‘Dry runs’ ahead of murder of elite school coach Lilie James
Paul Thijssen, the killer of his 21-year-old ex-girlfriend, ‘rehearsed’ the crime; he had also stalked his former partners, a coronial inquest has heard.
Paul Thijssen planned and rehearsed the murder of 21-year-old Lilie James at St Andrew’s Cathedral School in the Sydney CBD after she ended their relationship – but she wasn’t the first woman he had stalked and intimidated.
Thijssen had tracked the phone and hacked into the Snapchat account of a previous girlfriend he had met at the private school, terrifying her after turning up at her home and staring through a window.
On Tuesday, NSW Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan began a quest to understand what led Thijssen to bash James to death with a hammer in the bathroom of the school where they both worked as sports coaches.
The court heard how Thijssen had been agitated by James’s contact with a former boyfriend, and how he had routinely lied to friends, colleagues and family about being in Australia to study, at one stage forging documents he submitted to Home Affairs.
Thijssen, 24, committed suicide shortly after beating the young woman to death with a hammer in an act of “overkill” at St Andrew’s Cathedral School on October 25, 2023.
“Paul stalked Lilie. Paul carefully planned his attack, and … in the hours before the attack, he rehearsed the attack, making a number of dry runs,” said Jennifer Single SC, appearing as independent counsel assisting the coroner.
“The preparation was calculated. It was not a momentary loss of control.
“It was a premeditated killing.”
Thijssen’s body was dredged from the water at Vaucluse in Sydney’s east and identified two days later.
James had been a water polo coach at St Andrew’s, balancing work alongside studying sports business at the University of Technology Sydney.
October 25
A trove of CCTV footage shows Thijssen allegedly planning out the murder between meals and casual conversations with staff and students before killing James.
The day of the murder was painstakingly choreographed by Thijssen, the court heard, and meticulously documented by investigators in the year and a half afterwards.
It marked the culmination of days of alleged stalking, preparation and heated arguments.
He is seen shoving open different bathroom doors three times and appears calm as he does this, making a phone call on one occasion and joking with other staff members after another. Across these attempts, he practices different stances, changing the arm used to push the door open.
That afternoon he is seen retrieving a “cleaning in progress” sign from another part of the school, with which he blocks off one of the bathrooms.
Ms Single argued this was an indication he had decided on his intended murder site and blocked the other bathroom to funnel James into place.
Tuesday’s proceedings ended at this point, with the remaining footage from October 25 to be shown on Wednesday.
It was established that after the murder, Thijssen drove to Vaucluse, called triple-zero and tipped them off on where to find James’s body.
‘Didn’t feel safe’
The pair began a sexual relationship in July 2023, which evolved and became common knowledge to their friends and fellow staff by August and September.
Although they worked together throughout 2023, the relationship informally began at a formal dinner party at Doltone House in Sydney’s centre, where James and Thijssen were pictured together. Standing beside each other, he was dressed in a white buttoned shirt, she wore a gold dress.
James had just broken up with a long-term boyfriend and was looking for something “not so serious”. Records of their full communications are limited, as police believe Thijssen disposed of his phone and James’s phones, “taking them with him over the cliff at Diamond Bay”.
At this stage, it is alleged Thijssen said he “wouldn’t go for her” and found her “annoying’. They had agreed to cut their relationship off by the end of the school term in December.
On one occasion, they travelled together to Diamond Bay, where Thijssen would eventually kill himself.
In early October, Thijssen travelled to Bali to visit a friend from The Netherlands and attend a wedding, the court heard. While he was away, James is said to have reconnected with her former boyfriend, which angered Thijssen.
He told James he had also slept with someone while he was away, and they agreed their relationship was not exclusive.
However, Ms Single contended that in conversations with his friends outside Australia, Thijssen misportrayed their relationship as far more serious.
On October 19, when James and Thijssen were both on-shift at St Andrews, an argument between the two became physical. CCTV footage showed him grabbing her by the shoulders, and a few minutes later pushing her, cornering her between a wall and sliding door, obstructing the exit. The argument ended when a student passed them.
That night, Thijssen’s bank records indicate he made a payment to pornography subscription service OnlyFans.
He routinely purchased pornography after altercations with James, including on the night before her murder and his suicide.
Two days later, on October 21, James went to a party with her former boyfriend. They kissed and agreed to meet up on the 25th.
She is alleged to have told him “she didn’t feel safe with (Thijssen) and (was) a bit weirded out by him”.
Thijssen was aware James would be at the party with her ex. He “kept checking Lilie’s location on Snapchat” and “kept making comments about her”, Ms Single said.
He had agreed to pick James and her friends up from the party, but waited outside for an hour after he was told James and her ex were together, the court heard. For the rest of the drive, he “appeared annoyed, sour and very quiet”.
After the party, James made it clear she was considering ending their relationship entirely, telling friends she did not want it to continue sexually.
Past relationship
Thijssen allegedly told friends he was not worried by the state of their relationship and the “ball was in Lilie’s court”. However, over the next four days he allegedly began to stalk James, taking out a hire car that he repeatedly drove to her family home, and on one occasion to the train station from which she made her commute to and from work.
He is alleged to have stalked her seven times, often taking photos to catalogue the cars coming and going from her family home. He would annotate these images, saving them on a second phone. Digital records indicate this phone was first falsely labelled under the name of James’s ex, before it was changed to “Lilie’s phone”.
The purpose of falsely naming the device on which he kept the hidden images is unclear, the court heard.
It continued a pattern of alleged behaviour from a prior relationship beginning in 2021 with a former St Andrew’s student, Freya, which deteriorated to stalking and intimidation by its end.
Thijssen would track her phone. When they were dating long-distance, with Thijssen back in The Netherlands, he would order gifts to her home, regularly couriering gelato over Uber Eats so he could “know where Freya was, and (that) she had to be present to receive it, otherwise it would have melted”, Ms Single submitted.
“Paul continued to attend Freya’s church, remotely by video,” she said. “On arriving home, he told his parents he wanted to marry Freya, and he told Freya this. His parents did not think it was a good idea.
“Freya made it clear to Paul that she was not going to have sex before marriage. At times, this caused arguments, although Paul also told Freya he had not had sex before.”
Their relationship strained, and he pressured her to travel to The Netherlands to meet him, but she was reluctant to do so.
In December 2021, she changed her Facebook profile photo, removing Thijssen from it.
“Paul called her and was angry. He told her he was coming to Australia. The records show he obtained a visa to travel to Australia that day. Freya was concerned, and blocked Paul on social media,” Ms Single said.
“However, Paul hacked into her Snapchat account as he knew her password so he could continue messaging her.
“She first became aware when Paul turned up unannounced at her church service the following day. He asked her to go to coffee with him. After having coffee, Paul and Freya went to a park where Freya told him she did not want to be with him anymore.
“In response, Paul punched the leaves and branches of the tree quite close to Freya’s head.”
When she asked him why he’d done that, he said: “Because I can’t punch the one thing I want to.”
Thijssen allegedly continued to stalk Freya. Two days after their break-up on December 18, he was allegedly seen outside her home, and at 6.25am on the 21st, Freya “went down to get a glass of water … looked out the window and saw Paul’s face looking at her from the laneway”.
“She screamed and told her father. He went outside, followed Paul through the street and told him to get away and have nothing else to do with Freya,” Ms Single said.
The family threatened him with an apprehended violence order.
Ms Single said police found a bundle of handmade vouchers at the site of Thijssen’s suicide.
Scattered 10m from his backpack, the booklet had been a gift from Freya to Paul ahead of their anniversary, which he had held on to for years after the relationship ended.
“Paul still had these vouchers almost two years after the relationship with Freya ended. In this time, Paul had moved back to The Netherlands and then back to Australia. It could be inferred that he took these with him each time he moved,” Ms Single said.
“That they were found 10m away from the backpack leads to the inference that Paul had taken them out of his backpack and had been looking at them prior to his death. We submit there is an inference that these have special significance for him.”
Pattern of behaviour
For the entirety of Thijssen and James’s brief relationship, and for months prior, Thijssen was alleged to be speaking to another woman – Madeleine.
“In late February or early March 2023, Paul had met a girl called Madeline when she started playing hockey with the UNSW hockey club,” Ms Single said.
“Madeline … developed a bit of a crush on Paul … Some of Paul’s messages or actions could be interpreted as flirting.
“Paul continued contact with Madeline during his relationship (with Lilie James), including significantly on the weekend prior to his death. It appears that Madeline was unaware of Lilie. At no stage did Madeleine understand Paul was in a relationship with anyone.”
He is alleged to have told Madeleine he was “sleeping alone” and at one stage bought her flowers.
It underlined a pattern of alleged serial dishonesty in all aspects of life. When Thijssen was caught by James making a fake Snapchat account impersonating Madeleine, he argued it was in fact him who was being stalked by Madeleine, according to fellow St Andrews staff.
On one occasion he shared a private photo of James without her consent, which Ms Single said constituted image-based sexual abuse.
He told his family, friends and colleagues he was studying a masters in teaching at UTS, and was on a student visa. There is no record that this was true, and Home Affairs confirmed he travelled to Australia on a series of working holiday visas.
When he was attempting to have his visa renewed, he allegedly forged documents under the St Andrews letterhead embellishing his work responsibilities and qualifications.
The inquest is set to run until Thursday, with eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant to give evidence on the role of technology in domestic abuse and coercive control.
• National Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence Counselling Service 24-hour helpline 1800 RESPECT or 1800 737 732 Lifeline 13 11 14
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