Paul Charles Denyer (born 14 April 1972, known briefly as Paula whilst in prison)[1] is an Australian serial killer currently serving three consecutive sentences of life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 30 years[2] for the murders of three young women in Melbourne, in 1993.

[4][5] Later, during his imprisonment, when aged around 30, Denyer began identifying as a transgender woman, but was refused permission by prison authorities to wear make-up, receive sex reassignment surgery, or legally alter his name.

[2] In the 2022 Stan documentary No Mercy, No Remorse, presenter John Silvester (Senior Crime Reporter, The Age, Melbourne) states that Denyer has reverted to identifying as Paul.

[7][8] Paul Charles Denyer's parents, Anthony and Maureen, met and married in London in the early 1960s before migrating to Australia in 1965.

Denyer had difficulty fitting in among his peers in his new school, which led to problems with study and self-confidence that were worsened by significant weight gain during his teen years.

After leaving school, he had problems holding down jobs,[12] was fired seven times, and failed a physical when trying to enter Victoria Police.

[13] Denyer, in the years before the murders, started to stalk and attack a number of women in and around the Melbourne suburb of Frankston leading to several crimes during a five-month period in 1993.

[3] The first known incident attributed to Denyer occurred in February 1993, when Donna Vanes' Claude Street unit in Seaford was broken into.

[13] Written in the cats blood above a stove were the words "Donna you're dead"[14][15] In the bathroom, police found Vane's two kittens also with their throats cut floating in the bath.

[16] At approximately 7:00pm on the evening of Friday 11 June 1993, Stevens alighted a bus on Cranbourne Road, the closest stop to the home she was residing in on Paterson Avenue, Langwarrin, with her aunt and uncle.

Around 5:50pm, as she walked past Seaford North Reserve, she noticed a man loitering near the toilet block, and was attacked shortly after passing him.

Toth was dragged towards the unlit park, but broke free after Denyer held a gun to her head, but she quickly realised it was fake.

[14] That same night, the second murder victim, 22-year-old Deborah Fream who lived near Kananook Station, Seaford, was abducted in her car in the early evening.

On the afternoon of Monday 12 July, a farmer found Fream's partially covered body on Taylors Road, Carrum Downs.

On Friday 30 July, the third and final victim, 17-year-old schoolgirl Natalie Russell, was attacked while walking home from John Paul College.

[24] Leaving school early by herself, she took her usual short cut home to Frankston North, via a fenced walkway, now called Nat's Track in her memory,[22] which passes between two golf courses on Skye Road.

The murder of Stevens was the first incident to attract a large investigation, as did the disappearance of Fream, when a search was organised and scuba divers examined the Kananook Creek.

Her unlocked car was located by police the next day at nearby Madden Street, and forensics found traces of Fream's blood inside, alongside a new dent in the front, and the driver's seat pushed back.

[10] Denyer later explained how, at the milk bar, he had found her car unlocked, had climbed into the back seat, and had threatened her with the replica gun shortly after she drove from the store.

At 2:30pm, a postal worker saw a rusted yellow Toyota Corona without number plates parked near Nat's Track on Skye Road, with a man using binoculars, acting suspiciously inside.

Police responded, noted the registration label number, door-knocked a few nearby houses, but soon had to leave to attend to another call before the man returned.

[26] Police informed investigators of the registration details, which were quickly traced to the car's owner, Paul Charles Denyer.

[10] Psychologists and experts examined Denyer, noting a lack of emotion regarding the crimes, a single-minded desire to kill, and the unusual randomness by which victims were chosen, leading to a diagnosis of sadistic personality disorder but not legal insanity.

[2] In January 2004, after 10 years in jail, Denyer was the subject of a 7:30 Report titled "Murderer's sex change request sparks rights debate".

[27] In September 2004, news broke of a letter Denyer had sent to his estranged brother, who he had accused in his trial of sexually abusing him as a child, and sister-in-law who had re-emigrated to the UK.

The Parole Board notified the families of the victims, including Natalie Russell's father Brian, and Deborah Fream's son Jake.