How killer stalked and ambushed Lilie James seven times before murder that shocked the country

A disturbing detail has emerged at the inquest into the death of water polo coach Lilie James, who was murdered by her former boyfriend inside an elite school.

WARNING: Disturbing content.

Chilling CCTV has shown Lilie James’ killer practising how he planned to burst into a bathroom to murder the beloved young teacher and the lengths he went to in order to set a trap inside the Sydney school where he beat her to death with a hammer.

A coronial inquest is examining her death at the hands of Paul Thijssen, who took his own life after the attack by jumping from Diamond Bay Reserve in Vaucluse.

Ms James, 21, a beloved teacher and water polo and netball coach, was killed inside a bathroom at St Andrew’s Cathedral School – the exclusive private school where she worked – in Sydney’s CBD on October 25, 2023.

The Coroner’s Court was told on Tuesday that Ms James was killed due to blunt force trauma to the head after being attacked by Thijssen with a hammer.

Her death and that of Thijssen are being examined in an inquest before Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan that began on Tuesday.

Sydney water polo coach Lilie James was killed by her ex-boyfriend. Picture: 60 Minutes

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jennifer Single, said during opening statements on Tuesday that Ms James was in a brief relationship with Thijssen, a fellow sports coach at the school, before she broke it off just days before her death.

Ms Single told the court Thijssen had stalked Ms James before killing her and carefully planned his attack, including doing several dry runs.

“The preparation was calculated, it was not a momentary loss of control, it was a premeditated killing,” Ms Single said.

Footage played to the court on Tuesday showed Thijssen walking into the school on the day of the murder.

It showed him on three occasions practising quickly opening the door to the bathroom where he ultimately cornered and killed her.

Ms Single told the inquest the vision showed Thijssen “practising how he is going to enter the bathroom” during the attack.

The CCTV tracked Thijssen and his movements around the school on the afternoon of October 25, including placing a “cleaning in progress sign” outside one bathroom.

Ms Single told the court that Thijssen did this to coral Ms James into the bathroom he had selected for her murder.

“Your Honor, it is submitted that after practising entering both bathrooms, Paul had by this stage decided to attack Lilie in bathroom one,” Ms Single told the court.

“We submit that Paul placed the cleaning in progress sign outside of bathroom three to ensure Lilie did not use that bathroom, and to force her into the larger disabled bathroom where the attack in fact occurred.”

Lilie James was buried after a funeral service at Danebank College. Picture: Jeremy Piper.

The court was told that in the six days leading up to the murder, Thijssen stalked Ms James on seven occasions – driving to her house in Sydney’s south in a hired car before returning home to Kensington.

On several occasions, he took photographs of cars which were parked outside her family home.

Photos shown to the court revealed that Thijssen captioned the photos with descriptions of the car.

On another occasion, CCTV captured him driving to Allawah train station, where he stayed for an hour, with further vision showing Ms James getting off at the same station.

Further vision played to the court also showed Thijssen buying a hammer and duct tape at a York St hardware store on Monday October 10, 2023.

The hammer was not used by him during the attack and was later found in a school store room.

They were in a brief relationship. Picture: 60 Minutes

CCTV footage shows Paul Thijssen at Vaucluse in the hours following the death of Lilie James. Picture: Supplied

The inquest, which will run for three days, will examine the circumstances of their deaths as well as coercive control and unacceptable behaviour in relationships.

The court was told that police never recovered either Ms James or Thijssen’s phones because it’s believed he took them with him when he killed himself.

An iPhone 8 was found in his backpack but it was not the phone associated with his Australian number.

As well, it appeared that Ms James often communicated with her friends via Snapchat and therefore her messages, which disappear from the platform after a short period of time, could not be recovered.

Paul Thijssen killed Ms James before killing himself. Picture: Supplied.

The court was told that one of Thijssen’s ex-girlfriends had said their relationship left her feeling “suffocated”, “pressured” and “controlled”.

The court was told on Tuesday that he met the woman in Australia and when he returned to the Netherlands she changed her social media profile photos.

It prompted a flurry of attempts by Thijssen to contact the woman, which led her to block him, but he managed to break into her Snapchat account, which he had the password to.

That same day he arranged a visa to return to Australia and several days later he showed up at her church.

The court was told on one occasion he sat outside her work for hours.

She tried to break off their relationship while meeting in a park, during which he punched at leaves and branches on a tree.

Ms Single told the court on Tuesday that when the woman asked Thijssen why he was punching the tree, he said “because I can’t punch the one thing I want to”.

On a subsequent occasion, the woman’s mother saw him standing outside their house and the following day the woman saw Thijssen outside their house in the early morning, prompting her father to warn him to stay away.

The court was also told that he forged a letter of reference from St Andrew’s that was provided to the Department of Home Affairs when applying to extend his working holiday visa.

In the letter, which was later exposed as a forgery during the investigation into Ms James’s death, he exaggerated his role description and responsibilities at the school.

Ms James started seeing Thijssen in 2023. Picture: Supplied/60 Minutes

The court was told on Tuesday that as part of his job, Thijssen had a pass to roam around the school after hours and had access to “almost everything”.

The bathroom in which Ms James was killed had since been demolished.

The inquest was told that Ms James and Thijssen started seeing each other in mid-2023 and were initially described to friends as being “not serious”.

He had also told people he didn’t want her as a girlfriend because of her personality; however, they continued their casual relationship.

The court was on Tuesday played eight minutes of CCTV footage from Thursday, October 19 – less than a week before Thijssen killed Ms James – showing them having a heated argument on school grounds after hours.

In the video, Thijssen pushes Ms James and at one point puts his hand on her shoulder.

The court was told details of a party the following day at which Ms James arrived and left with her former boyfriend.

Ms Single told the court that at the party, Ms James told her ex, named Lachlan, that she “didn’t feel safe” around Thijssen and was “weirded out by him”.

Thijssen showed up at the party and waited outside for Ms James for several hours and asked her friends where she was.

After the party, she spent the night at Thijssen’s house but told friends she slept on the couch.

Lilie James’s parents, Peta and Jamie, received messages from their daughter’s phone on the night of her death. Picture: 60 Minutes

Ms James’s parents, Jamie and Peta, revealed last year they had received messages from their daughter’s phone on the night of her death, trying to lure them to the school.

A message sent to Ms James’s father about 8.30pm said: “Don’t ask why or call please come to the school now and pick me up.”

When he replied “Are you OK?”, he received the reply “come to school trouble”. When Mr James asked again, the reply was “yes, yes”.

The couple told 60 Minutes they believed the messages were from Ms James’s killer.

Originally published as How killer stalked and ambushed Lilie James seven times before murder that shocked the country