‘Notorious’ Berry Springs rapist and murderer Martin Leach’s letters handed to coroner for death in custody inquest

A coronial inquest will delve into the handwritten letters and notes of Martin Leach to explore the infamous killer’s state of mind in his final years behind bars.

Martin Leach stabbed and raped two teenage girls at Berry Springs on June 20, 1983.

A “notorious” rapist and murderer who became one of the Territory’s longest serving prisoners died after refusing his heart medication and demanding he should not be resuscitated.

On Thursday, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage held a directions hearing into the mandatory death in custody inquest of Martin Leach, the infamous Berry Springs double-murderer.

Counsel assisting the coroner Chrissy McConnel said the 65-year-old prisoner died in a hospice on August 3, 2024, after serving 40-years of his life in a cell.

Ms McConnell said the “notorious” prisoner was imprisoned in 1984 for the rape and murder of two cousins, 18-year-old Janice Carnegie and 15-year-old Charmaine Aviet.

On June 20, 1983 the two teenage girls were soaking in the beauty of Berry Springs pool, completely unaware they were being watched by their killer.

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

Leach told police he was “no longer in control” of his actions as he went to his motorbike and pulled out a fishing knife, before returning to the pool to drag away the young women.

The then 24-year-old used the young women’s own clothes to bind and gag them before he raped and killed them.

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

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

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

Leach was one of the few prisoners who was excluded from 2003 sentencing reforms, which allowed people facing indefinite life sentences to be granted a 20-year non-parole period.

Ms McConnel said given Leach was sentenced to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole: “he was always going to die in custody”.

On Thursday, Ms Armitage said given his four decades behind bars, Health and the Corrections Department documents could be limited to Leach’s final few years in prison.

Ms McConnel told Ms Armitage despite Leach having known cardiac issues he stopped taking his medication, and issued a “do not resuscitate” order as part of his Advanced Personal Plan.

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.

She said the inquest could access the “large volumes” of letters and notes he had written while in a cell, granting access to the infamous killer’s state of mind.

In a 2004 court affidavit Leach said no punishment imposed by a court could rival his own guilt and conscience, saying the death penalty was more humane than a life in a Territory cell.

“Irrespective of whether I am in a prison cell, or granted the limited freedom of parole, the greater punishment will always come from within myself,” the ageing killer said.

“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.

“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.”