John Lynch (serial killer)
| John Lynch | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1813 Cavan, Ireland |
| Died | 22 April 1842 (aged 28) Berrima, New South Wales, Australia |
| Cause of death | Hanged |
| Other names | The Berrima Axe Murderer |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 10 |
|
Span of killings
|
1835–1841 |
| Country | Australia |
| State(s) | New South Wales |
|
Date apprehended
|
21 February 1841 |
John Lynch (1813 – 22 April 1842) was an Irish-born Australian serial killer, convicted for the murder of Kearns Landregan, but is believed to have killed 10 people in the Berrima area of New South Wales from 1835 to 1841. Possibly the worst serial killer in Australian history, Lynch was a bushranger who murdered and robbed cattle herders and laborers in the trails around Berima.
Lynch was sentenced to death, and was executed in 1842.
John Lynch was born in 1813 in Cavan, Ireland. In 1830, he was convicted of false pretences in Cavan, and two years later he was sentenced to penal transportation to Australia. Lynch, at 19-years-old, left Ireland on the ship Dunvegan Castle II, on 1 July 1832 sailing from Dublin to New South Wales. On 16 October 1832, the ship docked at Port Jackson and Lynch was billeted out to Berrima, a village founded that year and located in the southern highlands of New South Wales, roughly 130 kilometres from Sydney.
Lynch was a small but solidly-built man at just 5’3” in height, and worked as a convict labourer on various farms before joining a gang of bushrangers. An 1835 incident saw him and two others convicted for the killing of Tom Smythe, after Smythe had given evidence against Lynch's gang. Despite his admission to the crime the jury did not believe him and set him free, while the other two were hanged.
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