The gruesome murder of John Price to be told in feature film

WHAT Katherine Knight did to her de facto in 2000 is as bad as it gets. Now the abattoir worker’s story is now being told all over again. Warning: Disturbing content

p39//Abbatoir worker Katherine Knight who was charged with the March 2000 murder of her de facto husband John Price

WARNING: Disturbing content

FORGET Wolf Creek. Forget Snowtown. The next big Australian horror flick is expected to blow them both away.

Sixteen years ago Katherine Knight, an abattoir worker from the NSW Hunter Valley, murdered her de facto in the most horrifying fashion. She skinned the corpse of John Price and hung his skin from meat hooks.

Her motive was revenge but Knight also derived a sick pleasure from her partner’s death. She planned it days in advance, tortured her victim until his final moments and, with forensic detail and great care, took his head as a souvenir.

The story became infamous and was immortalised in the book Blood Stain by Peter Lalor. This week it was announced Australia’s most gruesome murder will be made into a feature film.

“I got scared reading the script,” Lalor told news.com.au. “It’s made for cinema.”

The old abattoir at Aberdeen, in the NSW Hunter Valley, where murderer Katherine Knight once worked. Picture: Bob Barker.

‘WHAT REALLY STRUCK ME WAS HOW ORDINARY LOOKING SHE WAS’

“She could’ve been a librarian,” Lalor said this week, recalling the first time he laid eyes on the killer during sentencing in the NSW Supreme Court in 2001.

“What really struck me was how ordinary looking she was. (She wore) a nice frock and a crucifix around her neck, as you do when you’re facing a murder charge.”

That day, the woman in the nice frock traded down for prison attire — she was sentenced to life without parole. In the weeks that followed, Lalor spoke with a number of her former partners, men who wept for the woman they knew but were lucky to have escaped (mostly) unharmed.

“The were coal miners, truck drivers, tough Australian blokes,” Lalor said.

“The majority cried talking about her and the abuse that she inflicted on them. She had a history of malevolence and a mental illness; borderline personality disorder.

“That’s in no way an excuse, nor is the abuse in her own family. She was sick but there was a streak of evil in her. It was an act of revenge, but it wasn’t done in the heat of the moment.”

It was March 1, 2000, when police found the victim’s body in the home the couple shared. Slices of his buttocks had been prepared for dinner for Price’s children; the meat to be served with vegetables and gravy.

Police intervened before the children got home from school. They observed that the victim’s head was boiling in a pot on the stove top and that he had attempted to escape. There were bloodstains on the floor of the house. During sentencing, Justice Barry O’Keefe said Price would have suffered immeasurably.

“The last minutes of his life must have been a time of abject terror for him, as they were a time of utter enjoyment for her.”

Katherine Knight.

John Price.

‘SHE’S ALWAYS BEEN IN DENIAL’

Knight is the first Australian woman to be sentenced to life without parole. She spends her days at Silverwater prison. Lalor said he reached out to the killer in the years after the Price’s murder but never heard back.

“She didn’t want to (talk about it),” he said. “She’s always been in denial. I hear bits and pieces about her. I’ve seen paintings she’s done in prison.”

Interest grew in the story after the release of Lalor’s book, which continues to sell well. Over the years he was approached on numerous occasions with offers for exclusive film rights.

He says he is confident the screenwriters — Australians Dane Millerd and Ross Murray — will do his work and the story justice.

“I’m surprised it hasn’t been made into a film earlier,” he said. “You just want them to make a good film. I have read the first draft of the script and it’s faithful to the way I’ve written it.

“It’s been built around the tension of Price’s last few days. He knew she was trying to kill him. There was an inevitability about it.”

The film is expected to be released by early 2018.

Twitter: @ro_smith