Jean Lee (10 December 1919 – 19 February 1951) was an Australian woman, convicted of murder, and notable as the last woman to be executed in Australia.

Life

Born Marjorie Jean Maude Wright in Dubbo, New South Wales, Lee was the daughter of a railway worker. She had an unremarkable childhood in rural New South Wales and later in suburban Sydney and was remembered as an intelligent, popular student at her Roman Catholic school, although she was inclined to be rebellious on occasion.

She married in 1938 and the following year gave birth to a daughter. After several years, her husband abandoned her and their child, and Lee gave her daughter to her mother to raise. After Lee's mother successfully sought legal custody of Lee's daughter, Lee moved to Melbourne where she became involved in petty crime.

She met Robert David Clayton, who had some criminal convictions, and their relationship soon became abusive and Lee was subjected to violence. She began to work as a prostitute.

The couple found a method to extort money from unsuspecting men, and later called it "The Badger Game". Lee would lure a man into a sexually compromising position, and Clayton would burst into the room, and surprise them. Clayton played the part of the outraged husband, and blackmailed the other man into giving him money in return for his silence. As many of the men were supposedly respectable married men, they would often give Clayton money, rather than risk him telling their wives. On occasion, the man would refuse and Clayton would then beat and rob him.

The couple were later joined by Norman Andrews, another criminal that Clayton had first met while in prison.

The Murder

In 1949, the trio targeted an elderly man, William "Pop " Kent. Kent, 73, was an SP Bookie. Kent invited the trio to have a drink at his flat - 6 pm closing time was law in Victoria. They had heard that he kept money in his home, and thought Kent would be a soft target. While Lee kept Kent busy by performing oral sex, the two men would search the flat for money. The trio later gave conflicting statements to Police but what is known Kent was tied to a chair, by Lee, and over a period of hours all three kicked and beat him, while demanding to know where his money was kept, they took his money roll he had in his pocket but wanted more. Kent was at first defiant, but eventually insisted that he had no extra money. He was tortured then stabbed several times, before Andrews strangled him. Neighbours heard Kent's screams and called police, but by the time they arrived, Lee, Clayton and Andrews were gone, and Kent was dead. Kent was found under a pile of sheets and clothing, his furniture had been broken and his home had been ransacked. A later report claimed that Kent's penis had been cut off and stuffed down his throat.

The three were soon apprehended in a hotel room, still wearing blood-stained clothing. Lee and Clayton had more blood on their clothes than Andrews and Lee had an abrasion on her nose. Lee confessed to the crime and in an effort to save her lover, claimed that she had acted alone and that he had no knowledge of the events. All three were charged with murder but by the time their trial began on 20 March 1950, they had turned on each other, with each person attempting to shift blame onto the other two. Lee was charged under the principle of "common purpose" which meant that although it was accepted that she had neither stabbed nor strangled Kent, she had played an active role in his death and was therefore equally culpable. The three were found guilty and sentenced to death. Lee became hysterical as she heard the sentence.

On 23 June 1950, the Court of Criminal Appeal ruled that their confessions had been improperly obtained and ordered a retrial, but this was overturned by the High Court and the verdicts and sentences were confirmed. Lee's mental state declined after this, and she alternated between violently attacking her prison guards and begging for mercy, while stating repeatedly that she was innocent and that they had never meant to kill anyone.

Lee also commented that she did not believe a woman would be hanged. As the date for her execution drew near, Lee grew increasingly erratic.

Execution

On 19 February 1951, the morning of her execution, she became hysterical and had to be sedated. She fainted when the executioner came to her cell, and she was strapped semi-conscious to a chair. She was executed at 8:00 a.m. At 10:00 a.m. her accomplices Robert Clayton 32, and Norman Andrews 38, were also hanged. Clayton's last words were Goodbye Charlie and Andrews's last words Goodbye Robert.

Jean Lee was one of two women executed in Australia during the 20th century, the other being Martha Rendell, who was hanged for murdering her de facto husband's children in 1909.

She was the last woman to be hanged before the death penalty was abolished.

Wikipedia.org

Lee, Jean (1919–1951)

By Joy Damousi

Jean Lee (1919-1951), murderer, was born on 10 December 1919 at Dubbo, New South Wales, fifth and youngest child of Australian-born parents Charles Wright, railway ganger, and his wife Florence, née Peacock. Her names were registered as Marjorie Jean Maude. After the family moved to Sydney in 1927, she was educated at Chatswood Public School, at a convent in North Sydney and at Willoughby Central Domestic High School (1932-33). She did not sit her Intermediate certificate examinations.

Jean Wright turned her hand to a number of jobs, working as a milliner, waitress, stenographer and as a labourer in a canned-goods factory. Aged 18, on 19 March 1938 at the Methodist Church, South Chatswood, she married Raymond Thomas Brees, a 25-year-old house-painter; their daughter was born in April 1939. From the beginning the marriage was strained by financial difficulties; Brees was regularly out of work and drinking heavily. The couple separated and were divorced in April 1949.

As a single mother, Jean Brees found it difficult to make ends meet. Increasingly she became caught in a cycle of poverty, petty crime and prostitution in Sydney and Brisbane, using numerous aliases, among them 'Jean Lee'. In 1943 she had begun an association with Morris Dias, a criminal who managed her earnings from prostitution. Three years later she met Robert David Clayton, a 'con man' and gambler with whom she formed an enduring, if violent, relationship. Between May 1945 and July 1948 she appeared twenty-three times at Sydney's Central Police Court, mostly on charges of offensive behaviour.

In October 1949 Lee travelled to Melbourne with Clayton, who had just been released from gaol. There they teamed up with another criminal, Norman Andrews. The three committed minor offences which brought them into further conflict with the law. On 8 November a 73-year-old, part-time bookmaker William ('Pop') Kent was found murdered in the front room of his house in Dorrit Street, Carlton. The police alleged that Clayton, Andrews and Lee had accompanied Kent to his home, bashed him, tortured him to find where he had hidden his money, and finally strangled him. Angry and bitter about the charge, Lee pleaded innocence and insisted she was an onlooker rather than an active participant in the crime.

On 25 March 1950, after a long and dramatic trial in the Supreme Court, the three were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. The media and a majority of people were in favour of the sentence being carried out, but, spearheaded by the Labor Women's Organising Committee and groups opposed to capital punishment, some public sympathy emerged for Lee. No woman had been hanged in Victoria for fifty-six years. Telegrams of protest were sent to the McDonald government, but a subsequent legal appeal failed to reverse the decision. At 8 a.m. on 19 February 1951 Jean Lee was carried to the scaffold and hanged at Pentridge prison, Coburg, while protesters and the press gathered outside. Clayton and Andrews were hanged two hours later. Survived by her daughter, Lee was buried within the prison walls. She was the last woman to suffer the death penalty in Australia.

Joy Damousi, 'Lee, Jean (1919–1951)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.

Jean Lee, the last woman to hang in Australia