Lindsay Beckett

Case information

Lindsay Hoani Beckett (born 27 March 1974) was convicted of the murders of schoolgirls Lauren Margaret Barry and Nichole Emma Collins in Victoria and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 35 years on 20 August 1998.

Timeline

• 3 October 1997 — A camp site was set up by the father of Nichole Collins at White Rock, near Bega, New South Wales, for Nichole to invite friends for the coming Labour Day long weekend.
• 5 October 1997 — At approximately 9pm, Collins and her younger friend Barry left a group of friends at the camp site and walked off for a nearby party; at approximately 10pm a Ford Telstar with Camilleri driving and Beckett in the passenger seat stopped and the girls entered willingly.
• 6 October 1997 — The final stop was at Fiddler’s Green Creek, located just south of the Victorian border with New South Wales, where the girls were ordered along a remote bush track, sexually assaulted further and then murdered.
• 8 October 1997 — Camilleri and Beckett drove from Yass to Sydney and stayed with Camilleri’s brother for several days.
• 12 October 1997 — Camilleri and Beckett spent six hours cleaning the car at a Car Lovers car wash, removing the vehicle’s seats and carpets to clean them thoroughly.
• 25 October 1997 — Police located a car earlier stolen by Beckett in Canberra; the vehicle was searched and police discovered maps of the Bega area and items belonging to Beckett.
• 27 October 1997 — Members of the Australian Federal Police arrested Beckett on car theft charges and remanded him in custody.
• 12 November 1997 — The remains of the girls’ bodies were discovered.
• 15 November 1997 — Beckett was extradited to Victoria to face formal charges regarding the girls’ murders; Camilleri was also extradited to Victoria to face formal charges of murder.
• 20 June 1998 — At arraignment, Beckett pleaded guilty to the murders of the two girls.
• 20 August 1998 — Beckett was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 35 years.
• 26 June 1998 — Beckett appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria where he was arraigned and pleaded guilty to the murders of Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins.

The offence

Beckett abducted, raped and murdered New South Wales schoolgirls 14-year-old Lauren Margaret Barry and 16-year-old Nichole Emma Collins of Bega, New South Wales, on 6 October 1997.

The girls were abducted by Leslie Camilleri and Beckett, both from the town of Yass on the outskirts of Canberra, ACT. Over a twelve-hour period the girls were driven several hundred kilometres from Bega, New South Wales, to Fiddler’s Green Creek in Victoria. During this period, the men subjected the girls to repeated rapes and sexual assaults on five or more separate occasions while driving them to remote locations throughout rural New South Wales and Victoria.

At Fiddler’s Green Creek, the girls’ hands were tied and they were ordered along a remote bush track over rugged terrain to a creek. Camilleri ordered the girls to remove their clothing and wash their vaginas thoroughly to remove any evidence of the prior sexual assaults. After washing, the girls were ordered to lie on their stomachs before being retied and gagged. The girls were separated by approximately 30 metres as Camilleri and Beckett discussed what to do next.

Camilleri demanded Beckett drown the girls, and Beckett protested, saying it was unfair that he had to kill both. Beckett eventually complied when an argument occurred and Camilleri threatened to stab him if he did not do as wanted.

Murder of Lauren Barry

Beckett attempted to first drown Barry who was tied up near the creek. After a struggle, Beckett became angry when his knee became wet. Beckett reached for his knife and stabbed Barry in the neck, accidentally cutting his thumb.

Beckett described the stabbing to police as follows:

"I went over to Lauren and dragged her down to the water. I held her head under the water. She was struggling and she knocked me into the water. One of my knees, I think the left went into the water. This pissed me off a little bit and I opened my knife, it was in my left hand and I stabbed Lauren in the left side of the neck. I said in my interview that it was the right side of the neck with my right hand but I am been thinking since. It wasn't my right thumb which was cut but my left. After a couple of seconds after I stabbed her she stopped moving."

Murder of Nichole Collins

Beckett then ran up the embankment towards Collins who was tied to a tree and out of view of Barry. Beckett slashed Collins to the throat several times and then began to punch and kick her when he realised she had not died instantly from the knife wounds.

Beckett described the killing to police as follows:

"After I stabbed Lauren, I ran up the bank to where I tied Nichole up. She must have heard what I had done to Lauren because when I got to her she said, 'you're going to kill me, aren't you.' I said 'shut up' and walked around to her left side and I cut her throat two or three times. This was across her throat. The knife was in my left hand. Nichole was sitting down when I cut her throat. After this she was thrashing around on the ground. She was trying to scream but nothing was coming out. I think I kicked her because she wouldn't keep still. And then I put my foot on to her to keep her still. This didn't work so I stabbed her in the throat. I aimed and stabbed at the hard thing in her neck. I pushed the knife all the way in but she still wouldn't keep still so I worked out where her heart would be and I stabbed her on the left side of the chest. She still didn't stop moving so I stabbed her in the front of the chest. I was aiming for her heart. I needed two hands to get the knife through her chest. She kept moving so I kicked her in the head a couple of times. She still kept moving but she was slowing down. I waited until she stopped moving which didn't take long."

After the murders, Camilleri, who was not present during the murders and was waiting in the car, asked Beckett "Did you see the demon?". The pair quickly left the crime scene, with Beckett driving.

Investigation and arrest

After the murders, Camilleri and Beckett disposed of evidence. Beckett drove from the murder scene while Camilleri slept in the vehicle, and woke as the pair approached Canberra. They stopped at Theodore Lookout on the Monaro Highway and burned their blood-stained clothing, ropes and gags used to restrain the girls. The knives used by the pair were later thrown from the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge into Lake Burley Griffin before returning to their homes in Yass.

Camilleri and Beckett stayed with Camilleri’s brother for several days after driving from Yass to Sydney. While in Campbelltown in Sydney’s south-west, they spent six hours cleaning the car at a Car Lovers car wash, including removing the vehicle’s seats and carpets. They returned to Canberra to destroy further evidence and then returned to Bega on an unsuccessful search for the discarded pink television set, which Camilleri believed would lead police to them.

Arrests and police interviews

On 25 October 1997, police located a car earlier stolen by Beckett in Canberra. The vehicle was searched and police discovered maps of the Bega area and items belonging to Beckett.

Members of the Australian Federal Police arrested Beckett on 27 October 1997 on car theft charges and remanded him in custody. Police interviewed Camilleri the following day. Both men initially denied any knowledge of the girls’ abduction and murder. They also denied discarding a television set by the roadside, although Camilleri admitted travelling with one that he had dropped at a St. Vincent De Paul store.

On 12 November 1997, police again interviewed Beckett, who made a full confession. Beckett agreed to take police to the crime scene at Fiddler’s Green Creek where the remains of the girls’ bodies were discovered.

Camilleri, who was at this time also remanded in custody for breaching bail conditions, was awaiting trial at Goulburn Correctional Centre. He was interviewed again regarding the schoolgirl murders, and police informed him of Beckett’s confession. Camilleri denied any involvement in the murders and attempted to implicate Beckett as the lone murderer. Camilleri insisted he was in a drug induced stupor for most of the time the girls were in the car. Camilleri said:

"We picked up the girls and went to the beach. I had a shot behind the shed. While the girls were drinking I was trying to OD. We drove around with them. I was asleep most the time. Beckett told me he dropped them off at home. I remember waking up and seeing the girls and then later I asked Beckett where we were and he said Victoria, on the main road somewhere. And I went off my head. I told him to go home, get the fuck out of here. Then I saw him walking out of the bush. He had blood all over him. Told me he cut his finger."

Police later charged Camilleri and Beckett with multiple counts of abduction, rape and murder.

Trial and plea

Beckett was arraigned in the Supreme Court of Victoria and pleaded guilty to the murders of Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins.

Sentencing

On 20 August 1998, Beckett was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 35 years.

At the time of Beckett’s sentencing, his non-parole period was described as the longest ever given to a Victorian prisoner.

In sentencing, Justice Vincent stated:

"Lindsay Hoani Beckett, you have pleaded guilty to the murder at Fiddlers Green Creek in the State of Victoria on or about 6 October 1997 of two young persons named Lauren Margaret Barry and Nichole Emma Collins You represent the dark in which our women and children fearfully walk"

After sentencing, the mother of one of the schoolgirls yelled to Beckett, "I hope you rot in hell" as he was led from the courtroom to begin his sentence.

Other details

Leslie Camilleri

Leslie Camilleri was born 31 May 1969. He was born to a family of six children in Liverpool, New South Wales, and did not meet his natural father until he was 13. A psychiatric report prepared in 1993 described a deprived childhood and "a pattern of theft and vandalism which have been his reaction to social ostracism, leading to frustration, which because of poor impulse control has ended in explosive outbursts of destructive behaviour." Camilleri was considered "uncontrollable" as a child and spent a large part of his childhood in juvenile detention. He escaped the institution and between the ages of 10 to 12 lived on the streets of King’s Cross in Sydney as a street kid. He was eventually ordered to return to the institution where he remained until he was 15.

Four days prior to the abduction of a girl, Rosamari Gandarias, in Canberra and three weeks prior to the schoolgirl murders, Camilleri appeared in the District Court of New South Wales on trial for charges relating to sexual offences against his defacto’s daughter; after two days the trial was aborted and he was released from custody on bail.

Camilleri had 146 prior convictions for offences such as dishonesty, theft and wilful damage. At the time of the murders he lived in Yass, New South Wales. He had known Beckett for a period of two to three years and would often associate with him to steal cars.

Victims: Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins

14-year-old Lauren Margaret Barry and 16-year-old Nichole Emma Collins were schoolgirls from Bega, New South Wales.

Lauren Margaret Barry was born on 11 October 1982 to Garret and Cheryl Barry. Nichole Emma Collins was born on 14 November 1980 to Graeme and Delma Collins.

Abduction of Rosamari Gandarias

On 14 September 1997, 19-year-old Rosamari Gandarias was abducted in Canberra. She was held captive for over 12 hours and driven to a number of locations and raped repeatedly by two men in their twenties. She escaped when the vehicle stopped at a rest area on a highway near Bowral; she asked her abductors if she could go to the toilet, then evaded them by hiding in bushland and later sought assistance from a nearby farmhouse.

Gandarias was later described as having seen similarities between that offence and the murder of the Bega schoolgirls three weeks later.

Beckett’s age eligibility statement

Beckett was 23 at the time of the murders and would be 59 when eligible for parole.