The booking photo of Jean Lee, 29, after her arrest for the torture and murder of an elderly man during a burglary. She would be the last woman to be hanged in Australia (Melbourne, 1949) [742 x 654].

[Handwritten letters among items in the unsealed case file of hanged murderer Jean Lee](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-01/last-woman-executed-in-australia-jean-lee-melbourne/106186652)

[An article about Lee and her crime](https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/a-strangled-man-and-failed-pregnancy-plot-the-tragic-tale-of-the-last-woman-hanged-in-australia-20251222-p5npg7.html)

Since someone had to be the last, [Jean Lee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Lee_(murderer)), who was hanged along with accomplices Robert Clayton and Norman Andrews at Pentridge Prison in 1951, was a good candidate. Several details about the investigation are concerning, but there was enough evidence to convict them without their confessions. Mainly, bloodstained clothes were found in each of the hotel rooms they stayed prior to their arrest. In her final days, Lee effectively admitted that they were all guilty, saying, “None of us meant to kill him.”

And she was from my home town! Which is kind of weird!