Derek Percy's web of evil
Reporter: Graham Archer
Producer: Mick O'Donnell
Associate Producer: Debi Marshall
Date: 2 October, 2011
Go to investigative journalist Debi Marshall's journey into Percy's mind.
Go to photo gallery
Go to story transcript
PERCY PETITION:
If you're a NSW citizen and would like to support the efforts of the Brook family to have Derek Percy prosecuted for the murder of three-year-old Simon Brook,
sign the Percy Petition to Parliament and send to:
Karen Stilwell PO Box 2127 Forest Hill, Vic
www.facebook.com/groups/56930882679/
The Brook family's lawyer, eminent QC Michael Byrne, has made a submission to the New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions asking him to examine our new evidence placing Percy at the scene of Simon's murder. Read his submission here.
Story details
Derek Percy was arrested in 1969 for the murder of a 12-year-old girl, Yvonne Tuohy. He was found not guilty on grounds of insanity. In 2010 the Supreme Court of Victoria declared he is not insane.
Prison guards describe him as Australia's Hannibal Lecter. Percy has been kept behind bars for more than 40 years, even though he's never been convicted of a crime. And he’s still considered so dangerous he should never be allowed near children.
Investigative journalist fascinated by true crime, Debi Marshall has made it her mission to find out if Percy is Australia’s most prolific child serial killer. She set about finding the answer in her last book, Lambs to the Slaughter. [Go to Debi's blog about her journey inside Percy's mind here]
Since the publication of Debi Marshall’s book Lambs to the Slaughter, new witnesses have come forward and have spoken to the media for the first time in Sunday Night’s investigation.
They have linked him to the killing of three-year-old Simon Brook, and place him at the scene of Australia's most infamous unsolved crimes.
It’s now suspected Percy was involved in the abduction of nine children in three states during the 1960s, including the case of the Beaumont children. And he's now attempting to win his freedom, unless authorities can finally bring him to justice.
Percy is suspected of at least nine child-murders:
The Wanda Beach Murders
Marianne Schmidt, 15; Christine Sharrock, 15
11 January, 1965
Wanda Beach, Cronulla, Sydney
Ruth Marden remembers in 1965 a young man at the shopping centre in Ryde centre (where the Wanda Beach victims caught their train to the beach and where Percy’s grandmother lived).
Trixie Schmidt, sister of 15-year-old Marianne Schmidt.
The Beaumont Children
Jane Beaumont, 9; Arnna Beaumont, 7; Grant Beaumont, 4
26 January, 1966
Glenelg Beach, Adelaide
Simon Brook, 3
May 18, 1968
Glebe, Sydney
Truck driver Eric Barnier contacted police after the death of three-year-old Simon Brook in 1968.
Linda Stilwell, 7
10 August, 1968
St Kilda Beach, Melbourne
At St Kilda in 1968 she remembers seeing a small girl chatting with a slender young man as they walked away from Luna Park together.
Yvonne Tuohy, 12
July 20, 1969
Warneet, Victoria
Sister of 12-year-old Yvonne Tuohy, Denise has never spoken publicly before.
Bernie Delaney was one of the police officers who arrested Derek Percy in 1969 for the murder of Yvonne Tuohy. They acted when Yvonne’s friend Shane raised the alarm.
Linda Blue, 14
When Linda Blue visited Mount Beauty in Victoria. Local boys lured her to a strange rendezvous with Derek Percy.
