EXCLUSIVE
Lilie James’ murderer Paul Thijssen only took his own life because he lost control of his evil plan after her violent death.
24-year-old Thijssen probably panicked in the hours after he killed Lilie and dumped her body in the bathroom of their school gym.
Criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro thinks he was ‘still trying to direct the game’.
“Narcissists generally don’t do that,” Dr. Watson-Munro said of his decision to commit suicide.
“Maybe he panicked (because) he knew the consequences of his actions. That feeling of ‘I’m going to prison for a very long time’. He’s not crazy.’
Thijssen had already completed the most shocking phases of his plan.
The St Andrew’s Cathedral School student turned hockey coach lived in a shared flat in Kensington in Sydney’s east with another St Andrew’s graduate and hockey player.
Thyssen drove about 2 miles in a white Lexus he borrowed to carry out the murder.
Lilie James’ killer Paul Thijssen only took his own life because he lost control of the evil plan he imposed on his young victim
The hockey coach had orchestrated his gruesome plan to kill Lilie James, possibly because she rejected him, and likely ended it because he feared prison.
Criminal psychologist Dr Tim Watson-Munro said narcissists did not usually take their lives, but Paul Thijssen (his remains are wheeled to a mortuary van last week) could not face his future as a convicted murderer
He was captured on CCTV buying the hammer at a hardware store not far from his home in Kensington.
He may have contacted Lilie James during the day, with whom he had a brief and secret relationship, which she probably tried to end.
Lilie was reportedly lured to the gymnasium at St. Andrew’s to return sports equipment to Paul Thijssen, then her ex-boyfriend, after a brief failed romance lasting about five weeks.
Dr. Watson-Munro said it would not have mattered to Thijssen and his controlling nature that Lilie, like her parents, would have been polite and unwilling to offend him by ending the relationship.
“I didn’t know her, although she was a sweet, gentle and kind person in every way,” he said, “but I don’t think your character matters that much when you get caught up with a toxic and controlling person. with a glass jaw.
‘Even if you are assertive, they try harder and become more aggressive, violent and threatening.
“The most dangerous moment is when you’re gone or about to leave and they’ve lost control of you because they can’t bear not being in control.
Paul Thijssen was ‘a toxic and controlling person with a glass jaw’ who ‘became more aggressive, violent and threatening’
Lilie James (pictured above as water polo coach) is said to have ‘had no idea of the danger she was in’ when she met Thijssen in the school gym
‘These types of men have a pattern of failed relationships with underlying misogyny and cannot deal with rejection.
“He is alleged to have lorded it over others, shown a high degree of narcissism towards others and attempted to sever (her) relationships and isolate the woman who will ultimately be tricked and become the controlled victim.”
Dr. Watson-Munro said 21-year-old Lilie James couldn’t have known what she was walking into when she innocently met Thijssen to return sporting goods.
‘He left with a gun, either to intimidate her into giving her ‘another chance’ or because he had murder in mind.
“I’m sure she didn’t realize how dangerous the situation was.”
Lilie James was kind, gentle and polite, just like her parents (above left, pictured with their daughter and son Max), but criminal psychologist Dr Tim Watson-Munro (right) said a narcissist like Thijssen would control everyone, no matter how shrill.
Paul Thijssen continued to control his diabolical scenario even after killing Mrs James, allegedly using her mobile phone to text the young woman’s father, Jamie James.
Ny Breaking Australia understands Thijssen posed as her to text Mr James and tell him she was at St Andrews school, perhaps to pick her up, although it is believed Ms James left her car that evening had parked on campus.
Thijssen then drove the borrowed white Lexus to Diamond Bay Reserve in Vaucluse, on Sydney’s east coast, where the surf pounded the rocks and temperatures dropped into the highs.
Dr. Watson-Munro said Thijssen was “at that location for a number of hours and used that time to cause even more destruction – he still believes he is in control.”
After leaving items used in Ms James’ murder in care or on the reserve, Thijssen reflected on his future, the likely prison sentence for his terrible actions and his future in Australia.
The Dutch national was not an Australian citizen and his third consecutive working holiday visa was soon to expire.
Police on the rocks below the Diamond Bay Reserve on the day Thijssen’s battered and bloated body was recovered and later identified at a Sydney mortuary
Paul Thijssen’s chaotic bedroom in his shared home in Kensington, where he left painkillers, a hockey shirt, sunglasses and a golf club
He called police four hours after Ms James was killed in the gym bathroom to let them know she was there, at around midnight from the Vaucluse reserve.
‘Informant says there’s a body in a bathroom to the right of the reception. Through the reception and to the left. The informant says he was there a few hours ago. Female body,” the operator explained.
Thijssen is believed to have confessed to killing Lilie and before police could trace and locate him, he plunged to his death from the cliffs above Diamond Bay.
On Thursday morning, as news of Ms James’ death emerged, NSW Police Air Wing vessels searched the sea from above, while emergency services searched the rocks below.
Police towed a white Lexus from the scene and said Paul Thijssen was still “wanted for questioning” over Ms James’ death, police said.
On the morning of Friday, October 27, a team of traders working on the Diamond Bay Walkway overlooking the coast below the reserve spotted a white object sinking over the rocks.
For hours, police in a boat and on a jet ski tried to recover Thijssen’s bloated and battered body from the foot of the cliffs, before collecting it in the afternoon and taking it to the road.
Killer Paul Thijssen’s parents, Esther and Stef (above with their son) have made the decision to have his remains cremated and distributed in Australia
“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.
Criminologist Dr Xanthe Mallett told Channel 7’s Sunrise program that Thijssen’s manipulation of the final stages of his murderous plan was another attempt at control before he decided to end his life.
‘He showed signs that he wanted Lilie to be found. That could indicate he was hoping someone would find her and, for example, call an ambulance,” Dr Mallett said.
‘It is also possible that he may have 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.’
It is understood that the hammer purchased by Paul Thijssen was not the one used to kill Mrs James, and police believe Thijssen had two hammers, the second of which may have come from a school store.
Paul Thijssen’s parents, Esther and Stef Thijssen, have decided not to return his remains to the Netherlands, but to have him cremated and his ashes scattered in Australia.
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