Nat Barr’s agonising question about Lilie James’ killer – after his text message to her dad is revealed

Sunrise presenter Nat Barr has raised chilling questions following the tragic death of Lilie James.

Paul Thijssen, 24, allegedly bludgeoned Ms James, 21, to death with a hammer in the gym bathroom at St Andrew’s Cathedral School in Sydney’s CBD last Wednesday after recently ending their brief relationship.

After Thijssen murdered his ex-girlfriend, it is believed he then used Ms James’ phone and pretended to be her to text her father Jamie telling him to come pick her up from the school where she worked as water polo coach, Seven. News reported.

Thijssen later called police to confess before plunging to his death from the cliffs above Diamond Bay in the Vaucluse in Sydney’s east.

After new details about the text came to light, Barr had a painful question for internationally renowned criminologist Xanthe Mallett.

“Why do you think Paul Thijssen sent a message to Lilie James’ father after he allegedly killed her?” she asked.

“The only reason I can think of that he would have sent that message was to allow the father to go to school,” Dr Mallett said.

Jamie James (pictured with his family) received a text message from his daughter Lilie’s phone after she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend

“Basically he was hoping that the father would find Lilie, or that he would be there when the police found Lilie, because he called them.”

‘He showed signs that he wanted Lilie to be found. I don’t know exactly at what point Lily died.

‘That could indicate that he hoped someone would find her and, for example, call an ambulance.

‘It is also possible that he wanted to change the time at which police thought she had died by sending the messages about her life to her father and later calling the police.’

Barr also questioned whether Lilie’s father would also have been in danger if he had gone to the school after receiving the text message.

“Potentially,” Dr. Mallett replied.

‘I don’t know exactly when he (Thijssen) left the scene, but he was there, he had a weapon and he clearly committed a very violent act, so anyone who attended the scene could have been in danger.’

Nat Barr (left) wondered if Lillie James’ father would have been in danger if he had gone to school after receiving a text message on his daughter’s phone

Paul Thijssen (pictured) murdered his ex-girlfriend Lilie James and then used her phone to send her father Jamie a text message telling him to come pick her up from school

Barr noted that many unanswered questions remain at the end of the segment.

“It’s just a horrible story,” she said.

Police divers recovered Thijssen’s bloated and battered body from the rocks below after it was spotted by tradies working nearby on Friday morning.

His high-profile parents, Esther and Stef Thijssen, now face an agonizing decision about what to do with their only child’s funeral arrangements.

It is not yet clear whether they will fly to Australia to hold a service in Sydney or arrange for their son’s body to be airlifted back to his native Netherlands.

The family first arrived in Australia in 2015 when his father moved to Sydney for work. Thijssen attended St Andrew’s for two years before graduating in 2017.

Many unanswered questions about the tragic death of Lilie James (photo)

He reportedly continued in a paid role in ‘Year 13’ at the school, helping out in the school’s sports department, before returning to the Netherlands with his parents.

However, he later returned to Australia to rejoin St Andrew’s sporting department and moved in with a friend in a house in Kensington, in Sydney’s east.

He also joined the UNSW SL3 ‘Whalies’ men’s hockey team in 2020, where he was a regular first-team player and featured in promotions for the team’s matches.

The whirlwind romance with Ms James is said to have started five weeks ago, around the same time his side lost the Sydney League grand final on September 9.

But the relationship was short-lived and he allegedly confronted her on Wednesday night as she was returning sports equipment to the school gym after calling things off.

Lilie James, 21, was a water polo coach at St Andrew’s Cathedral School in Sydney’s CBD

Students and staff at St Andrew’s Cathedral School laid flowers and hugged each other on Monday after pupils returned to school for the first time