EXCLUSIVE
An eerie photo showing the inside of Paul Thijssen’s house just hours after he murdered Lilie James reveals his chaotic bedroom containing a pile of pills, a broken cupboard, half-used toilet roll and clothes strewn on the floor.
Thijssen, 24, moved into the cramped semi-detached in Kensington in southeastern Sydney in August with a young female flatmate and a fellow male hockey player.
Neighbours said the three flatmates were courteous but ‘kept to themselves’ and weren’t aware of Thijssen’s identity until the horrific events of the evening of October 25.
Last week, Ms James, 21, was found murdered in the gym of St Andrews Cathedral School where she worked as a water polo coach and is believed to have met and had a brief romance with Thijssen, a hockey coach.
Thijssen, a former St Andrews school graduate who grew up in the Netherlands, had been living in nearby Zetland before moving to the Kensington house.
Paul Thijssen’s bedroom, hours after he murdered Lilie James, contained a Dutch ‘Stag’ brand hockey shirt on top of a rolled-up doona, tablets including paracetamol and Nurofen and a men’ shaver on the bed. Thijssen moved into the house in August
His last known address before he did the unthinkable looked hastily abandoned following the tragedy.
A rolled-up doona, green and yellow shirt by Dutch hockey label Stag, packets of Panadol, Nurofen and Strepsils, an electric shaver, personal items in storage trays including sunglasses, a wrist-sized sweatband and a multi-task tool were dumped on the bed in the middle bedroom that was believed to have been occupied by Thijssen.
A bottle of air freshener sat propped above his bed and clothes were strewn around the room which also contained a flat-screen TV and white wardrobe with a broken door.
A yellow Spirax notebook was wedged underneath another storage box while the neighbouring living room and kitchen appeared more ordered.
There was toilet paper and tissues at arm’s reach, which combined with the presence of over-the-counter medications, indicates he may have been suffering from a cold.
Criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro said Thijssen’s untidy room was not necessarily indicative of a ‘shambolic state of mind’, and that the killer had instead showed order in committing his ghastly deed.
‘I don’t think his thinking was that shambolic. He planned it. I suspect he’s gone there with the weapon either to intimidate [Lilie James] or give her one more chance,’ Dr Watson-Munro said.
‘Which wasn’t going to work. He had murder on his mind. It’s a weird time to meet. It’s a weird venue to meet. I am sure she didn’t realise the danger of the situation.’
In the bedroom next door to Thijssen’s, where his male flatmate slept, the scene was much more ordered and tidy, with a work diary filled with tasks and items ticked off.
There were no entries after Wednesday October 25 – the day Ms James was murdered.
The 24-year-old was living at the Kensington address where detectives arrived last Friday to search following the recovery of Paul Thijssen’s (above) body from rocks at Vaucluse
Lilie James was found brutally murdered in the gym at St Andrews Cathedral School in the Sydney CBD
Paul Thijssen moved into this Kensington share house a few months before the tragic romance began with Lilie James at St Andrews school ending in her murder
Last Friday afternoon, the flatmate ushered in female detectives when they turned up with brown evidence bags to search the premises.
The sports physiology student has since left the house and is on leave from his job in the wake of Ms James’ murder and his flatmate’s death. There is no suggestion either of the flatmates were in any way involved in the death of Ms James.
A land and sea search was made on Thursday for Thijssen, who reportedly alerted police to Ms James’s death at about midnight from near the clifftops at Vaucluse.
On Friday morning, tradesmen working on the coastal Diamond Bay cliff walkway spotted a body wedged in the rocks below where it was believed to have washed up after Thijssen jumped from Diamond Bay reserve.
Paul Thijssen’s body is wheeled towards a mortuary van after being recovered from rocks below Diamond Bay reserve on Friday afternoon
Detectives enter Paul Thijssen’s share flat last Friday after his body was recovered from the rocks at Vaucluse about 36 hours after he is believed to have fallen to his death
Police and rescue officers recovered the battered and bloated remains on Friday afternoon and brought them up to be taken away by mortuary services.
The remains were later confirmed as those of Thijssen through fingerprint matching with records held at the Dutch embassy.
After police closed off the St Andrews Cathedral School late last week, principal Dr Julie McGonigle welcomed back traumatised students on Monday, holding a service in the cathedral.
Dr McGonigle then conducted counselling sessions for students who had been coached by both Ms James and Thijssen.
Ms James was described by St Andrews’ students as ‘lovely and kind’ despite descriptions of Thijssen as ‘arrogant’ and ‘weird’ and a ‘control freak’, two students who contacted defended him.
‘What he did was disgusting and unforgivable,’ one said, ‘and by no means am I trying to validate his actions [but he] was a caring, enthusiastic coach’.
Thijssen’s parents made the grim decision on Wednesday not to return his remains to their native Netherlands, and will instead have him cremated before scattering his ashes in Sydney.
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