[Part 1 of 2]*** Content Warning: Sexual assault, gun violence, child victims ***The city of Perth in Western Australia is sometimes described as the most isolated city in the world. During the late 1950s, Perth’s idyllic beaches, laidback lifestyle and small town atmosphere made it feel like a safe, protected place to live. But that sense of safety would be abruptly shattered by a man who would come to be known as The Night Caller.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Erin MunroCreative direction – Milly RasoProduction and music – Mike MigasMusic – Andrew D.B. JoslynSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-307-the-night-caller-part-1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What is the historical context of Perth in the late 1950s?
The capital of the state of Western Australia, Perth, has long been referred to as the most isolated city in the world. While there is some debate as to whether this title is accurate, the fact remains that Perth is the only large city in a circuit of more than 2,000 kilometres.
It sits on the other side of the country to the more heavily populated eastern states, home to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and the next nearest capital city is South Australia's Adelaide, a 28-hour drive away. Perth is located in the lower western corner of the state and is adjacent to the Indian Ocean.
Another body of water, the Swan River, cuts through the middle of Perth, dividing the city in two with much of the central business district built up along its banks. East of the city is home to sprawling hills and parklands filled with native flora and iconic Australian bush,
Winters in Perth are mild, reaching a top temperature of 19 degrees Celsius on average, while the summers are renowned for their dry heat. In the warmer months, swimmers and surfers flock to Perth's coastline to enjoy popular beaches such as Cottesloe and Scarborough.
During the late 1950s, the city was home to about 388,000 people, but was rapidly growing due to a baby boom and post-World War II migration. Even as the city expanded and swelled, a sense of innocence remained. Nights were quieter. Strict licensing laws meant that pubs closed by 9pm.
Dance halls and concerts were a favourite weekend pastime for the city's youth, but they too were governed by restrictions that typically saw the entertainment wind down before midnight. Homes were kept unlocked with windows open even at night, drivers parked their cars with the keys in the ignition, and residents were never more than a couple of degrees of separation from one another.
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Chapter 2: How did the Night Caller first start his criminal activities?
However, this sense of security and safety that residents took for granted would be shaken and then irrevocably damaged as the city entered the 1960s. Under the cover of darkness, Perth was terrorised by an elusive figure, someone who would eventually be dubbed the Nightcaller. Towards the end of the 1950s, households throughout Perth experienced an uptick in burglaries.
Residents would return home from being away or wake in the morning to find that someone had been in their house overnight. cash that had been left lying around or stashed inside wallets and purses was missing. It could range from a few shillings to pound notes, as Australia was using the pound currency at the time.
Sometimes money was even missing from hiding places such as drawers or inside an ornamental vase. Small objects of varying value were also pocketed. Watches, pens, jewellery and even a torch were taken. More disturbingly, women had their underwear stolen.
Police reports were typically filed when the crimes were discovered, but officers were left stumped by the lack of fingerprints at any of the crime scenes. Other times, residents were entirely unaware that they'd had an intruder at all. Sometimes, so little of importance was taken that it was never missed or was assumed to have been misplaced.
These seemed like the crimes of an opportunistic offender seeking financial gain, taking advantage of the lax security measures in place. During this time, there were also sightings and reports of a prowler in central and southern Perth. A man was spotted lurking in the bushes, peeping in windows and loitering outside of apartment blocks.
Sometimes his footprints were discovered in garden beds the following morning. Occasionally, women's nightgowns and underwear left hanging on washing lines were found cut and slashed. No one could know that a single person was behind all of these crimes, which were typically written off as minor offences. There was seemingly nothing violent about them, but that would soon change.
The McLeod family lived in the riverside suburb of Applecross, close to Perth's CBD and just across the Swan River. In the early hours of Wednesday November 26 1958, Lucy and Earn McLeod were woken by a strange commotion in their bedroom. Their daughter, 15-year-old Molly, was wandering around the room, tripping over her own feet and retching as though she was going to vomit.
Molly rambled incoherently, clearly trying to tell her parents something, but she couldn't form the words to speak. Terrified, Lucy rushed to her child, who had been fine when she'd gone to bed the previous evening. Lucy and Earn repeatedly asked Molly what had happened, begging her to explain what was wrong. Molly was unable to answer and soon lost consciousness.
Her father carried her back to her room, which was a sleepout that adjoined the family's kitchen, and gently laid her in bed. Lucy kneeled beside Molly and held a set of rosary beads in her hand, praying repeatedly for her daughter's health. To her parents' relief, Molly regained consciousness, though she continued to moan and mumble without making any sense.
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Chapter 3: What was the impact of the Night Caller's crimes on the residents of Perth?
Penina often slept with the window open during the hot summer nights, but Fotis knew that she always made a point to close everything and lock up before heading to work. She was supposed to have a shift that day, so the apartment should have been secured. Fotis decided to investigate. Inside, he found Penina on the lounge room floor by the sliding glass doors. She was naked in a pool of blood.
She had been stabbed through the nose and in the heart with a knife. It appeared Penina had crawled to the doors in an attempt to escape, but hadn't survived. Nothing was missing from the apartment except for Penina's purse. The murder weapon wasn't recovered. The horrific murder sent shockwaves through Perth. Crimes like this were a rarity in the quiet city.
Fotis Hountas told police that when he left Penina's apartment, she had been naked in bed. It wasn't unusual for her to sleep naked in hot weather. Fotis quickly found himself the case's prime suspect, and the public agreed that he seemed suspicious. When Fotis left Perth to return to his birth country of Greece, their suspicions were all but confirmed. Penina's killer had gotten away.
Even though Penina lived on the same street where a 21-year-old teacher had been attacked in her own home just six weeks earlier, police didn't consider that her murder could be part of a larger picture. They reassured worried Perth residents, stating…
The public have no need to be feared from the activities of the person who killed Penina Berkman, and they can forget all about the existence of that person. Residents of Perth's western suburbs felt somewhat detached from the murder of Penina Berkman, as she had been living in South Perth.
Although that wasn't far in terms of distance, it almost felt like another world due to the Swan River providing a geographical buffer. Moreover, the inner western suburbs were an affluent and insular pocket that felt particularly safe with a tight-knit community. One of these wealthy suburbs was Nedlands, an attractive neighbourhood just 7 kilometres west of the CBD.
Dotted with nice houses and lots of parks, Nedlands was also close to the University of Western Australia. This made it a popular suburb for students who primarily lived in the area's apartment buildings. In August 1959, Alex Duncan was a first-year nursing student who was staying at her elder sister's flat in Netherlands.
Saturday August 8 was going to be a break from Alex's busy work and study schedule. Some friends from her hometown were visiting for the weekend and Alex was looking forward to seeing them. Alex and her friends spent the evening at a drive-in cinema, then headed back to Alex's flat to drink coffee and listen to records. At 12.45am, Alex's guests left and she got ready for bed.
A security-conscious person, Alex made sure to lock the front door and close all the windows. The exception was one narrow window in the kitchen which led to an outdoor landing. Because the window was so narrow, Alex felt comfortable leaving it slightly ajar while she slept. The following morning, Alex's friends from out of town headed over to her flat for a planned visit.
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Chapter 4: Who were some of the Night Caller's notable victims?
George and Hedley searched the apartment. Alex's pillow was drenched with blood and her purse was missing. She told George and Hedley that there had been six pounds inside the purse, but she struggled to answer other questions. When asked about the previous night, Alex said she'd woken up at 3.30am then fallen back asleep. She couldn't recall anything else.
George and Hedley couldn't see any sign of forced entry, but it was clear their friend had been attacked and robbed. They arranged to take Alex to the doctor. An examination revealed she also sustained a small fracture to the back of her skull. That plus the injury above her eye indicated she'd been hit twice.
The attack left Alex with the severe epilepsy that she would need to treat with medication for the rest of her life. She was unable to continue her studies or achieve her dream of becoming a nurse. Alex's uncle was a special investigator in the police's criminal investigation branch and the attack against his niece was taken very seriously.
Officers searched the apartment but found no fingerprints. A poker was missing from the fireplace, which they speculated could have been used to inflict Alex's injuries. They took note that the kitchen window was the only point of entry for an intruder. Yet, with no evidence leading to a specific person, there was little they could do.
Four months later residents of Perth were preparing for another sun-soaked summer. One week before Christmas on Saturday December 19, 22-year-old Gillian Brewer invited her fiancé over to her home in Brookwood Flats, a two-storey red brick apartment complex in the beachside suburb of Cottesloe.
Gillian was well known in Perth as a socialite and an heiress whose great-grandfather had founded the chocolate company McRobertson's Confectionery. After growing up in Melbourne and beginning a career in interior design, Gillian had flown west to Perth at the age of 21.
She was happy in her new city, settling into an apartment next door to her mother's and living with her small French poodle Dior for company. Gillian would be getting married in two months' time to her 31-year-old fiancé Andrew, not his real name. Andrew and Jillian spent that Saturday together before returning to her apartment for the evening.
Jillian's flat was on the ground floor and at the back of the complex. Andrew went home at around midnight, with the plan to play golf with Jillian the next day. At 9am, Andrew went to pick Jillian up and found her front door locked. This was unusual as she mostly kept it open when she was up. Andrew could see Jillian's poodle Dior jumping up and down frantically at the bedroom window.
Andrew had a key to Jillian's apartment in his car, so he went back to get it and then let himself in. The kitchen window was open and a breeze had blown some Christmas cards Jillian had out on display onto the floor. Unusually, the door to Jillian's bedroom was closed. Andrew had never seen it shut before.
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Chapter 5: How did the police and public respond to the Night Caller's crimes?
A journalist at the tabloid The Daily News also compared the crimes, pointing out the striking similarities between the women's living circumstances, their missing purses, and how their killers hadn't left a trace. But investigators firmly believed Penina had been killed by her boyfriend and that Jillian was attacked by a stranger.
Police looked into known sex offenders in the area as the injuries to Jillian's breasts and groin appeared to indicate a sexual motivation. It would turn out that over the past 11 months there had been 8 reports of a prowler lurking around the Brookwood flat. Someone had broken into apartments there and taken money, alcohol, and keys. One time a car was stolen.
A number of these reports were made by Jillian's mother, Betty, who lived in the flat next door to her daughter. Her first report came just three weeks after Penina Berkman's murder in January at the start of the year. If the murder of Penina Berkman shocked Perth months earlier, this second slaying left it reeling.
Not only was it another brutal killing in a city that saw few crimes of that nature, but Gillian Brewer's wealth and social status elevated the public's horror to new heights. Gillian had lived in Cottesloe, one of the affluent western suburbs that felt cushioned from Penina's murder. Residents who also lived in Perth's comfortable western enclave could relate to Gillian.
She was one of us, a community member later told filmmakers of the 2020 documentary series After the Night. As well as dominating the news cycle, Gillian's murder became the focus of many local conversations. The Brookwood flats where she'd lived and died were now a public spectacle, with parents driving their children past the building so they could stare at it through the car windows.
Even through their fear and anxiety, most Perth residents felt assured that police would soon catch the person responsible. They trusted law enforcement to complete a thorough investigation and keep the public safe. Despite their faith, weeks and then months passed with no arrest in the case. 1960 dawned and Perth welcomed another new year.
The city had continued to grow, both in size and population. Also on the increase was the number of break-ins and prowler encounters being reported to the police. Sometimes cars were stolen from driveways and garages. These were later found either abandoned somewhere else in the city or returned with a slightly emptier petrol tank.
Neighbourhoods all over Perth were being targeted, from south of the river suburbs like Como and South Perth, to those just north and west of the city. These crimes continued over the following years. Sometimes the same target was hit twice. In March 1961, a tin of silver coins was stolen from a residence in Swanbourne, close to Cottesloe Beach.
Two weeks later, a 24-year-old woman inside the same home was attacked by an intruder after she heard him break in. As she tried to phone for help, the intruder grabbed her by the throat and wrestled her to the floor. She briefly lost consciousness, then came to and managed to kick the man in the groin. He fled out the back door and the woman ran to the window to watch him go.
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Chapter 6: What evidence was found in the cases linked to the Night Caller?
The man punched her face before fleeing. Later that same night, another young woman in Cottesloe was woken by the same prowler. In addition to the handkerchief, he wore a hat and had leather gloves on his hands as well as what looked like a knuckle duster. He hit her over the head with the torch before punching above her eye. The woman screamed, which woke her parents as well as some neighbours.
By the time her parents reached her bedroom, the attacker had fled. It would later turn out that he had stolen cash from the young woman's purse. An internal police report on this latter attack noticed that over the past six months there had been a pattern of break and enters at homes in the area. Whoever was behind the break-ins was entering via unlocked doors and open windows.
The offender would steal cash and his crimes appeared to be escalating. Of late, these reports have become more frequent and some concern is being felt for the safety of women who are being disturbed by the offender after he has entered the premises and stolen what money he can find. One witness who saw the offender fleeing described him as being aged between 30 and 40 with a tan complexion.
His height was short at around 5 foot 9 and he had a thin to medium build. The offender wore a suit as well as a black felt hat with a wide brim and close-fitting white gloves. Sometimes his face was masked. He never left fingerprints behind and he never spoke.
The report was distributed to police patrols who were asked to be aware of the situation and told it was crucial that the offender be apprehended before his crimes escalated further. Perth's police had no idea just how far his crimes had already gone. In early 1963 Perth was experiencing another hot summer.
On Friday February 15, in the inner-city suburb of West Perth, two young women were busy polishing the floors of a flat they'd recently rented together. 24-year-old Constance Madrill, who went by her middle name Lucy, was a government-employed social worker. Her housemate Jennifer Hurst worked as a schoolteacher.
The two friends were happy with their new home, a two-bedroom flat inside a large house that had been converted into two apartments. Although the area had had issues with prowlers and break-ins, the property was situated on a busy road which made them feel safe. Plus, a family of three rented the other flat, so there was always someone nearby.
Lucy felt secure enough there that she kept the back door propped open at all times so that her Siamese cat could come and go. After the two women finished polishing the floors, they each retired to separate rooms to read for the rest of the night. Between 11 and 11.30pm, Lucy stopped by Jennifer's bedroom to say goodnight, now wearing a short blue nightie.
She then headed to her own room at the other end of the flat, near the back door. At around 1.30am, Jennifer got up to go to the toilet, which was at the rear of the property. On her way back to bed, she looked in on Lucy's room. Lucy was asleep on her bed, having pulled aside the top sheet and blanket due to the warm night.
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Chapter 7: What patterns emerged from the Night Caller's criminal activities?
He had dark hair underneath his brimmed hat, was short, and carried a leather suitcase. The man's most notable feature was his cleft lip and palate, a relatively common birth defect in which there is a split in an individual's upper lip. As the man calmly strolled in, he turned and looked blankly at one of Phyllis' sons who was playing nearby.
Then he put his bag down and started questioning Phyllis, first asking if her husband was home. Phyllis said yes, he was sitting in the lounge room. The man asked how many children the couple had, how old they were, and which schools they attended. Phyllis was terrified, but something told her that the best way to handle the situation was by remaining calm and unfazed.
She politely answered his questions. When she finished, the man picked up his bag again, turned and walked out of the house. Phyllis rushed to her husband to tell him what had happened and the couple ran to a window. The man was outside, casually walking down the street and disappearing around the corner like nothing unusual had happened.
Halfway through the year, on Saturday June 15 1963, 20-year-old Carmel Reid was going to a party. Carmel did clerical and statistical work at the University of Western Australia and didn't have many late nights out. But tonight was a special occasion. It was the 21st birthday of one of her closest friends.
Carmel had a fun night and was driven home at 2.20am by her friend's fiancé, who made sure she got into her home safely. Carmel had moved into her flat in Netherlands just one month earlier and was living there with two other young women.
One of them, who Carmel shared a room with, was staying with her boyfriend that night, while the other housemate was already fast asleep by the time Carmel got home. Carmel got ready for bed and checked all of the windows and doors were locked. There was just one window she didn't check. It was a small ventilator window located about five feet up the lounge room wall.
As it only measured two feet by one and a half feet, Carmel figured it was safe to leave slightly open. She climbed into bed at 2.45pm. Two hours later, she was abruptly awoken by a rustling sound coming from the dining room. Carmel's heart started to pound and she called out, Is anyone there? No reply came and the noise stopped. Carmel sat up in bed, listening carefully.
Then she saw the figure of a man appear in her doorway. He shone a bright torch into her eyes, blinding her as he walked into the room. Carmel hid under her bedsheets and screamed. In response, the man stabbed at her chest with a sharp object. Carmel's chest seared with pain and she rolled away to escape the barrage. She realised she needed to try to escape.
Carmel flung off her sheet and blanket, hoping to hit the man with them, then leapt out of bed and bolted for the door. It was dark and she couldn't see anything. Suddenly she felt a sharp, stinging sensation in her face. The man had hit her. Then he fled from the flat, dropping the object he'd stabbed Carmel with as he went.
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Chapter 8: Did the Night Caller's crimes escalate over time?
Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. On Saturday April 9 1960, a 20-year-old named Glenys Peake walked home from a night out at a dance. An almost full moon illuminated the night sky as Glennis walked alone in the suburb of Bayswater, six kilometres northeast of Perth's CBD.
Glennis kept to the right side of the road so she would be facing any oncoming traffic. It was after midnight and the streets were quiet. This area of Perth was sparsely populated with few houses and residents. Shortly into her walk, the headlights of a car appeared behind her. As it passed, Glennis took note of the make, a Holden sedan with a short-looking man behind the wheel.
The car kept driving and made a right turn further up the road, vanishing into the darkness. Glennis kept walking. When she reached the street the car had turned into, she noticed that the Holden was parked there with the driver still inside, facing her. Glenys was mildly puzzled by this.
As it happened, she had to go down the same street as the car to get home, only she was headed in the opposite direction. Glenys turned left onto the side street. She was just one block from her home. She walked in the middle of the street in order to see better, as the moon was no longer providing enough light and the bitumen was riddled with potholes.
All of a sudden, Glennis heard the roar of an engine as a car drove up behind her. It was the same Holden as before and it had veered into the wrong side of the road in order to head straight towards her. Glenys tried to jump out of the way, but the car hit her left hip as the driver struck Glenys from an angle so as to avoid a nearby tree.
She was tossed over the bonnet, cutting her face open on one of the windscreen wipers in the process. Glenys landed in some gravel and a broken glass by the side of the road. She lay there, shocked but conscious, as the car drove away. She knew the driver had run her down deliberately. Terrified he'd come back to finish the job, she scrambled to her feet and stumbled home.
Glennis was rushed to hospital where an assessment revealed that she hadn't broken any bones but she had a number of wounds that required stitches. Police officers paid a visit to the scene of the hit and run. Although Glenys had said she'd left her handbag lying there, it was missing. About a hundred metres from there was a clearly abandoned car.
It was a Holden sedan with the keys in the ignition. It had been stolen from the garage of a used car salesman who'd taken the Holden home from the dealership for the weekend. The attacker's fingerprints were nowhere to be found.
Just after 11pm on Friday May 13, one month after Glennis Peak's hit and run, 18-year-old Jill Connell was walking home from a bus stop in Belmont when she was deliberately run down by a driver in a green Morris Minor sedan. After being thrown onto the bonnet, Jill fell to the ground, sobbing. Meanwhile, the Morris Minor had gotten stuck in some sand that bordered the road.
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