Don't Ever Call Me Helpless. Ruth Wykes

the rope around Susannah's neck. He looked at Catherine and said: 'Prove you love me.'

      Without any hesitation Catherine Birnie strangled Susannah Candy to death.

      After Catherine Birnie strangled the young girl the couple bundled her into their car and drove her to Gleneagle Forest, where they buried her not far from where they had buried Mary Neilson two weeks earlier.

      While being held captive Susannah had been forced to write two letters to her worried parents. In those letters she explained that she was writing to assure them that she was okay, that she just needed some time out to sort through her problems. The letters were sent almost two weeks apart; one posted in Perth and the other from Fremantle. It didn't convince her family; if anything it made them more worried than ever that something terrible had happened.

      Susannah's worried family reported her missing to the police. According to a neighbour of the Candy family:

      I heard first-hand the appalling treatment that her parents received at the hands of police. They accused the missing 15 year old, a straight A student with no problems and good references, of variously being a runaway, a prostitute, troubled, drug addled and attention-seeking.

      All this in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary from fellow students, teachers, the parents, various teen counsellors and her neighbours. The police, either too incompetent or too shiftless to act, upped the ante against the teenager, accusing her of being an accomplished scammer and liar, experienced in hiding aberrant behaviour behind an angelic facade.

      In fact, this poor young child was an innocent teenager, being brutally assaulted, and latterly murdered, by the Birnies.

      This second-hand account, while perhaps an overstatement in some ways, offers insight into how the police were approaching the reports of the missing women at the time. There had been no bodies found at this stage, and only one other person missing. The only 'evidence' available to police at the time was that Susannah had 'contacted her family' to say she was all right. It isn't altogether surprising that the police were yet to become suspicious that something far more terrible was going on.

      Noelene

      Noelene Patterson lived with her mother in the beautiful riverside suburb of Bicton, near Fremantle. The 31-year-old woman was a former Ansett airline hostess who had worked for the airline for nine years. She then went to work for entrepreneur Alan Bond for two years on his private airline, and in 1986 was working at the Nedlands Golf Club.

      Described by those who knew her as elegant, beautiful and popular, Noelene was driving home from work on Saturday 1 November 1986 when her car ran out of petrol. She was stuck on the Canning Highway in East Fremantle, not far from home.

      The Birnies had been out hunting that night when they came across Noelene. As it happened they knew her and, according to some reports, had even been to her house to help with wallpapering. They pulled up alongside Noelene and offered to take her to the nearest service station. Relieved to see someone she knew, Noelene accepted the offer.

      As soon as she got in the car a knife was held to her throat and Noelene was taken to the Birnies' Willagee home. Bound, gagged, raped and tortured, it had been the intention of the Birnies to kill Noelene that night and dispose of her body in Gleneagle.

      But David Birnie developed an emotional attachment to Noelene and kept putting off her murder. He kept her alive for three days. Catherine, on the other hand, took an instant dislike to the beautiful Patterson. In part it was because she sensed David's attachment to Noelene and felt jealous. After three days Catherine had had more than enough. She held a knife to her own breast and delivered an ultimatum to her partner: 'Her or me - you choose!'

      David Birnie gave Noelene Patterson a massive dose of sleeping pills and then strangled her while she slept. The couple then followed a familiar routine - they drove to Gleneagle where they dug a shallow grave and buried Noelene Patterson, but not before Catherine drew some personal satisfaction from throwing sand in the dead woman's face.