Father of mass-murderer's kids: She deserves 'an eye for an eye'

The long-term partner of mass murderer Joanna Dennehy has said he believes she deserves to die for her crimes.

Dennehy, 31, from Peterborough, pleaded guilty to and ten-day killing spree last spring in which she murdered three men and attempted to kill another two.

John Treanor, the father of her two children, told ITV News that over the more than a decade he has known her she could be abusive, occasionally violent and often manipulative.

He said he was convinced she would be "top dog" in prison and that she deserved "an eye for an eye".

Treanor remembers the pair first started dating after Dennehy approached him while he was walking his dog.

He says the relationship was normal at first, with "dates to the cinema" or to get food, and presents for each other at Christmas.

While she could always "handle herself," Dennehy did not show any violent tendencies but she always had a manipulative streak. Treanor recalls: "She could literally put a grown man to tears with her mouth. The way she spoke to you, the way she could rip you to pieces."

After the birth of their first child, Dennehy began disappearing from the family home for long periods, often returning dirty and drink-addled.

Treanor says she would return for a dose of "normality" - dinner on the table and some clean clothes - but would soon grow bored and disappear again.

He says he didn't know what she got up to during these long absences but that there was talk of prison, spells in psychiatric wards and violence.

Treanor says he took on all of the day-to-day duties of caring for the family, while Dennehy's alcohol abuse made her a "menace" for the children to be around.

"She was turning up at the school with a carrier bag full of booze, paralytic at school, causing trouble".

Another time he found Dennehy with the kids "on this road ... her top off and her bra out ... apparently she was teaching her daughter and her friend to throw stones at cars".

The final straw came one evening when she appeared at the door with blood down her arms and legs.

"That was the end for me" Treanor said. He resigned himself to raising his children on his own and only heard from Dennehy in occasional letters.

Looking back, Treanor struggles to understand how she went from alcohol abuse and pub brawls to murdering three men.

But when the call from the police came, he admits he was "not really" surprised.

"We're nothing to do with what she's done," Treanor says firmly, although he feels for the families of Dennehy's three victims and worries about his kids growing up with the inevitable association.

One of Dennehy's favourite phrases stands out to him now: "She always used to tell me she'd be dead by the time she was 40. From the day I met her ... through the whole of the years she said that".