By Jordan Baker
On the day Paul Thijssen killed Lilie James in a St Andrew’s Cathedral School bathroom, he rehearsed his sudden lunge towards the toilet door, and went home to fetch a hammer. In between, he accompanied James and another school sports coach colleague to a costume shop, where they both bought costumes for a Halloween party.
The colleague said “Lilie and Paul were communicating normally”, counsel assisting an inquest into James’ death told the NSW Coroner. Footage shows James holding a red devil’s pitchfork. The three also visited a chemist later that day, laughing and joking. He did not betray a hint of his intentions. In a matter of hours, James would be dead.
The body of Lilie James was found at St Andrew’s Cathedral School, Sydney.Credit: Facebook
On the Friday night before he killed her, James told Thijssen she wanted to end their casual relationship. She reiterated it on Monday. They were seen having a few intense discussions in the following days; he said some harsh words, for which he apologised. She had no indication there was much amiss, beyond desire for closure and some hurt feelings.
She didn’t know that in the five days before her murder, he’d driven to her house and sat outside it seven separate times, mostly late at night. He’d taken photos of the cars around her home, and made notes about who owned them – one of them her brother’s, the other a James family sedan. One afternoon he spied on her as she left the train station.
He’d also popped out from work to visit a Mitre 10 store, wearing his St Andrews shirt, where he purchased a hammer for $15.80, and duct tape for $18.90. He tested the weight of the hammers. The night before the murder, he visited Diamond Reserve at Vaucluse. He’d spent a relaxed afternoon there with James in happier times. The following night, after he killed her, he would jump off its cliffs.
On the day he killed James – Wednesday, October 25, 2023 – Thijssen came to work at St Andrew’s as usual. So did she. The two sports coaches interacted normally, colleagues said. He appeared to have no hard feelings. They only noticed he was out of sorts about a mix-up with some sports stats – which, he told colleagues, upset him more than the split with James.
Paul Thijssen killed his colleague and former girlfriend Lilie James.Credit: LinkedIn
But three times that day, CCTV recorded him going to the bathrooms next to the gym and practising lunging at the doors of two of them, a disabled and an adult toilet.
He tried different angles, with different hands outstretched. Late in the day, he put a cleaning sign in front of the adult’s bathroom. The inference, said council assisting the coroner, Jennifer Single, SC, is that he wanted to force James to use the disabled bathroom to get changed after water polo because “Paul had at this stage decided to attack Lilie in bathroom one”, she said.
CCTV also tracked Thijssen travelling home to Kensington at about 4pm that afternoon, where police believe he fetched a hammer from his flatmate’s toolkit. James was killed with a hammer, although it was never found. He didn’t use the one he bought from Mitre 10. It was among the 76 different hammers later found by investigators at St Andrew’s.
There was one moment that day when a mutual friend felt something was amiss. She was walking through Sydney Square, outside the school, and saw Thijssen and James at an outdoor table. He was staring “very intently at her, with one hand on her knee”, and his facial expression was “ice-cold, and angry”, Single quoted her as saying.
A floral tribute outside St Andrew’s Cathedral School in memory of Lilie James shortly after her death.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
The woman was “confused and worried about what was happening. I saw Lilie had her face down on the ground and was crying, and not looking at Paul. I remember feeling scared at the time, I remember thinking his demeanour was unusual … I still regret not persisting with it to this day.”
The inquest heard that James and Thijssen had begun a casual relationship a few months earlier, but it had become strained after she spent time with another man and had contact with her former boyfriend, Lachlan. Thijssen was paranoid that James would spend time with her ex at a 21st party on the Friday night before she died, and became “sour” when he learnt she did.
She told Lachlan that night that she “didn’t feel safe with [Thijssen], and [was] a bit ‘weirded out’ by him,” Single quoted him as recalling. She told Lachlan she “wanted to cut things off with [Thijssen], and make it a complete break”. James and Lachlan were going to discuss it further the following Wednesday night.
Paul Thijssen’s body was found off the cliffs at Diamond Bay, Vaucluse.Credit: Janie Barrett
But they never got the chance. That was the night Thijssen killed her.
James and Thijssen argued after the party that Friday night. It was then that James said she wanted to end the casual relationship.
“Following the argument, and then Paul finding out that Lilie had spent time with her ex at the party on Friday night, the evidence indicates that Paul started exhibiting extremely concerning behaviour,” said Single.
Jamie and Peta James, parents of Lilie James, arrive at the NSW Coroners Court for her inquest.Credit: Janie Barrett
“We will never know when Paul decided he was going to kill Lilie, or himself, however his behaviour from the Saturday forms a course of conduct that culminated in the homicide.”
Most of Thijssen’s behaviour on the day of the murder was caught on CCTV, either at the school, or at shops, or when he made a trip to the car park where James usually parked her car. In the preceding days he used a share car, which is owned and monitored by the company Go Get, to travel to her house and repeatedly sit in front of it.
He seemed unfazed by the fact that his movements would be recorded. “This shows the brazen nature of Paul’s preparations that day,” Single said. “Paul has taken no steps at any time to conceal himself. He must have been aware of the CCTV cameras. At times, Paul appears to look up and directly at the cameras.”
The inquest also heard Thijssen had spied on a former girlfriend, who felt suffocated and controlled by him, forged his application for a working visa to the Department of Home Affairs, lied about doing a master’s in teaching, and made up a false Snapchat profile to pretend to colleagues that another woman was stalking him.
Lilie James with father Jamie, mum Peta, and brother Max.
James’ parents attended the inquest. Thijssen’s did not, but gave statements to the Crown solicitors. No third parties were represented at the hearing, although St Andrew’s Cathedral School indicated it would oppose any attempt to publish CCTV footage from it grounds, citing security concerns about their layout and potential identification of students.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
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