Jean Lee (10 December 1919 – 19 February 1951) was an Australian murderer who, together with her lover Robert Clayton and accomplice Norman Andrews, was convicted for the 1949 killing of William 'Pop' Kent, an SP bookmaker from the Melbourne suburb of Carlton.

[10] In late 1943, towards the end of her period in Brisbane, Marjorie met a man named Morris Dias, described as "a superficially charming but vicious petty criminal".

[13] Marjorie worked in the Kings Cross and Darlinghurst areas of Sydney, with Dias as her protector or 'bludger' (Australian underworld slang for a person who lives on the earnings of a prostitute).

In August 1946, she got a job as a barmaid in the Liverpool Arms Hotel, at the corner of Pitt and King streets, and was working behind the bar during the day and in a brothel at night.

[2] Clayton had served in the Royal Australian Air Force as a stores clerk during the war, but he was subject to disciplinary action for frequent absences without leave and was dismissed from the service in January 1941.

[17] In April 1946, prior to meeting Lee, Clayton had been convicted of four charges of theft and one of false pretenses in the Sydney Central Criminal Court.

Even as she awaited execution, in her conversations with the prison matron, Lee spoke of "her Bobby" in eulogistic terms, contrasting him favourably with Brees and Dias.

[21][22] On 23 December Clayton, Lee[A], Bolger and a woman named Sylvia White were apprehended in a stolen motor vehicle outside Condobolin.

After Lee had enticed a prospective client into the car and gotten him into a sexually compromising position, Clayton would appear as the 'wronged husband' and, threatening "a sordid divorce action with the man as co-respondent", demand compensation.

[31][32] By early October 1949 Lee and Clayton had gathered £250 from prostitution and 'ginger' game scamming and they decided to travel to Melbourne for a working holiday during the spring racing fixtures.

[34] They initially booked into Carlyon's Hotel in Spencer-street and embarked on a round of attending race-meetings and nightclubs, punctuated by bouts of hard drinking.

[33] At the Werribee Cup race meeting on October 26 the couple met up with Norman Andrews, another Sydney criminal who Clayton had known from his stint in Long Bay.

[34] After Conole left, Clayton and Andrews also departed from the room for about twenty minutes, leaving Lee to try to gain access to the roll of banknotes in Kent's fob-pocket.

After Clayton and Andrews had walked slowly around the block, they knocked and entered the room where Kent was looking dishevelled and Lee was back on his lap.

Kent's thumbs were tied together with his shoe-laces and for about the next hour Clayton and Andrews tortured him, "ignoring his frantic pleas for mercy".

Deeply suspicious, Howard left the building by the backyard and walked down the lane and back into Dorrit-street to get a view of Kent's window facing the street.

Symons was a one-legged war veteran, so it was Howard that walked to the public phone in Lygon-street and called the Carlton police station.

[44] When detectives arrived at the scene of 'Pop' Kent's murder they immediately set about the task of assessing the situation, interviewing witnesses and searching for evidence to identify the perpetrators of the crime.

When detectives showed and read to Lee a statement made by Clayton, implicating her and Andrews in the murder, she "became unbalanced emotionally" and said "that if her lover wanted it that way, he could have it".

Afterwards she "recovered her original possession, and resumed her reticent attitude", denying any wrongdoing, and claiming she had made the statement to "get peace and quiet".

[52] The trial of Clayton, Andrews and Lee, charged with Kent's murder, commenced on Monday, 20 March 1950, in the Melbourne Criminal Court before Justice Gavan Duffy.

[54] When Clayton was asked why he had made a statement when first arrested implicating Lee, a person he claimed to love, in the murder, he replied, "I suppose I turned like yellow dog".

When Clayton was asked if he had anything to say as to why sentence of death should not be passed upon him, he advanced to the rail of the dock and shouted at the judge, "What I could say would fill a book", before turning to the jury and crying out, "You pack of idiots".

[57][58] On 19 May 1950 the Court of Criminal Appeal, by a majority decision, quashed the convictions of Lee, Clayton and Andrews and ordered a re-trial so that the admissibility of statements made to the police by the accused could be reviewed.

[60] On 12 December 1950 the State Cabinet of the Country Party government confirmed the sentence of death imposed on the three prisoners and a date was set for their executions.

On the following day a deputation of the Labor Women's Organising Committee met with the Victorian Premier, John McDonald, to protest against the decision, in particular seeking a reprieve for Lee.

[62] Lee received her last visit on the Saturday before her execution, when three friends from Sydney spent half an hour with her before flying back home.

[78][79] Albiston's verse novel became the basis of a musical, The Hanging of Jean Lee, with a score written by Australian composer Andree Greenwell.

[80] The ghost of Jean Lee, portrayed by Max Sharam, appears in the 2020 docudrama A Miscarriage of Justice, based on the hanging of Ronald Ryan.

[81] Jean Lee was featured in an episode entitled "Match Made For Murder" in Season 5 of the true crime television series Deadly Women, first aired in January 2012.