Killer Paul Thijssen carefully planned to murder Lilie James with a hammer in ‘a number of dry runs’ caught on CCTV outside the school bathroom where she died.
An inquest into the 21-year-old water polo coach’s death at Sydney’s St Andrew’s Cathedral School in October 2023 heard that Ms James’ estranged boyfriend killed her with ‘blunt force blows to the head’.
Describing the attack as ‘overkill’, counsel assisting the inquest, Jennifer Single said: ‘It was not a momentary loss of control. It was premeditated.’
Videos of Thijssen’s ‘murder rehearsals’ in areas outside the school’s bathroom will be shown at the inquest, which opened on Tuesday.
Thijssen, 24, stalked Ms James after she ended their brief-five week romance.
The inquest is also investigating the death of Thijssen, who the court heard was a compulsive liar who forged documents and stalked and threatened another girlfriend before Ms James.
A young woman identified only as Freya had a relationship with Thijssen which began in March 2021 but ended when he began stalking her social media accounts and turning up unannounced outside her work and home.
In December 2021, after returning to Australia from his native Netherlands, Thijssen went straight to see Freya. They went to church and afterwards visited a park, where he punched a tree close to her head.
An inquest into the deaths of murdered water polo coach Lilie James and her ex-boyfriend has commenced 18 months after their deaths
Two days after Ms James was murdered the body of 24-year-old hockey coach Paul Thijssen, with whom she had had been in a brief relationship, was found at Vaucluse
Ms James’ parents, Peta and Jamie, are pictured arriving at the NSW inquest on Tuesday
When asked why he did it, Thijssen said: ‘Because I can’t punch the one thing I want to.’
Days later, when Freya was at home and came downstairs at 6.25am, she looked outside a window and saw Thijssen in the laneway looking anxious, scared and angry.
Freya’s father Mark later told Thijssen to have no further contact with his daughter or they would take out an AVO against him.
The inquest also heard Thijssen’s lies about his studies and work.
He told everyone including his parents that he was studying a Masters of Teaching at Sydney University.
‘He was tight with money and blamed it on spending large sums on university study. None of this was true,’ Ms Single told the court. There was no record he was studying anywhere.
She also listed the forged documents that Thijssen made in his application for a third working holiday visa, which included a reference and payslips which purported to show his work at St Andrew’s.
He pretended he had worked as a ‘farmhand’ at Kirrikee, the school’s outdoor education facility in the Southern Highlands.
Ms James was found dead inside a gymnasium bathroom at St Andrew’s Cathedral School in the Sydney CBD on October 25, 2023. Students are pictured outside the school
The visa application was successful but when he murdered Ms James, Thijssen was running out of options because his visa was due to expire in February 2024 and he would have to leave Australia.
There was no option to apply for a fourth working visa, and his lie about studying for a Masters of Teaching was about to be exposed because he hadn’t studied and therefore wouldn’t be graduating.
Police discovered Ms James’ ‘unrecognisable’ body inside a gymnasium bathroom at the school on October 25, 2023. She had suffered serious head injuries.
The couple had agreed to meet to exchange belongings that evening after Ms James broke off their relationship.
Earlier, her father had received a text from Ms James’ phone requesting to be picked up from the school later that evening.
After her body was discovered, homicide detectives launched an immediate search for Thijssen along the coastline at Diamond Bay, Vaucluse and overlying cliffs.
Thijssen’s backpack was found in a rubbish bin on a street overlooking the bay at about 5pm that evening.
A hammer was discovered inside the backpack.
A white coffin containing the body of Ms James was carried into the Danebank Anglican School for Girls on Friday 17 November, 2023
Police retrieved Thijssen’s body about midday on Friday, October 27 after a tradesman spotted it wedged in rocks below the cliffs.
The inquiry is also expected to consider whether Thijssen’s death was self-inflicted and whether it could have been prevented.
It is also likely to study the role of technology in modern relationships, coercive control and the public’s perception of what that means and what it looks like.
Daily Mail Australia previously revealed St Andrew’s Cathedral School would play no official role as an ‘interested party’ at the coronial inquiry.
Principal Dr Julie McGonigle referred to the upcoming inquest in a Head of School newsletter late last year.
Dr McGonigle wrote that ‘at this stage, the State Coroner does not consider St Andrew’s Cathedral School to have sufficient interest in this matter to be considered an interested party, pursuant to the Coroners Act’.
The school confirmed at the time of Ms James’ death it knew of the relationship after both staff members from its sports department had made them aware of it.
Relationships were allowed between staff members, providing they followed protocol and notified the school.
St Andrews has since demolished the bathroom where Ms James’ body was found
In the wake of tragedy, the school made plans to create a permanent reminder of Ms James’ life in the form of a memorial or award which celebrated her memory.
The James family said in a statement: ‘We are devastated and heartbroken by the loss of our beautiful Lilie James.
‘She was vibrant, outgoing and very much loved by her friends and family.’
The school has demolished the bathroom where Ms James’ body was found.
It has since created a memorial of a framed wreath made from the ribbons attached to the mountains of flowers left outside the school.
On the first anniversary of Ms James’ death, students were given black armbands to wear in her memory at sporting events.
