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U.K. Woman Sentenced to Life in Jail for 'Sadistic' Murders

<p>Joanna Dennehy laughed in the dock as the judge handed down his life sentence.</p>
Image: Joanna Dennehy
Joanna Dennehy, 31, from Bifield, Peterborough, pleaded guilty to murdering three men whose bodies were found in ditches in Cambridgeshire.Rex Features via AP

A British serial killer was sentenced Friday to serve her whole life in prison for the "sadistic" murder of three men carried out "for fun."

Joanna Dennehy, a 31-year-old with a distinctive star tattoo on her cheek, laughed as she was sentenced to a whole-life prison term for the killings at London's Old Bailey court, NBC News' U.K. partner ITV News reported.

The murders of Lukasz Slaboszewski, 31, Kevin Lee, 48, and John Chapman, 56, were described in court as "blood thirsty" and were carried out across a 10-day period in the English city of Peterborough in March last year.

Image: Joanna Dennehy
Joanna Dennehy, 31, from Bifield, Peterborough, pleaded guilty to murdering three men whose bodies were found in ditches in Cambridgeshire.Rex Features via AP

Dennehy was arrested after detectives launched a nationwide manhunt following the discovery of three bodies in ditches in rural Cambridgeshire. She also attempted to murder two dog walkers.

Judge Justice Spencer told Dennehy in court on Friday: "You claim to feel remorse for those attacks but I have no hesitation in rejecting that. You are a cruel, calculating, selfish and manipulative serial killer."

Sentenced at a separate trial was Dennehy's accomplice, a 7-foot-2-inch man known as Gary Stretch. Stretch, 47, formerly known as Gary Richards, was convicted of three counts of preventing lawful and decent burial and two attempted murders.

Image: From left: Victims John Chapman, Lukasz Slaboszewski and Kevin Lee.
Victims John Chapman, Lukasz Slaboszewski and Kevin Lee.Rex Features via AP