-induced stupor for the entirety of the time the girls were in the car.

Beckett and Camilleri were both charged with murder, rape and abduction and each sentenced to life imprisonment. Camilleri was later sentenced for another murder, the 1992 killing of 13-year-old Prudence Bird.

[criminol]

The Murder of Prudence 'Prue' Bird

Prudence 'Prue' Bird was a 13-year-old schoolgirl from Melbourne. She was a Year 8 high school student.

On 2nd February 1992 at around 2.10 pm Prue was seen preparing her lunch in the family home. Shortly after this sighting Prue's mother came home and noticed Prue had left her meal untouched on the coffee table, Prue had not left a note and all her clothes and personal possessions were still there. Prue's mother frantically called family and friends trying to find out where her daughter had gone but no one had heard from her. She called the police and reported Prue as missing.

Some witness reports saw a male put Prue into the back of his car, others saw a young girl banging on a car window and shouting for help. It was quickly noted that Prue's grandfather, Paul Heltzer, had testified against other men in relation to the Russell Street Bombings to gain himself a more lenient sentence. One of the accused had warned 'It would be a shame if anything happened to your sweet little Prue, wouldn't it?'

Leslie Camilleri was charged with Prue's murder while in prison for the murders of Bega schoolgirls Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins. Camilleri claimed he put Prue face down in his car and tied her arms and legs with electrical cables and that she had died accidentally, a claim which appeared inconsistent with his guilty plea for the crime of murder. Allegedly Camilleri had spoken to several inmates in prison making various admissions about how he had raped, murdered and buried Prue. It is believed that Prue was abducted, raped and held in a shed for some time before being murdered.

Camilleri pleaded guilty to the murder of Prue Bird and was given a life sentence. Prue's body had never been found despite repeated pleas for her killer to reveal the location. Camilleri claims he cannot remember where he hid the corpse.