#if they don’t come to perth i’m going to commit a felony

[cover-me-in-gasoline]

Gonna read that last part about a million times before it finally fucking sinks in

[thekillerblogofkillers]

David Birnie (1951-2005) & Catherine Birnie (1951-?)

David and Catherine Birnie were an Australian couple who murdered 4 women aged between 15 and 31 in their home in 1986 and attempted to murder a 5th. The crimes were known as the Moorhouse Murders, after the Birnies’ home address of 3 Moorhouse Street in Willagee, a Perth suburb. David John Birnie was born on February 16, 1951, the eldest of 5. In his early years he lived in Wattle Grove, east of Perth. Friends from school and people who attended church with the family remember them as fairly dysfunctional – there were rumours of promiscuity, alcoholism and incest. When Birnie’s parents asked the local priest to marry them he had concerns about them as people and as a couple, stating that he felt their union could come to no good. Mr and Mrs Birnie were an unusual pair – he was unattractive and very small, she had a coarse manner and bad behaviour, often exchanging sexual favours with taxi drivers in return for rides. David’s school friends stated that the family home was unkempt and filthy, with the family never eating regular meals. In the early 1960s Birnie’s parents decided to move to a different suburb of Perth, where he met Catherine through mutual friends. At the age of 15 David left school to become an apprentice jockey at a nearby Ascot racecourse. Whilst there, he would often physically hurt the horses and began to show signs of exhibitionism. One night, he broke into the room of an elderly lady where he was boarding, naked with stockings over his head, and attempted to rape her. By the time David Birnie was an adolescent he had been convicted of several crimes and had spent time in and out of prison for various misdemeanours and felonies. As an adult he was a sex and pornography addict and a paraphiliac. He married his first wife during his early 20s, and fathered a daughter, Tanya, who was 10 at the time of his arrest. She has never married or had children, saying: “I don’t wanna spawn another David Birnie.” In late 1986 David Birnie was employed at a local car wrecker’s shop. For over a year, Catherine and David had been practising how to make their sexual fantasies of rape and murder a reality – he was just weeks away from committing his first horrific crime. Catherine Margaret Harrison was born on May 23, 1951. She was just 2 years old when her mother died giving birth to her brother, who died 2 days later. Unable to cope with her, Catherine’s father sent her to live with her mother’s parents. At the age of 10 there was a custody dispute which ended with Catherine’s father gaining sole custody of her. At 12 years old, Catherine met David Birnie, and was in a relationship with him by the age of 14. Catherine’s father begged her several times to leave David, as he feared he was a bad influence – this disapproval of their relationship only seemed to strengthen their bond. Catherine’s time in prison during her adolescent years offered her the chance to break away from David and she began working as a housekeeper for the McLaughlin family at the encouragement of a parole officer. She married Donald McLaughlin on her 21st birthday. The couple had 7 children – their firstborn, a son, was hit and killed by a car at a young age. In 1985 Catherine left her husband and 6 children and went to live with David. The pair never married, but she changed her surname legally to Birnie.

Over a 5 week period the Birnies abducted 5 women, all but 1 of whom were raped and murdered – the exception was their last victim, who managed to escape the day after she was abducted and managed to lead the police to the Birnie home, thus ending their crime spree. Mary Neilson, 22, was  a psychology student and worked part-time in a delicatessen. She met David at the spare parts yard where he worked, and he offered to sell her cheap tires for her car, giving her his phone number in the process. On October 6, 1986, Neilson went to the Birnies’ home – on her arrival she was gagged, chained to the bed and raped by David while Catherine watched. She was then taken to Gleneagles Nation Park near Albany Highway in Bedfordale, and was raped again as she was begging for her life. She was strangled with a nylon cord, dying at David’s feet. He stabbed her in the torso, having read in a book that this would speed up decomposition. The couple buried her in a shallow grave. The 2nd murder took place 2 weeks later when David and Catherine abducted 15-year-old Susannah Candy, who was hitchhiking along Stirling Highway in Claremont. After her abduction, the couple forced Candy to send letters to her family assuring them she was safe, but the family feared for her life. The Birnies had been cruising for hours when they spotted Candy. Within a few seconds of her entering the car, she had a knife at her throat and she was tied up. She was taken back to the couple’s Willagee home where she was gagged, chained to the bed, and raped. After David had raped Candy, Catherine got into bed with them. She knew this turned David on. When they had satisfied their urges, they tried to strangle the girl with nylon cord but Candy became hysterical and went berserk. The Birnies forced sleeping pills down her throat to calm her down and once she was sleep David put the cord around her neck and told Catherine to prove her undying love for him by killing the girl. Catherine willingly complied. She slowly tightened the cord around the girl’s neck until she stopped breathing. David stood beside the bed, watching. When asked later why she had done this, Catherine said: “Because I wanted to see how strong I was within my inner self. I didn’t feel a thing. It was like I expected. I was prepared to follow him to the end of the earth and do anything to see that his desires were satisfied. She was a female. Females hurt and destroy males.” They buried Susannah Candy near the grave of Mary Neilson in the State Forest.

On November 1, David and Catherine saw Noelene Patterson, 31, standing next to her car on the Canning Highway – she had run out of gas on her way home from her bar manager job at the Nedlands Golf Club. Once in the car, the couple held a knife to Patterson’s throat, tied her up and told her not to move. She was taken to Moorhouse Street where David raped her repeatedly while she was gagged and chained to the bed. They originally planned to murder her that night, but David decided to hold her prisoner in the home for 3 days – there were signs he had become emotionally attached to the victim. Jealous Catherine gave David an ultimatum: Kill Patterson, or she would do it herself. He forced an overdose of sleeping pills down Patterson’s throat and strangled her while she slept. The Birnies took her body to the forest, burying it away from the others. Catherine reportedly got great satisfaction from throwing sand in Patterson’s  face. The next day, they abducted 21-year-old Denise Brown while she was waiting at a bus stop on Stirling Highway. She accepted a lift and at knife point was driven to the house in Willagee, chained to the bed and raped. The next afternoon she was taken to the Wanneroo pine plantation, where Birnie raped her while the couple waited for night to fall. As they dragged the woman out of the car, David assaulted her again and plunged a knife into Brown’s neck while he raped her. In the belief that the victim was dead, the couple dug a shallow grave and put her body inside, but Brown sat up in the grave – David grabbed an axe and hit her twice in the skull with it before burying her body. 17-year-old Kate Moir was abducted at knifepoint after accepting a ride from the Birnies. She later stated that she asked them if they were going to rape or kill her, and was told: “We’ll only rape you if you’re good.” She was made to dance for them and was forced to seep in their bed, handcuffed to David. Kate Moir was the final victim to be abducted and the only victim to survive. After the abduction David forced her to call her mother at knifepoint – Moir told her mother she had drunk too much and was staying with a friend, hoping her mother would realise she wasn’t a drinker and would phone the friend. Moir escaped the following day, escaping through a window after David had gone to work. After knocking on various doors in the neighbourhood, she ran into a store on November 10, 1986. She later described herself as “hysterical. I’m barefoot wearing my black leggings, a black singlet, knickers.” She told the owner of the store that she had been raped. When police arrived, the relayed her story to them – but they were sceptical. 22-year-old Constable Laura Hancock, however, believes Moir right away, due to the details she gave, including the address and phone number of her abductors. The Birnies had used aliases in front of Moir, but she had read David’s real name on a medication bottle. She stated they had watched Rocky on VHS, and described a drawing she had hidden in the house to prove she had been there – police found the picture, as well as a copy of Rocky in the VCR. David and Catherine were arrested. During their respective interrogations, the couple gave conflicting accounts – Catherine denied having ever met Moir, while David said she had been at the house voluntarily to engage in consensual sex. Detective Sergeant Vince Katich convinced David to confess to the murders and reveal where the bodies were buried so they could be dug up before dark – he revealed there were 4 graves. It is believed that the Birnies may be responsible for the May 1986 disappearance of Cheryl Renwick. It was also speculated that David was responsible for the 1980 disappearance of Lisa Marie Mott, but his first wife can account for his movements on that day.

At trial, David Birnie pled guilty to 4 counts of murder and 1 count each of abduction and rape. When asked why he had pleaded guilty, he said: “It’s the least I could do.” He was sentenced to 4 terms of life imprisonment. After being judged sane enough to stand trial, Catherine Birnie was also sentenced to 4 terms of life imprisonment. Under the law at the time, both were required to serve 20 years before being eligible for parole. David was originally held at the maximum-security Fremantle Prison, but was soon moved to solitary confinement to keep other prisoners from hurting him. The original death row cells were converted for him and he remained there until the prison closed in 1990. David Birnie was found dead in his cell at Casuarina Prison on October 7 2005 at 4:30am. He was 55-years-old. An inquest discovered that he had hanged himself from an air vent using a length of cord. Catherine, who is currently imprisoned in Bandyup Women’s Prison, was not permitted to attend his funeral.