This article is a compilation of several articles previously written on Leonard Lawson all focusing on different aspects of his life, whether it be his time as a popular comic book artist, the censorship in the comic book industry of the era or the resulting criminal cases arising from Lawson terrible deeds. I have arranged and edited them to give a more encompassing story of the man who could’ve been Australia’s greatest comic artist to a man who died in prison of old age.
The articles are listed here for reference.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT ? Part 2
Lawson’s tale does not end well
On 24th of May 1961 Lawson was again a free man. He rented an apartment in Collaroy on the northern beaches and bought a car with money his mother gave him. Lawson had numerous sexual liaisons with women he met casually and prostitutes he picked up on the street. But they couldn’t satisfy his dark appetites, with the violent fantasies that had secretly sustained him in prison now increasingly occupying his mind.
Lawson had become a master manipulator, and as proved later, his mind had finally cracked.
Lawson roamed south, to Moss Vale, where on 20th June he went to the Church of England Grammar school and introduced himself to the headmistress, Miss Jean Turnbull. He was, he said, an author writing a St. Trinian’s-style novel and would love the opportunity to observe the girls. She invited him to lunch in the dining room and gave him a tour of the school. Lawson visited the school again once or twice, attending chapel and again lunching with the students.
JANE BOWER
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| Jane Bower |
At 5pm of Monday November 6, Lawson picked her up at the city art shop where she worked. They then collected her mother and Lawson drove them all back to the Bower house in Manly, where they shared an early dinner.
Trusted by the family, Lawson was allowed to take Jane to his apartment so he could again sketch her. There he made advances on her: but she rebuffed him.
But Lawson was prepared. Before bringing Jane back to his apartment he’d filled a sock with sand and readied pre-cut lengths of rope.
With Jane sitting on the lounge, Lawson went to the bedroom, got the sock and swung it hard into her head, knocking her out.
Lawson tied her wrists, took off her clothes and raped her. Seeing Jane was coming around, Lawson started to strangle her. When she struggled, he grabbed a hunting knife and plunged it into her chest. Using an eyebrow pencil, he wrote on her torso: “God forgive me, Len.”
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| TheAge 8-11-1961 |
About 9am at Sydney police headquarters, plans were being drawn up for a statewide search. But that wouldn’t be necessary. Within minutes, the fugitive’s whereabouts were known.
The previous night, Lawson had fled the Collaroy flat murder scene in his car. He’d driven south to Moss Vale, arriving around 2:30am, and parked on the side of the road and sat. He wrote a letter to his parents.
“Dear Mum and Dad,” it read. “I have done a shocking and dreadful thing. Whatever this monster that moves into my body is, it did it with a vengeance this time.”
He said he was sorry and that he was going to kill himself. But that wasn’t what he was going to do.
SCHOOL SHOOTING
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| The Age 8-11-1961 |
Just after 9am, 150 students, were in the school chapel, under the supervision of headmistress Jean Turnbull. Through the windows, some of the girls saw a man approaching across the lawn. Suddenly Leonard Lawson — the author they’d met months earlier — was in the doorway of the chapel brandishing a gun.
He told everyone to be quiet and to not move. “If anyone tries anything silly, one of the girls will be shot,” he said.
“What do you want?” asked Miss Turnbull.
“I’m going to hold the girls as hostages here until 12’o clock,” he said. “I have killed someone already and I want to speak to three people.”
Lawson allowed Miss Turnbull to return to the front of the chapel
and continue the service. To distract themselves from their terror, the girls sang hymns loudly.
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| SydnyMorningHerald 5 April 1961 |
Meanwhile, Lawson gave a piece of paper to another staff member, Miss Brooks, who left the chapel with it.
“To whom it may concern,” it said. “Read this carefully before any attempt is made to contact the police — lives depend on it. By now the police will be hunting me for murder so I am going to hold the girls as hostages for a few hours.”
He told police to obey his instructions and that if anyone came within 100 feet of the chapel, he’d shoot a girl.
“I am not bluffing — I have killed once, so now I have everything to gain and nothing to lose by killing more — it’s the same penalty I must face.”
Bizarrely, the three people he wanted to speak to were a nun who’d visited him in prison, reigning Miss Australia Tania Verstak, and Olympic athlete Marlene Mathews.
Meanwhile, Miss Turnbull surreptitiously wrote her own note and threw it out the window. “A man is holding us up in here with a shotgun,” she wrote. “Get lots of police — he is threatening to shoot the girls.”
Lawson was edgy, with the teachers and girls sure he was about to start shooting.
“If you are going to shoot, why not shoot me or one of the staff?” the headmistress asked. She was backed up by the old French teacher, Madame Sherman. “We have lived most of our lives,” she said. “They have most of their lives still to live.”
Police arrived and approached the chapel. Lawson saw them through the window.
“Here come the police,” he said, near the door. “Now I am going to shoot.”
Miss Turnbull jumped into action, grabbing the gun, trying to keep it aimed away from the students, some of who also rushed Lawson.
Lawson started firing.
Five shots rang out.
Miss Turnbull and Lawson fought for control of the rifle, while students grabbed at him. Seeing this through the chapel door’s glass panel, a police detective and constable tried to get inside. But Lawson had secured the door with a cord.
The police constable smashed the glass panel and Miss Turnbull managed to thrust the rifle barrel through the frame. The constable grabbed it and pulled the gun free. Now he and a detective burst in and subdued the still struggling Lawson.
Miss Turnbull had painful powder burns on both hands and a hole in her dress where a bullet had passed through the fabric. Fifteen-year-old Wendy Luscombe — a popular red-headed student — lay on the floor, hit in the chest by a bullet. She died in the arms of a friend, the bullet having passed through her heart.
BACK BEHIND BARS
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| Lawson on the way to Court 1962 |
When Leonard Lawson faced court in December 1961, charged with the murder of Jane Bower, he pleaded not guilty. Should the case against him fail, he’d then be tried for the death of Wendy Luscombe.
There was a delay while he was psychiatrically assessed. When the case resumed at Sydney’s Central Criminal Court in late February 1962, the only defence witness was a psychiatrist — and he testified that Lawson was sane when he killed the girl.
Lawson spoke to the court: “I can’t explain what made me do this terrible thing, because I don’t know.” He professed he was sorry.
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| SydneyMorningHerald 5-April 1962 |
In 1962 Miss Turnbull awarded an MBE for her bravery. The police who’d wrestled him also received commendations.
Back behind bars, Leonard Lawson again became a model prisoner.
