Infamous Berry Springs killer rapist Martin Leach dies aged 65 in jail after spending 40 years in a cell

The Territory’s longest serving prisoner has died in jail after serving 40 years for the rape and murder of two teenage girls. Warning: Distressing.

Martin Leach, Berry Springs murderer going to court on June 28, 1983, shortly after the two dead bodies were located in the bushes at Berry Springs.

The Territory’s longest serving prisoner has died in custody after spending 40 years behind bars for the rape and murder of two teenage girls.

The notorious Berry Springs killer, Martin Leach, 65, was one of only a handful of “true lifers” locked up in the Territory who were facing life sentences without the possibility of ever getting parole.

On Tuesday, the NT Coroner confirmed the killer’s death at the weekend had been reported to her office, which will require a mandatory death in custody inquest.

It is understood Leach’s death is not considered suspicious.

Leach, who was aged 24 at the time of the murders, was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in 1984.

On June 20, 1983 Janice Carnegie and her 15-year-old cousin, Charmaine Aviet, were soaking in the beauty of Berry Springs pool, swimming completely unaware they were being watched by their killer.

Martin Leach killed Janice Carnegie, 18, at Berry Springs on June 20, 1983.

Leach later told police he was “no longer in control” of his actions as he returned to his motorbike and pulled out a fishing knife.

Leach – who had already been convicted and served time for the rape of another woman four years earlier – grabbed Charmaine by the wrist and pulled her to a gully.

He told Janice if they did not go with him they would “die right here”.

Leach used their own clothes to bind and gag the two girls, but as he did, Janice took a gamble in her final desperate bid for survival.

Court documents said Janice grabbed for the knife, before Leach stabbed her in the heart and raped her.

Martin Leach killed Charmaine Aviet, 15, at Berry Springs on June 20, 1983.

Leach then turned to Charmaine, who had witnessed the horror and stabbed her.

Janice watched her younger cousin being killed.

Their naked bodies were found in a shallow bushland grave near Berry Springs.

The original sentencing judge said Leach’s actions were “entirely pitiless and cruel” and it was difficult to conceive of a more terrible crime.

In 2003 justice reforms in the Territory meant all those sentenced to die in prison were eligible for 20-year non-parole sentences.

Leach had already spent 20 years behind bars when the Director of Public Prosecutions appealed to exclude him from this change.

But the ageing killer told the court that no punishment could rival the “ severity what my own conscience daily inflicts”.

“On those occasions when society has debated the death penalty, I have marvelled at how anyone might think a life sentence the more humane option,” Leach said.

“Four to five years of concern, even fear, followed by the quick escape of an execution, as opposed to the endless procession of days spent in self castigation, painfully aware of the atrophy and death of one’s own humanity.”

Chief Justice Brian Martin found Leach’s crimes were “so extreme that the community interest in retribution, punishment, protection and deterrence can only be met if the offender is imprisoned for the term of his natural life without the possibility of release”.

The appeal had one dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Southwood who noted Leach had demonstrated good behaviour in prison and attempted to reform, with his security classification downgraded to low-risk.

In jail, Leach had started his own toy-making venture, in which he donated his wooden rocking horses and motorcycles to charity.

Even with these elements, Justice Southwood said he would have set a non-parole period of 40 years, meaning Leach would have only been eligible for release this year.

In 2017 retired Territory detective and former commander John Maley said he had only met two truly “absolutely evil” killers in his life, Leach and three-times convicted killer Reginald Kenneth Arthurell.

A date for Leach’s mandatory inquest has not yet been set.

“Any decisions around the timing of that inquest will be made once the investigation brief has been provided to the Coroner,” a court spokesman said.

Originally published as Infamous Berry Springs killer rapist Martin Leach dies aged 65 in jail after spending 40 years in a cell