Inside Sydney’s most notorious murderers who killed with no motive

They had no reason to commit murder. These are the monsters who over the years ripped apart innocent lives without a clear motive — and left devastation in their wake.

Some of the Sydney murderers who had no motive to kill.

They had no reason to kill. They just wanted blood on their hands.

These are the monsters who ripped apart innocent lives without a motive, simply because they didn’t need one or want one.

The Daily Telegraph’s Sydney Murder Map has uncovered a raft of men with a killer instinct they couldn’t control.

Whether they were natural born killers or developed a thirst for bloodshed over time, they all gave in to a fatal desire.

From a gruesome group bashing to taking advantage of the young and trusting, these men are as evil as it gets.

MURDER OF ANITA COBBY

It was the murder which shocked the whole of Australia in 1986.

Registered nurse and former beauty queen Anita Coby had just been out for dinner with friends before she took the train home to Blacktown Station.

Ms Cobby, 26, got off the train about 10pm and began walking.

She was spotted by thugs John Travers, Michael Murdoch and brothers Gary, Les and Michael Murphy, who were in their car looking for trouble.

They pulled over and dragged Ms Cobby into the vehicle before driving 5km to a rural farm in Prospect.

John Travers was one of five men who raped and killed Anita Cobby.

Nurse Anita Cobby was brutalised and murdered in February 1986.

They took turns raping and beating Ms Cobby in the paddock before Travers slit her throat and left her to die.

Two days later, a farmer found Ms Cobby’s naked body facedown in his field.

She had been beaten, repeatedly raped and tortured — her fingers broken and bones dislocated.

Within three weeks, all five men had been arrested and charged.

They were all sentenced to life in prison.

RICHARD LEONARD

Richard Leonard was a young man with a dark secret — he was a devil worshipper who yearned for blood.

On August 2, 1994 the psychopath acted on his thirst for death when he shot Stephen Dempsey through the heart with a high-powered compound bow.

The shooting occurred at Deep Creek in Sydney’s north east.

Leonard submerged Dempsey’s body in a creek before returning that evening to dismember it and take the parts home to put in his freezer.

Richard Leonard killed Stephen Dempsey in 1994.

NSW murder victim Stephen Dempsey.

Weeks later he told his girlfriend, Denise Shipley, “there’s a man in the refrigerator”, but she didn’t go to the police.

“You know sometimes when I got, when I got bored … I’d bring him out and roll his head across the floor and bring his arms out and try to stick his arms and play jigsaws,” Leonard would later admit in jail.

Just four months after Dempsey’s demise, Leonard and Shipley took a taxi to Collaroy Plateau.

It was during the ride Leonard fatally stabbed driver, father-of-six Ezzedine Bahmad, 37 times and slashed his throat.

Leonard and Dempsey would later tell family members and a pastor of their crimes.

Leonard was sentenced to two life sentences for the murders.

RICHARD CLEVERLY

As a child, Richard Cleverly mowed his aunt’s lawn for $50 pocket money and some chocolate.

Ten years later, he strangled his aunt Susan Smith, who was found by her sister Margaret on the floor of their North Ryde home on July 3, 2002.

Susan Smith was killed by her nephew in 2002.

Initially thinking she had been electrocuted because the power was out, police arrived at the scene and realised they had a murder investigation.

Cleverly’s prints were found in the home, as well as under Ms Smith’s fingernails.

Having lied to police about his whereabouts throughout the investigation, the evidence was piling up and he was becoming a prime suspect.

Twelve days after Ms Smith’s murder, he read a passage from the Bible at her funeral and didn’t bat an eyelid.

Richard Cleverly murdered his aunt.

Realising police were circling, Cleverly began staging a series of bizarre incidents to try and fool investigators.

He penned a number of death threats to his family on computer disks, signed off by an imaginary gang.

He also faked a petrol attack on himself and persuaded a friend to stage a home invasion, in which Cleverly’s younger brother was bound and gagged.

Cleverly was charged with his aunt’s murder and convicted. He was sentenced to a maximum of 24 years in jail.

The family speculated Cleverly killed Ms Smith for money, though he never admitted guilt and no clear motive was found during the investigation.

CHRISTOPHER DANNEVIG

Just eight days after being released from jail for kidnapping a girl, Christopher Dannevig was itching to find another.

Having befriended teenager Nona Belomesoff over a couple of months on dating site Oasis Active and then Facebook, he convinced her to accompany him on a bushland trip.

He had created fake profiles under the alias Jason Green.

Dannevig told her he was a recruiter with WIRES before the pair headed to bushland on the outskirts of Campbelltown in May 2010.

Nona loved animals, so Dannevig used this to his advantage and convinced her she’d be able to work with some on the trip.

Christopher Dannevig killed teenager Nona Belomesoff.

Nona’s body was found in a creek bed in Campbelltown.

Though Nona never returned home.

Dannevig claimed he and Nona got into an argument on the trip and she fell back on to the ground and hit her head.

No significant cause of death was able to be found when Nona’s body was examined, though Dannevig told an undercover police officer he held her head underwater for two minutes.

After he killed her, Dannevig found the pin code for her ATM card and withdrew $170.

Dannevig pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 28 years in jail.

No motive was ever uncovered.

DANIEL KELSALL

Daniel Kelsall loved men, but it turned into a fatal attraction.

He had just finished washing the dishes after an 18th birthday party at the Sydney Cooking School when he spied Morgan Huxley walking home.

Mr Huxley, 31, was having a beer at The Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay following a friend’s engagement party in the early hours of September 8, 2013.

Daniel Jack Kelsall killed Morgan Huxley. Picture: Craig Greenhill

Morgan Huxley who stabbed to death in 2013 inside his Neutral Bay unit.

Kelsall followed the marine engineer home from the hotel, lurking in the dark just metres behind him.

Once inside the apartment, Kelsall sexually assaulted Mr Huxley before he stabbed him 30 times.

During his trial, Kelsall said his DNA was inside the apartment because the pair had a sexual encounter before being interrupted by a mystery attacker.

But the jury at his 2015 trial was not convinced, finding him guilty of murder.

Kelsall was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in jail.

Originally published as Inside Sydney’s most notorious murderers who killed with no motive