Leonard Keith Lawson

Background

Leonard Keith Lawson (b. 16 August 1927) was a commercial artist and photographer before he became a violent criminal.

He created highly popular comic book characters including The Lone Avenger and The Hooded Rider.

He died in his cell at the Grafton Correctional Centre in New South Wales on November 29, 2003, aged 76.

Authorities said he probably suffered a heart attack.

Several of his paintings hung in the prison where he died.

The offence

In 1954, Lawson drove five female models on a photo shoot into bushland in the Terrey Hills area in north Sydney at gunpoint. He bound and gagged them. He raped two and indecently assaulted the others.

Later accounts also described this 1954 episode as a kidnapping of five models and as a siege at Terrey Hills bush in north Sydney, with rape at gunpoint of two models and sexual assault of the others.

After his parole, Lawson stabbed a 16-year-old girl and strangled a 15-year-old girl in Sydney.

On Nov. 7, 1961, while painting a portrait of 16-year-old Jane Bower, Lawson tied her up, sexually assaulted her, and stabbed her to death.

The next day, he carried a gun into the Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School and took several students hostage. Fifteen-year-old Wendy Sue Luscombe was shot and killed during the siege.

In 1972, while in prison, Lawson tried to kill another female. Ten years into his second incarceration, a group of dancers gave a concert for inmates, and Lawson jumped on stage, threatened to kill one of the dancers, Sharon Hamilton, with a knife. Sharon Hamilton was released unharmed. Hamilton later committed suicide six years after the attack.

Investigation

Lawson was apprehended by police after the 1954 offences.

He was apprehended by police the following day during a siege at a private girls’ school after the 1961 killing of Jane Bower and the subsequent school hostage episode.

Arrest

On the day after Jane Bower was assaulted and stabbed, Lawson was apprehended by police during a siege at a private girls’ school.

Trial

Lawson was initially sentenced to death.

After the 1954 death sentence, the death penalty was commuted and he received a 14-year prison sentence.

After the 1961 school siege and killings, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1962.

Sentencing

Lawson was sentenced to death on 25 June 1954.

The death penalty was commuted to 14 years imprisonment.

He was paroled in May 1961.

He received a life sentence in 1962.

Appeals

Lawson was eligible to apply to the Supreme Court for a fixed sentence.

He applied for day leave and, in 1994, for a determinant sentence; his application was rejected.

Outcome

Lawson died in prison on November 29, 2003, at the Grafton Correctional Centre in New South Wales.

Aftermath

In 1984, a childhood portrait of herself painted by Leonard Lawson was put up for auction online in 2008.

A Tweed Heads woman, Corinne Mair (aged 18 months in the portrait), sold the painting on eBay through Coolangatta store Ezebay at a starting price of $35,000.

The portrait had been hanging in Mair’s family home for most of her life, and it was one of the items she collected from the house when her mother passed away in 2000.

Mair said she was studying psychology at uni and was reading a criminology book when she recognized Lawson’s name.

Mair said her parents never discussed the origin of the painting in detail when she was growing up, only telling her the artist was "not a nice person".

Mair said her now-deceased uncle worked as a prison guard in Grafton and that she did not know whether her uncle paid Lawson or whether the painting was done as a favour.

Mair said: "I was studying psychology at uni and was reading a criminology book when I recognised his name," Ms Mair said. "I was just concerned that he wasn't a family member, that he wasn't related to us in any way."

Mair also said: "I think it was done as a gift," she said. "Whether my uncle paid him for it or whether it was done as a favour, I don't know."

Mair said: "None of our family are criminals or anything like that, I just want to get that straight." "When I look at it now all I think about is those poor girls (his victims)... and it is such a lovely and beautiful and innocent picture."

Ezebay owner Corey Johnson spent four days researching Lawson’s life before putting the painting on eBay.

Johnson said the portrait was "the creepiest thing he has ever seen".

Johnson said: "If it was me I wouldn't have it hanging on the wall, but I'm sure someone who is into Australian history will find it interesting."

Mair said she mentioned the painting to Mark "Chopper" Read at an art show a few years back, and that Read became very interested in the piece.

Mair said: "Sometimes I wonder what my uncle was thinking taking a photo of a child into a prison. I don't really tell many people about it -- they'd be horrified. But it is a really interesting story," she said.

The auction listing was scheduled to run until Saturday, and at the time of printing there had been no bids received.

Timeline

• 25 June 1954 — Lawson was sentenced to death.
• 7 May 1954 — Lawson drove five female models on a photo shoot to bushland in the Terrey Hills area in north Sydney; he bound and gagged them at gunpoint, raped two, and indecently assaulted the other two women.
• May 1961 — Lawson was paroled after serving seven years.
• 6 November 1961 — Lawson raped and murdered Jane Bower; he was apprehended by police the following day during a siege at a private girls’ school where, during a struggle with a teacher, Lawson’s gun went off, killing a student.
• Nov. 7, 1961 — While painting a portrait of 16-year-old Jane Bower, Lawson tied her up, sexually assaulted her, and stabbed her to death.
• 7 May 1954 — Lawson drove five June Dally-Watkins photographic models into the Terrey Hills bush in north Sydney; at gunpoint he raped two and sexually assaulted the others.
• 1962 — Lawson was sentenced to life imprisonment and remained in prison continuously behind bars since 1962.
• November 29, 2003 — Lawson died in his cell at the Grafton Correctional Centre in New South Wales.
• December 15, 1972 — A group of dancers arrived at Parramatta jail to give a concert for inmates; Lawson was in the audience and threatened dancer Sharon Hamilton with a knife during the performance.
• 1994 — Lawson applied for a determinant sentence; his application was rejected.
• 1948 — Lawson created comic book characters in his teens (date included in narrative as context of creation in his teens).
• 1984 — Lawson painted a childhood portrait of Corinne Mair (when Mair was 18 months old).
• 2000 — Mair collected the portrait from the family home when her mother passed away.
• 2008 — The portrait was listed on eBay with a starting price of $35,000 through Ezebay, and it was reported there were no bids at the time of printing.
• November 30, 2003 — Reporting stated Lawson died in Grafton jail on the previous day after being imprisoned for the better part of 50 years.
• 6 years after the attack — Sharon Hamilton committed suicide.

Other details

Lawson was described as a "model prisoner" after receiving the 14-year prison sentence and during his parole period.

A detailed account described a struggle during the siege at the school and stated that Lawson’s gun went off while struggling with a teacher, killing Wendy Luscombe.

Another account described an earlier dinner with pupils and staff as an honoured "author", after convincing the headmistress he was researching a novel set in a girls’ school.

Lawson told a reporter he believed he deserved some freedom and he wasn't a threat, and he said "the rhythms of the city and its women" got to him.

Hamilton later sought extensive psychiatric treatment and became a patient at the Chelmsford Hospital.