Serial Killers

David Birnie
David Birnie was the eldest of five children. In his formative years, he lived in the semi-rural suburb of Wattle Grove, east of Perth.
School friends and parishioners from the WattleGrove Baptist Church of the period remember the family as particularly dysfunctional. Rumours abounded about the family's promiscuity, alcoholism and that they engaged in incest.
When Birnie'sparents had asked the local priest to conduct their wedding ceremony, he expressed concerns about them as individuals and as a potential couple, broadly stating that he felt theirs was a union that couldnever lead to any good; an unusual and seemingly unsuited pairing, the father was a man of very small stature and unattractive appearance, while the mother was known for her coarse manner, languageand behaviour, often exchanging sexual favours with taxi drivers as payment for fares.
David Birnie's school friends also commented on the family home, stating that it was unkempt and filthy, withthe family never having regular meals together. Nor were meals prepared for the children by their parents.
One school friend stated that the door of the Birnie fridge was always left wide open, sothe children and the family dog could eat at will whenever hungry.
In the early 1960s, Birnie's parents decided to move the family to another Perth suburb, where he had met Catherine through mutualfriends. At 15, David left school to become an apprentice jockey for Eric Parnham at a nearby Ascot race course. During his time there he often physically harmed the horses and developed the tendenciesof an exhibitionist. On one particular night, David broke into the room of an elderly lady where he was boarding, naked with stockings over his head and attempted to commit his first rape.
By thetime he was an adolescent, he had been convicted of several crimes and had spent time in and out of jail for misdemeanors[->0] and felonies[->1]. As an adult, he was a known sex[->2] and pornography...