In late 2023, Sydney was reeling from the brutal murder of a young woman, Lilie James, by a fellow sports coach she’d been dating, Paul Thijssen, in the St Andrew’s Cathedral School gym. After he killed her, he killed himself.

From the first, evidence pointed to intimate partner homicide. An investigation confirmed it; furious at being rejected, he stalked James and meticulously planned her death , while still pretending to be her friend. Until her very last moment, she had no hint of his monstrous intent. And she wasn’t the first to have experienced Thijssen’s menacing control .

Young women saw themselves in James’ vulnerability and guilelessness. Clare Walker was among the strangers who grieved for her. They had much in common; they were both working at Sydney Anglican schools, onl

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