David and Catherine Birnie
| David Birnie | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
David John Birnie 16 February 1951 |
| Died | 7 October 2005 (aged 54) Casuarina Prison in Casuarina, Western Australia |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Criminal penalty | Four terms of life imprisonment |
| Spouse(s) | Catherine Birnie (?–2005; his death) |
| Children | 1 |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 4 |
|
Span of killings
|
6 October 1986–5 November 1986 |
| Country | Australia |
| State(s) | Western Australia |
|
Date apprehended
|
November 1986 |
| Catherine Birnie | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Catherine Margaret Harrison 23 May 1951 |
| Criminal penalty | Four terms of life imprisonment |
| Spouse(s) | Donald McLaughlin (1971–?) David Birnie |
| Children | 7 (1 deceased) |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 4 |
| Country | Australia |
| State(s) | Western Australia |
|
Date apprehended
|
November 1986 |
Coordinates: 32°02′50″S 115°48′44″E / 32.047332°S 115.81212°E
David John Birnie (16 February 1951 – 7 October 2005) and Catherine Margaret Birnie (born 23 May 1951) were an Australian couple from Perth, Western Australia. They murdered four women ranging in age from 15 to 31 in their home in 1986, and attempted to murder a fifth. These crimes were referred to in the press as the Moorhouse murders, after the Birnies' address at 3 Moorhouse Street in Willagee, a suburb of Perth
David John Birnie was the eldest of five children. In his formative years, he lived in the semi-rural suburb of Wattle Grove, east of Perth.
School friends and parishioners from the Wattle Grove Baptist Church of the period remember the family as particularly dysfunctional. Rumours abounded about the family's promiscuity, alcoholism and that they engaged in incest.
When Birnie's parents had asked the local priest to conduct their wedding ceremony, he expressed concerns about them as individuals and as a potential couple, broadly stating that he felt theirs was a union that could never lead to any good; an unusual and seemingly unsuited pairing, the father was a man of very small stature and unattractive appearance, while the mother was known for her coarse manner, use of profanities and bad behaviour, often exchanging sexual favours with taxi drivers as payment for fares.
David Birnie's school friends also commented on the family home, stating that it was unkempt and filthy, with the family never having regular meals together. Nor were meals prepared for the children by their parents.
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