John Coombes

Parties and identities

John Leslie Coombes was convicted of murdering and dismembering childcare worker Raechel Betts.

Raechel Betts was aged 27.

Nicole Godfrey was identified as a friend of Raechel Betts and was in an adjoining bedroom during the killing.

Sandra Betts was the mother of Raechel Betts.

The offence

John Leslie Coombes strangled Raechel Betts to death.

After strangling Raechel Betts, John Leslie Coombes cut the corpse into pieces in a bath, placed the body parts in plastic bags, and threw them off a local pier.

The bags later washed up on nearby beaches, including beaches on Phillip Island.

John Leslie Coombes then began a sexual relationship with Nicole Godfrey, while Raechel Betts’s body parts were being found.

Investigation

A finding on a Phillip Island beach occurred after John Leslie Coombes’s killing of Raechel Betts.

Police appealed for help to identify body parts that turned up on beaches after the initial grim discovery.

A tattooed leg that was water-logged and washed up on a Phillip Island beach was described as the start of the clues in the missing person investigation.

Other body parts turned up on beaches in the days after that initial find.

Arrest

John Leslie Coombes was arrested over the Speirani murder two months after an earlier release mentioned in the account.

Trial

John Leslie Coombes pleaded guilty in May to strangling 27-year-old Raechel Betts to death after the pair argued in bed at the Phillip Island home of friend Nicole Godfrey.

The court heard Nicole Godfrey gave John Leslie Coombes false alibis, claiming she feared for her own safety.

Nicole Godfrey pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and received a suspended sentence in return for assisting the prosecution.

Sentencing

On August 26, 2011, John Leslie Coombes was sentenced to life with no chance of parole.

Justice Geoffrey Nettle said there was significant similarity between Coombes’ three murders, including the violence in which they were committed and the lies he constructed afterwards.

"It evinces a frightening predilection for homicide," Justice Geoffrey Nettle said.

Justice Geoffrey Nettle said he believed that John Leslie Coombes was not remorseful and if given the opportunity to kill again, he would.

"It passes understanding that a sane human being could hack up and destroy the body of another as if, to use your own words, she were just a lump of meat," Justice Geoffrey Nettle said.

"The heinousness of that conduct is shocking. It bespeaks an utter disregard of the law and basic norms of society and depraved inhumanity towards the deceased, her family and her loved ones."

Justice Geoffrey Nettle’s sentencing comments included an account that after strangling Raechel Betts, Coombes cut the corpse into pieces in a bath, placed the body parts in plastic bags, and threw them off a local pier.

The sentencing record included a verbatim statement from Nicole Godfrey to police during the investigation:

"I know she was chopped up in the bathroom," Godfrey told police during the investigation. "He took her into the bathroom because I was in bed and I had the TV (on) a little bit and I had my hands in my ears so I couldn't hear anything."

Appeals

No appeal information was provided in the case record.

Outcome

John Leslie Coombes received a life sentence with no chance of parole on August 26, 2011.

Sandra Betts made a victim impact statement to Justice Geoffrey Nettle.

Sandra Betts said:

"This murder ought not to have happened," she told the court, adding that Coombes' actions had handed her family a "life sentence of grief and loss".

Sandra Betts said:

"He represents a definite threat to society of murder and mutilation. Although the justice system has failed Raechel, it should never fail another person again," she said.

Sandra Betts said:

"I don't want to find in 11 or so years John Leslie Coombes has been released and has again murdered another person."

Outside court, Sandra Betts said:

"a cruel monster",

She also said:

"Murder to him is better than sex," she said.

She wished:

"May he never be released and never have a chance to harm another human being or animal."

John Leslie Coombes’s counsel argued that Raechel Betts was a drug dealer and that Coombes had "snapped" after she offered him a young girl for sex.

The case record included counsel’s description of Coombes as sexually abused himself as a child.

Justice Geoffrey Nettle placed little weight on Coombes’s claims and said Coombes had a propensity to lie for his own advantage.

John Leslie Coombes claimed he had been the victim of a paedophile ring when he was younger.

John Leslie Coombes claimed he had seen service as a solider in Vietnam, but he said he had never seen any action.

Sandra Betts said John Leslie Coombes had learned to kill in the army and had been cruel and sadistic towards pets in the past.

The record included a police statement from John Leslie Coombes in which he said:

he cut off her breasts as she did not ‘‘deserve to die like a f---ing woman’’.

Other details

Prior murders and earlier sentencing mentioned in the record

John Leslie Coombes was described as a triple murderer.

The record said he had a long criminal history that included escape from jail, where he was serving a sentence for the murder of Henry Raymond Kells.

Henry Raymond Kells was aged 44.

Henry Raymond Kells was stabbed to death in his Chelsea home in 1984.

The record also identified Michael Peter Speirani, aged 20, of Mount Martha, as another victim.

Michael Peter Speirani went missing while on a fishing trip in February 1984.

The record said John Leslie Coombes was paroled in October 1996 after serving time for the Kells murder, and was arrested two months later over the Speirani murder.

The record said in 1998 John Leslie Coombes was sentenced to a minimum 10-year term for the Speirani killing.

The record said he was released on parole in February 2007.

The record said Coombes strangled Raechel Betts to death about two-and-a-half years later.

1984 Kells murder and subsequent events described in the record

John Leslie Coombes was said to have been charged with Kells’ murder on November 27, 1984.

Andrew Harold Opie was also said to have been charged with Kells’ murder.

John Leslie Coombes was said to have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Kells on December 14, 1985.

Supreme Court Justice Barry Beach imposed the fixed term of 11 years in connection with the Kells murder proceedings described later in the record.

The record included a plea context: Justice Barry Beach was satisfied that John Leslie Coombes and Andrew Opie did not intend to kill Henry Desmond Kells when they entered his Edithvale bungalow.

The record stated Justice Barry Beach said both men bore a grudge against Opie and their intention was to just beat him.

The record stated Justice Barry Beach referenced Coombes’s heavy drinking and extensive prescription drug use and said:

"I think it would be fair to say that at the time Kells met his death, the applicant was not in a normal and rational frame of mind."

The record stated Justice Barry Beach referred to Coombes’s 'disturbed' family background and his marriage break-up.

The record also said Justice Barry Beach had imposed a fixed term of 11 years.

Speirani murder proceedings described in the record

The record said John Leslie Coombes and Glen Conlon were jailed for murder of Speirani on April 23, 1998.

The record said John Leslie Coombes was sentenced to 15 years with a minimum of 10.

The record stated that at his trial, Supreme Court Justice Bernard Teague decided against jailing Coombes for life without parole, even though the court had to treat the double killer as a "serious violent offender".

The record stated that Supreme Court Justice Bernard Teague cited evidence that in both murders alcoholism and other health problems were contributing factors and remarked that Coombes’s remorse was "not at a high level".

The record stated Supreme Court Justice Bernard Teague concluded there were clear indications of rehabilitation.

A separate section of the record stated that John Leslie Coombes had brutally murdered Michael Peter Speirani by driving over him in his motorboat on Port Phillip Bay.

The record stated that Coombes and his co-accused, Glen Conlon, then pulled Speirani to the side of his boat and "sliced him up a bit so that the fish could finish him off".

Ararat prison escape and later custody described in the record

On September 22, 1988, the record stated that John Leslie Coombes, aged 34, and Dean Leslie Ashley, aged 27, both lifers, broke out of Ararat Jail.

The escape was described as using a key to open their compound door, using a makeshift ladder to climb an interior wall, and using piping as a bridge between two razor-ribbon fences.

On September 24, 1988, the record stated both killers were recaptured after being seen on a train near Mildura.

The record stated Coombes received a six-month sentence for the escape.

June 2011 victim impact and parole context described in the record

The record said that in June, Raechel Betts’s mother told the Supreme Court Coombes should never be released.

The record said the Adult Parole Board assessment was given “as far back as May 1988”.

The record stated that assessment was given by a senior corrections officer who told the panel the convicted killer deserved to have a set term of incarceration.

"In spite of his offence, which did not seem to be pre-meditated, he does not seem to pose a substantial threat to the community,'' he wrote in his official report.

The record stated a psychologist also spoke in Coombes’s favour, stating:

"there appears to be no psychiatric contradiction to Mr Coombes release from prison.''

The record stated Supreme Court Justice Barry Beach imposed the original life sentence on Coombes.

Prison and custody details described in the record

The record described John Leslie Coombes’s physical description in official prison reports:

"...a short, round-headed man with a crew cut and heavy beard. he had a tattoo on his left upper arm and he was wearing glasses. He was mildly obese.''

After being sentenced to life for the murder of Henry Desmond Kells in December 1985, John Leslie Coombes came to the attention of Pentridge Prison officials.

The record said he was accused by the mother of a fellow prisoner of "demanding payment of gambling debts by menace''.

Coombes denied it and blamed it on other prisoners.

The record said four lengths of "home-made rope which were torn from bed sheets'' were found in the G Division kitchen and:

"Coombes was believed to be involved with these materials,'' a prison report states.

The record said:

"When questioned Coombes stated that the material was tea towels that were from a shoe polish bag which were kept in the kitchen for general use.''

The record stated that three months later John Leslie Coombes was reported for retaliating after being struck in the back by another prisoner, whom he named.

The record said no charges were laid because the inmate, true to the cell-block code, refused to confirm or deny the incident.

The record said that John Leslie Coombes was regularly visiting the prison psychiatrist.

The record said that the following August John Leslie Coombes was transferred to Ararat.

Release and later arrest mentioned in the record

At the time of his release on November 18, 1996, the record said John Leslie Coombes was head cook at Morwell River.

The record said he was later arrested over his involvement in the killing of Michael Speirani, 12 years earlier.

Timeline

• February 26, 1984 — Michael Peter Speirani, 20, from Mt Martha goes missing on a fishing trip.
• 1984 — Henry Raymond Kells, 44, stabbed to death in his Chelsea home.
• November 27, 1984 — Coombes and Andrew Harold Opie charged with Kells' murder.
• December 14, 1985 — Coombes sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Kells.
• September 22, 1988 — Coombes, 34, and Dean Leslie Ashley, 27, break out of Ararat Jail using a key, a makeshift ladder, and piping as a bridge.
• September 24, 1988 — Both killers recaptured after being seen on a train near Mildura; Coombes receives a six-month sentence for the escape.
• April 10, 1990 — Coombes sentenced to 11 years, taking into account 370 days already served for murder of Kells, after an application for a fixed minimum term.
• October, 1996 — Paroled.
• November 18, 1996 — At the time of release, Coombes was head cook at Morwell River.
• December 1996 — Arrested for the murder of Speirani.
• April 23, 1998 — Coombes and Glen Conlon jailed for murder of Speirani; Coombes sentenced to 15 years with a minimum of 10.
• October 1996 — Paroled after serving time for the Kells murder.
• February 2007 — Coombes released on parole.
• August 12, 2009 — Coombes strangled Raechel Betts at Port Phillip home and cut up her body in the bathroom before throwing parts into the sea; her limbs later washed ashore.
• November 2009 — Coombes charged with the murder of Ms Betts.
• May 2011 — Coombes changes his plea to guilty of the murder of Ms Betts.
• August 25, 2011 — John Coombes 'does not seem to pose a substantial threat to the community' is described in the record.
• August 26, 2011 — Coombes sentenced to life behind bars with no chance of parole.