Two years have handed for the reason that girl dubbed the ‘Black Widow’ after defrauding three husbands, killing one and brutally attacking one other, was launched from jail.
There was a time when petite murderess Dena Thompson might capitalise on her girl-next-door seems to lure males into her life and deceive them. At the moment, the grey-haired sexagenarian barely warrants a second look.
However, says the previous police officer who helped put her behind bars, males who encounter the 64-year-old ought to stay vigilant.
‘In case your father, son, uncle, cousin, good friend, whoever, comes residence and says they’ve met a stunning new woman referred to as Dena, then my recommendation could be to ring the police,’ says retired Sussex police detective Sean McDonald, who led the investigation into Dena and met her on a number of events.
Dena Thompson defrauded her first husband, bigamously married, defrauded after which poisoned her second and married and stole from a 3rd whom she later attacked
‘I’ve stated this earlier than and I will say it once more, I’m completely satisfied she’s going to commit additional offences.’
Dena’s heinous crimes are the topic of a brand new three-part documentary, Black Widow, attributable to be aired on Sky later this month.
The sequence will inform the jaw-dropping story of how she defrauded her first husband, bigamously married, defrauded after which poisoned her second and, having lined up the homicide as suicide, married and stole from a 3rd whom she later attacked with a metallic baseball bat and carving knife.
These crimes could also be simply the tip of the iceberg. When she was despatched to jail in 2003, Sussex police claimed Dena had focused not less than eight different males and presumably extra by way of newspaper lonely hearts commercials.
Whereas Dena’s darkish previous is about to be beneath scrutiny once more, the true concern is what the long run holds for the Black Widow – described by the decide who jailed her as ‘completely ruthless and with none pity’ – now that she is free once more.
Most annoying of all are claims I uncovered this week that the killer could have fashioned a relationship with a jail pen pal, one thing which disturbs the lads who’ve already crossed her path.
Whereas the previous constructing society employee could now not be the sylph-like blonde she was when committing her crimes, Sean McDonald believes her advancing years and the arrival of on-line relationship could even give her a bonus with regards to assembly males.
‘She’s now moved into an age bracket the place there are many divorcees and other people with large pensions, who could nicely personal their very own houses with no mortgages,’ he says.
‘She picks her targets very rigorously. They’re weak males who’re lonely and who have gotten cash.’
Dena’s former husband, 69-year-old retired businessman Lee Wyatt, is aware of all too nicely how straightforward it’s for males to fall into her grip.
‘I used to be the primary sufferer,’ he advised me this week. ‘I wished somebody to develop outdated with however now I look again and suppose I am fortunate to be alive.’
He paid a heavy value for falling in love with a ‘fairly and fun-to-be- with’ 22-year-old within the early Nineteen Eighties when each lived in North London.
Except for being deceived, defrauded and manipulated for years by Dena, he’s estranged from the son they’d collectively, his solely little one, Darren, now 37.
Darren was 16 years outdated when his mom was despatched to jail and was raised by Dena’s dad and mom at their residence in Cullompton, Devon.
‘He’ll by no means settle for the reality now,’ says Lee.
A supply near the household advised me this week that though Dena’s two youthful brothers now not converse to her, her dad and mom doted on their ‘golden woman’ and her mom and late father, who died in June 2022, refused to just accept her guilt.
‘Single males ought to beware,’ reiterates Lee. ‘She performs the harmless, the form of candy girl that could not damage a fly but it surely’s all an act. No man is secure round her.’
Some may argue that given her later crimes, Lee received off frivolously. However the actuality was that after marrying Dena in October 1984, his life grew to become a nightmare – a rare story of fraud and gaslighting which might have been plucked straight from a Hollywood thriller.
By the point Darren was born in 1987, Lee had stop his medical rep job and arrange a tender toy enterprise with Dena, who was eager on handicrafts. They moved to the village of Yapton, West Sussex, and she or he started work on the Woolwich constructing society in Arundel.
Round this time she started spinning the primary webs of deceit. By forging paperwork she satisfied Lee that Disney wished to pay hundreds of thousands for the rights to a leprechaun tender toy character she had created. She later used the identical approach to trick him into believing the mafia wished a minimize of their cash.
Faked letters arrived at their residence. Some threatened their lives. Others seemed to be from a ‘safety squad’ despatched by the FBI and Dena persuaded Lee to get away from their residence, whereas she remained there with their son.
Taken in, he modified his identify to Colin Mitchell and have become a upkeep employee at an amusement arcade whereas residing beneath the radar in Cornwall. He paid most of his wages into Dena’s checking account.
As extraordinary as her claims have been, Lee believed he was appearing in the very best pursuits of his household, not realising that she had moved one other man into their residence.
Julian Webb, an promoting gross sales govt on the West Sussex Gazette was that man. The pair met in Could 1991 and married, bigamously, six months later. Quickly after, Dena advised him she had most cancers – a lie she repeated to a lot of her victims, generally interchanging it with the declare that she had diabetes and would want to have each ft amputated.
A retired Sussex police detective believes the arrival of on-line relationship could even give Dena a bonus when assembly males
She persuaded Julian at hand over £25,000 in financial savings to pay for therapy and likewise stole £23,000 from the department of the Woolwich the place she labored after transferring the money into bogus accounts.
In 1994, Lee turned up unannounced at his outdated residence.
‘One thing made me go there that day,’ he tells me. ‘I might had sufficient. I wished solutions.’
Dena persuaded him to go away but it surely was later stated in court docket that fearing her two husbands may meet and she or he could be uncovered, Dena determined to kill Julian. He died on his thirty first birthday in July 1994 after consuming a curry she laced with aspirin and paracetamol.
However on the time police discovered no proof of foul play. Crucially, although, Julian’s suspicious mom Rosemary refused Dena’s calls for for a cremation and insisted he was buried close to her residence on Hayling Island, Hampshire.
At Julian’s inquest, a coroner recorded an open verdict and stated he wasn’t satisfied that Julian had taken his personal life.
Over the subsequent 4 years, Dena discovered new victims to prey on by way of lonely hearts adverts positioned in newspapers throughout Sussex, together with a psychological well being employee and a customs official at Gatwick Airport. Each gave her £6,000.
She was obsessive about transferring to Florida and infrequently drew the lads in her life into her plans, generally utilizing the most cancers lie to assert it was her dying want. She satisfied a panorama gardener she had received him a job at Nasa and used his bank cards behind his again.
Within the midst of all this, Dena was jailed for 18 months for her theft from the Woolwich. By the point she got here out of jail, Lee had begun divorce proceedings. However completely remorseless, she started on the lookout for extra victims as quickly as she was freed.
In 1998, she met husband quantity three, divorced BT supervisor Richard Thompson, whose identify she nonetheless makes use of.
They married six months after assembly, with Richard unaware Dena was already forging his signature, had emptied his financial savings account and had run up 1000’s of kilos of debt on his bank cards.
She advised him she had breast most cancers and he gave up his job with BT and took a £36,000 early retirement package deal.
Lower than a yr into their marriage, after pretending to seduce him and tying him up within the toilet, she positioned a towel throughout Richard’s face earlier than hitting him twice across the head with an aluminium baseball bat and stabbing him with a carving knife.
He solely managed to flee by getting his fingers free and sticking his fingers into her eyes.
‘I do not suppose Richard grasped what had occurred at first,’ remembers Sean McDonald. ‘By the point he referred to as us, the lavatory had been cleaned up however there was nonetheless some blood spatter behind the radiator and up on the ceiling.’
Sussex police have been satisfied that Dena could be discovered responsible of tried homicide, however in 2000 a jury at Lewes Crown Courtroom accepted her declare that she had been defending herself after a row about cash turned to violence.
She was cleared of attempting to kill Richard however was jailed for 3 years and 9 months on 15 theft and dishonesty expenses.
Crucially, says Sean McDonald, the case led Sussex police to re-open the investigation into Julian’s loss of life. In 2001, his physique was exhumed and re-examined.
Police later established that she had laced Julian’s favorite curry with medicine to poison him. She was jailed for all times on the Previous Bailey in 2003. Police stated she had focused not less than eight others.
Retired businessman Lee Wyatt was the primary sufferer – after marrying Dena in October 1984, his life grew to become a nightmare
Dena stole the life financial savings of her third husband BT supervisor Richard Thompson
Julian Webb, an promoting gross sales govt on the West Sussex Gazette met Dena in Could 1991 and married, bigamously, six months later. Quickly after, his spouse lied that she had most cancers
They have been unable to hint two of the lads. Different victims have been reluctant to provide proof towards her as they have been married on the time, or had companions, or just felt ashamed at being defrauded and tricked by a lady.
Unsurprisingly, Dena’s launch two years in the past introduced again horrible reminiscences for many who had encountered her.
Now aged 65 and residing in East Sussex, her third husband Richard Thompson declined to talk about his evil ex-wife this week, however beforehand advised me: ‘She will be able to’t change. She’s by no means proven regret.
‘So many males have been her victims. She’s the grasp of placing on an act. She’s a schemer.
‘There isn’t any approach she needs to be launched.’
Whereas Dena’s present location is unknown, since her launch there have been sightings of her in each Studying and London.
She was additionally seen in Devon, in July 2022, not lengthy earlier than being free of jail, when she attended her father’s funeral at Exeter crematorium.
One other mourner on the funeral remembers how she arrived, wearing a tweed jacket and skirt, handcuffed to a jail guard, to take her place among the many 15 or so mourners.
‘They sat on the entrance pew collectively and Dena had her free arm supporting her mum who was fairly frail by then,’ stated the visitor who famous that apart from her mom and son, no different relative spoke to Dena. ‘She by no means shed a tear however she was daring as brass,’ they added. ‘You’d have thought she might need been a bit sheepish however she adopted the coffin out on the finish along with her head held excessive.’
Most regarding of all are experiences that she may already be in a brand new relationship with somebody who contacted her whereas she was in jail.
‘If it is appropriate, then this particular person should find out about her offending,’ says Sean McDonald. ‘However some individuals are drawn to the drama and pleasure of that sort of relationship.’
He added: ‘I believe she’ll proceed to offend. It is solely a matter of time.
She is a manipulator. There might be different victims.’
Lee Wyatt agrees. ‘Her want for cash will at all times be there,’ he says. ‘She will be able to’t assist herself. There isn’t any approach she’s not going to do something.’
- BLACK WIDOW will premiere on Sky Documentaries on September 15.
