Derek Ernest Percy (15 September 1948 – 23 July 2013) was an Australian suspected
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
and convicted
child killer who was also a
person of interest
"Person of interest" is a term used by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and other countries when identifying someone possibly involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. It has no leg ...
linked to the mysterious deaths and disappearances of multiple children in the 1960s, including the
Beaumont disappearances and the
Wanda Beach murders
The Wanda Beach Murders, sometimes referred to simply as "Wanda", is the case of the unsolved murders of Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock at Wanda Beach near Cronulla in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on 11 January 1965. The victims ...
.
Early life
Derek Percy was born on 15 September 1948 in
Strathfield
Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A smal ...
,
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, the eldest of three sons of parents Ernest and Elaine Percy. Percy's father, a sailing enthusiast, had been a New South Wales railway electrician before deciding to take a job with the
State Electricity Commission in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, and moving to
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
in 1954, then to
Warrnambool
Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (Al ...
in 1957, and to
Mount Beauty
Mount Beauty is a small town in north-eastern Victoria, Australia. The town lies alongside the Kiewa River, at the junction of the Kiewa Valley Highway and Bogong High Plains Road in the Alpine Shire local government area.
History
The town was ...
, near
Bright
Bright may refer to:
Common meanings
*Bright, an adjective meaning giving off or reflecting illumination; see Brightness
*Bright, an adjective meaning someone with intelligence
People
* Bright (surname)
* Bright (given name)
*Bright, the stage na ...
, in 1961.
Percy began to attract the attention of authorities in late 1964, when he started stealing and wearing female underwear and dresses and mutilating dolls with knives and razor blades.
In 1965, the family relocated to
Khancoban
Khancoban () is a small town in Snowy Valleys Council, New South Wales, Australia. The town is located from the state capital, Sydney and from the state border with Victoria, in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, near the upper reaches of t ...
in New South Wales (their sixth move in twelve years) where Percy began writing down bizarre and violent
sexual fantasies
A sexual fantasy or erotic fantasy is a mental image or pattern of thought that stirs a person's sexuality and can create or enhance sexual arousal. A sexual fantasy can be created by the person's imagination or memory, and may be triggered aut ...
.
In 1966, he repeated year 11, then tried year 12 in school, but dropped out and joined the
Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
as a naval rating in electrical mechanics in November 1967. He was posted to the aircraft carrier
HMAS ''Melbourne'' in March 1968, the troop ship
HMAS ''Sydney'' on 1 July 1968, and
HMAS ''Cerberus'' naval base in April 1969.
Criminal investigation
Percy was arrested at ''Cerberus'', adjacent to
Crib Point
Crib Point is a town on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Crib Point recorded a population o ...
on the
Mornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geogra ...
south of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, for the murder of 12 year-old Yvonne Tuohy at Ski Beach, near Warneet on
Westernport Bay, on 27 July 1969. At the time he abducted Tuohy at knife-point, he also tried to abduct her friend, Shane Spiller, age 11, who only escaped by threatening Percy with his
tomahawk
A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Europ ...
.
Spiller, however, was able to describe to police the abductor and his vehicle, an orange
Datsun
Datsun (, ) was an automobile brand owned by Nissan. Datsun's original production run began in 1931. From 1958 to 1986, only vehicles exported by Nissan were identified as Datsun. Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in March 1986, but relaunche ...
station wagon with a navy sticker on the back window.
Police, accompanied by Spiller, then went to ''Cerberus'' and discovered Percy machine-washing blood off his clothes.
When questioned, Percy denied involvement, but eventually led police to Tuohy's mutilated body in a paddock on Fisheries Road at
Devon Meadows, some from the abduction scene.
Police also found Percy's journals describing and illustrating his bizarre sexual fetishes (including
coprophilia
Coprophilia (from Greek κόπρος, ''kópros'' 'excrement' and φιλία, ''philía'' 'liking, fondness'), also called scatophilia or scat (Greek: σκατά, ''skatá'' 'feces'), is the paraphilia involving sexual arousal and pleasure from ...
,
urophilia
Urolagnia (also urophilia, and, more colloquially, a golden shower or watersports) associates sexual excitement with the sight or thought of urine or urination, and may also refer to such behaviours or acts. It is a paraphilia.
The term has o ...
, and
cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
). In 1970, he was found
not guilty, by reason of insanity, of the murder and
remanded indefinitely.
Percy repeatedly stated, however, that he could not remember whether or not he had committed any further crimes.
Detectives then started trying to piece together his movements around Australia at the time of the murders.
They were aware the Percy family often took caravan holidays during yachting regattas near beaches (where most of the crimes took place), that his transfers within the navy brought him close to many of the crime scenes, and knew that he was harbouring
paedophilic and psychopathic fantasies towards children.
In 2007, a cache of 35 boxes
of Percy's diaries, drawings, maps, and newspaper clippings was found in a storage unit in South Melbourne, casting further suspicion on him.
Related cases
Due to the nature of the Tuohy attack, and based on documents in his possession, Percy became a suspect in a number of other unsolved crimes involving children:
*
Wanda Beach case (11 January 1965) – Percy was known to be visiting his friend's grandparents in
Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
at the time,
at a house near to the homes of the victims.
Based on
identikits, witnesses recalled seeing a young man resembling Percy talking with the two girls on a train and at
Wanda Beach
Wanda Beach or ''Wanda'' is the northernmost patrolled beach on Bate Bay in Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia. ''Green Hills'' or ''Green Hills Ridge'' is the name given to the Cronulla sand dunes, just north of Wanda.
History
The original ...
, and he was considered a leading suspect for the murders by the police.
*
Beaumont case (26 January 1966) – Percy admitted to being at Glenelg Beach in Adelaide on a family trip on the day of the Beaumont children's disappearance, but denied any involvement.
*
Allen Redston case (28 September 1966) – Canberra police issued a description of a fair, thin-faced teenager that they wanted to interview, and also released an identikit image that closely resembled Percy. Percy later told police he had been in the capital, but that he was unable to remember any details.
* Simon Brook case (18 May 1968) – Percy had been stationed at the Cockatoo Dry Dock on Sydney Harbour at the time, and an Identikit of the suspect who killed and mutilated the 3-year old was similar to the Redston suspect.
A new inquest was held in 2005 with Percy as the prime suspect, but stalled due to lack of evidence.
* Linda Stilwell case (10 August 1968) – In October 2014, a year after his death, Percy was formally ruled to have abducted and killed the 7-year-old, who disappeared while playing at the St Kilda foreshore in Melbourne. At the time, Percy had been transferred to ''Sydney'', was on leave,
and admitted to driving in the area.
* 12-year-old girl (1 April 1969) - attempted abduction while riding her bicycle near ''Cerberus'' base. Victim identified Percy after the Tuohy incident.
Death
Percy died from lung cancer in
St Vincents Hospital, Melbourne on 23 July 2013, aged 64, without admitting to any further crimes. At the time, he was the longest serving prison inmate in Australia, some 44 years.
Media
*
Alan Whiticker
Alan James Whiticker (born 1958) is an Australian non-fiction author and publisher, with over 50 published books on history, sport, biography, true crime and lifestyle.
Whiticker writes primarily on matters pertaining to the history of the spo ...
(2008) ''Derek Percy: Australian Psycho''
* Debi Marshall (2013) ''Lambs to the Slaughter''
*''
Crimes That Shook Australia
''Crimes That Shook Australia'' is an Australian true crime Television documentary, documentary television series that premiered on Crime + Investigation (Australian TV channel), Crime + Investigation on 16 April 2014. Stan Grant (journalist), S ...
'' (2014) Derek Percy
*Radford University - Derek Ernest Percy ''“The Ghost, Spook, Phantom”''
PDF
See also
*
List of serial killers by country
This is a list of notable serial killers, by the country where most of the killings occurred.
Convicted serial killers by country Afghanistan
*Abdullah Shah: killed at least 20 travelers on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad while serving under ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Percy, Derek
1948 births
2013 deaths
Australian murderers of children
Crime in Oceania
Suspected serial killers