My name is Eileen Culleton. I am the sister of Anne-Marie Culleton who at 20 years old was raped and murdered on 23 February 1988 in Darwin by Jonathan Bakewell, 26, who broke into her flat in the middle of the night to rape and murder her in her bed. He strangled her with her own bed sheet. This crime is every woman’s worst nightmare.
Eileen Culleton with a photo of her sister Anne-Marie Culleton
Despite being given a life sentence with no parole, Bakewell was later released due to law changes in the Northern Territory to grant parole to life sentence murderers. Since his release Bakewell breached parole numerous times for taking drugs, the same drugs he took the night he raped and murdered my sister.
Jonathan Bakewell is a sadistic rapist murderer. Drugs or no drugs, I believe Bakewell is as dangerous today as the day he committed his crimes and I am living in perpetual fear that he will strike again if he is released. Women have a right to be safe sleeping in their beds at night.
Shockingly, the Parole Board of South Australia (where he was originally from and transferred as a prisoner) has repeatedly released him back into the community.
Bakewell has applied again for parole after finally having it cancelled after numerous breaches and the parole board have decided to release him. I am calling on the Attorney General Kyam Maher to appeal this decision and to call for an independent review of the parole board’s handling of this case. , I am also campaigning for parole reform for rapist murderers to never be released on parole.
I am advocating for national law reform for mandatory life sentencing without parole for rapist murderers because they should never be given another chance to repeat their crimes.
I am also calling for rape and murder to be a stand alone crime to reflect its gravity and to enable specific mandatory sentencing.
It is my belief that strong sentencing for the crime of rape and murder will send a strong message in society and help to reduce all violent crimes against women.
I am also calling for parole reform to ensure that rapist murderers are never released on parole. There is no proof they can be rehabilitated and no risk is an acceptable risk.
I am also fighting for this parole reform to end the torture victim families have to endure when fighting to keep the offender behind bars. It is the victims who have the life sentence. This is wrong and must end.
Campaign and Petition calling for Life Sentencing For Rapist Murderers
Campaign and Petition calling for Life Sentencing For Rapist Murderers
I am calling for national law reform for mandatory life sentencing without parole for rapist murderers because I believe they should never be given another chance to repeat their crimes.
I launched my campaign and petition on Change.org on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and 16 Days of Activism on 25 November 2020.
The campaign has received national coverage on print, radio, TV and online including:
The Project
We’ve seen the abhorrent rape and murder of women. Lives tragically cut short by the monsters who killed them. @Lisa_Wilkinson sat down with one victim's sister who says enough is enough, and locking them up for life is the only solution. Sign petition: https://t.co/Cm562nhHmTpic.twitter.com/jFR86PxmYK
Homicide victim advocate Eileen Culleton with a photo of her sister Anne-Marie
Homicide victim advocate Eileen Culleton is calling for national law reform for mandatory life sentencing without parole for the crime of rape and murder.
She is also calling for rape and murder to be a stand alone crime to reflect the gravity of the crime and to enable specific mandatory sentencing.
Anne-Marie Culleton was raped and murdered on 23 February 1988 in Darwin by Jonathan Peter Bakewell, 26, who broke into her flat in the middle of the night when she was sleeping. She was strangled with her own bed sheet.
Anne-Marie Culleton was raped and murdered in her flat in Darwin in 1988. She was only 20.
Anne-Marie was only 20 when her life was brutally cut short. In the last few weeks of Anne-Marie’s life she had reached a turning point of independence. She had a job, a car, and five weeks prior, she had moved out of home into her first flat. She had hopes and dreams that she was excited about.
Anne-Marie was a kind, beautiful, talented young woman with a bright future ahead of her. With dreams she never got to realise.
Rapist murderer Jonathan Bakewell
Jonathan Bakewell broke down Anne-Marie Culleton’s back door to rape and murder her in her bed. He strangled her with her own bedsheet. He inflicted a cruel, sadistic, torturous rape and murder on his victim.
Bakewell then washed her body in scalding hot water and left her in the shower with her face and neck wedged down and the hot water running in order to hide evidence and advance body decomposition. This is how Anne-Marie’s mother and sister found her 40 hours later.
Conviced killer rapist Jonathan Bakewell escorted from plane at Darwin Airport after his arrest. Picture courtesy NT News
Bakewell removed his shoes and wore his socks when he broke down Anne-Marie’s back door, in order to prevent footprints. After the rape and murder he meticulously wiped down the entire flat; the floor, door handles, light switches, with another sheet to erase finger prints.
He had the arrogance to say to the detective when he was arrested, “You didn’t find any prints did you, I know you didn’t.” 1
Bakewell’s rape and strangulation of Anne-Marie Culleton was a shocking crime which fits the profile of a calculated sadistic rapist murderer. It also fits the profile of a serial killer. 2
Despite being given a life sentence with no parole in 1989, Bakewell was later granted parole after law changes in the Northern Territory to give non parole periods to life sentence prisoners.
Since his release in 2016 in South Australia (where he was transferred while in prison), Bakewell repeatedly breached parole for drug taking, the same drugs he took when he raped and murdered Anne-Marie. Yet the Parole Board kept releasing him.
Currently Bakewell is behind bars, but he can reapply for parole again in September 2023 and every 12 months for the rest of his life.
Eileen believes Bakewell must never be released and she has vowed to continue to fight to ensure he stays behind bars.
Background to Eileen’s campaign for Bakewell’s parole to be cancelled after repeated drug breaches
Eileen mounted a two and a half year campaign in 2019 calling for Bakewell’s parole to be cancelled after he repeatedly breached parole for taking drugs – the same drugs he took the night he raped and murdered Anne-Marie Culleton.
Eileen’s campaign was finally successful when on 26 October 2021 the South Australia Parole Board finally cancelled Bakewell’s parole after he was arrested for his sixth drug breach.
In March 2019 Eileen first appealed to the politicians, writing to the former South Australian Premier Stephen Marshall, former Attorney General Vicki Chapman and former Police and Correctional Services Minister, Corey Wingard calling for urgent action.
In the meantime Bakewell breached parole for the fourth time for taking drugs and in April 2019 he was sent back to custody pending a hearing.
When her letters to the politicians were dismissed, with Bakewell’s parole hearing scheduled for June 2019, Eileen spoke to the media for the first time in 31 years.
Bakewell’s parole hearing was deferred to October. In the meantime Eileen was contacted by members of the public who had come into contact with him and were alarmed at his behaviours and had written to the parole board calling for his parole to be revoked. Eileen made a 53 page submission to the parole board which she copied to the politicians and others, calling for the revocation of Bakewell’s parole and for an urgent review of the SA parole board.
In October 2019 Eileen mounted another media campaign, speaking on the TV news for the first time.
Unfortunately Eileen’s initial campaign was not successful, her urgent pleas fell on deaf ears and Bakewell was released for the fifth time on 18 October 2019.
Yet Eileen did not give up and was fortified by new information she received from the community during her campaign that reinforced her belief that Bakewell is as dangerous today as the day he raped and murdered Anne-Marie Culleton.
In May 2021 Bakewell was arrested again over a 5th potential drug breach, and while in custody tested positive for cannabis, which he tried to blame on passive smoking from his cellmate.
Shockingly the SA Parole Board once again gave Bakewell the benefit of the doubt and he was once again released back into the community.
There was strong media backlash once again.
Eileen called once again for an urgent review and overhaul of the SA Parole Board and for increased transparency and accountability for parole board decisions.
Eileen has a history of advocating for community safety locally and globally.
She was the Founder and CEO of the Emergency 2.0 Wiki, a not for profit global resource for using social media and new technologies in emergencies. Eileen galvanised the Government 2.0 in Queensland Community of Practice to form a collaboration, knowledge sharing and crowdsourcing Emergency 2.0 Wiki community.
As CEO of the Emergency 2.0 Wiki Eileen helped drive policy change globally to accelerate government use of social media in disasters.
Eileen advocated to ensure the United Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015:2030 – the global blueprint to build the world’s resilience to disasters – incorporated social media3,4
Her advocasy involved presenting at IDRC 2014, a disaster risk conference organised by the Global Risk Forum in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) to inform the new Framework. Her presentation was sponsored by the Attorney-General’s Department Emergency Management Australia. As well as the presentation, Eileen made a Red Chair Statement and submitted a research paper. 5 The Emergency 2.0 Wiki was decommissioned in 2018.
Chapter 4 Murder by Manual and Ligature Strangulation, Profiling Crime Scene Behaviours and Offender Characteristics, Hakkanen, H. Criminal Profiling: International Theory, Research and Practice (73-87) 2007
Great news! The UK Prime Minister has announced plans for new laws for mandatory sentencing of rapist murderers to life with no parole. This guarantees they will never be free to repeat their crimes. This is exactly what I and many others are fighting for in Australia! We are calling on Australia’s politicians to follow …
This year’s theme for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and #16Days of Activism (25 November to 10 December) is for action and people uniting together for activism, because it is only when the people unite and act that change can happen. And change must happen because another parolee rapist murderer …
Friends, I am relieved to share that my battle to keep my sister Anne-Marie Culleton’s rapist murderer Jonathan Bakewell in jail has finally met with success – though it is only temporary. On 7 September 2022, after a three year campaign by myself and The Advertiser – the Parole Board of South Australia finally refused …
Eileen’s history advocating for community safety