Killer Women - Devasting True Stories of Female Murderers. Wensley Clarkson
wide awake. She had long since fallen asleep. But he could not relax. He could not switch his mind off.
Janet. Every minute. Every second. There she was. In her bikini. Smiling in the bar. Winking at him. Embracing him, running her fingers down his chest…
His appetite had gone. He told Gillian he had a stomach bug. But he knew he’d feel hungry when he saw Janet again.
He was tense. So anxious to see his wife’s twin sister. To feel her in his arms. To love her.
After hours of lying awake in the hot Bali night, Graham quietly slipped out from between the covers and crept across the room. The only noise was the constant blur of the air conditioning system and the crickets out on the balcony.
He sat down at the desk and took out some of the hotel note paper. He stared out of the window as he tried to put his thoughts in writing. After a few minutes the words started to flow.
‘When I looked into your face you had such a lovely look when I was stroking your cheek.’
He stopped writing for a moment. Pausing to make sure that what he had just written made sense. Then he went on.
‘It was such a soft expression and I think that must have been the first time certainly that I saw that and knew certainly that I must have completely fallen in love with you.’
It was a clumsy sentence but she would know what he meant.
Graham Philpott wrote for hours. He became so immersed in it, that he just gave up worrying what he would say to Gillian if she stirred from her slumber in the bed, just a few feet away.
Luckily, she slept soundly, unaware of the passionate love letter her husband was writing to her twin sister.
Janet wasn’t there to meet them at the airport. That was the first disappointment. He was desperate to see her. He needed her so badly. But at least he had the letters to give to her.
Then she did not respond when he tried to call her.
Perhaps she did not want him after all. Was it possible that her loyalty to her sister over-rode her feelings for him?
Graham was worried. He did not want to give either of them up. But, if he had to, he had already decided he would choose Janet first. She was the one who would become his lover. It was only a matter of time.
Then an incident occurred that seemed to confirm all his wildest fantasies. Janet asked if she could stay on at their house. The break up of her long term relationship had had a traumatic effect on her, she explained. To Gillian, it seemed a perfectly sisterly thing to say: ‘Yes.’
Graham could hardly contain his excitement. When she arrived at the front door, he took all her bags upstairs to the spare bedroom and layed them all out lovingly on the duvet.
Janet was surprised. Men normally didn’t bother. But she gave it little thought.
Those slightly wary feelings she had about Graham in Bali were long since gone. She was just grateful to have a place to stay. She did not really think he had a serious crush on her. Gillian, on the other hand, noticed that things seemed well… different.
A few weeks later they accepted an invitation to a neighbours’ party. It was a rare treat for the twins. Graham was not a great spender and the chance to dress up came but once or twice a month. As Janet came down the stairs wearing a pretty red dress, Graham looked up from the hallway.
‘Janet. You look marvellous. What a beautiful dress. You really know how to look good don’t you?’
His smile seemed never ending. He could not stop looking at her body. Admiring every aspect of it as she gave them both the customary twirl.
As Graham poured compliment after compliment out, Gillian stood beside him in the room. He had not said one word about her outfit. She felt upset by his neglect. But she put it down to thoughtlessness.
Parties in Orpington tended to be pretty staid affairs. When Gillian, Graham and Janet turned up at their neighbour’s semi-detached home, they were a breath of fresh air compared to the grey-looking people at the gathering.
Smartly, but sexily dressed, the two sisters prompted a number of glances from the mainly middle-aged men assembled. Graham was lapping up the attention. In his mind, he had not one, but two of the prettiest girls in the street on his arm.
More people began to arrive and the party picked up. Then the hosts turned up the music. The sixties sounds brought a lot of memories back for Graham. He watched as some of the couples danced in the front room. The effect of the alcohol had loosened their suburban outlook and some people were actually enjoying themselves. Gillian wandered off to talk to a friend. It left Graham on his own with Janet. For a moment, there was a difficult silence between them. He was lost for words. His love for her was so overwhelming that he didn’t know what to say. Anything would have sounded ridiculous. He could hardly blurt out ‘I love you’ in front of a crowded party.
Janet construed his silence as shyness. She decided to break the ice.
‘Why don’t we dance?’
It was an innocent enough request, but to a man as besotted as he was, it sounded like an gift from god. A confirmation of his delusion.
It was not as if they were even about to dance closely together. Janet would never have even considered that option. She simply intended to hop around to the music for a few minutes. Nothing more. She now knew he had a crush on her. It was obvious. She just hoped it would go away.
As they danced, Graham watched and soaked up the way she moved. From the twisting of her hips to the movement of her thighs, he could not take his eyes off her. Like a lot of men when they dance, he was barely moving. She had no idea he was examining her every move. Lusting after her. Imagining she was making love to him. But when she saw his eyes, they were a dead give away. They were boring deep into hers. She thought it was probably the effect of the drink. But it made her feel uncomfortable. She did not like being stared at so intently by any man – certainly not her brother-in-law.
To Graham there was no going back.
When a person is obsessed they lose sight of reality. They believe that every sign is significant. Every movement becomes yet more proof of affection.
Later, he tape recorded a message to her – referring to that fateful first dance.
‘It was the first time I really had an opportunity of dancing with you the way I really wanted to. God, I can feel it now. I think it is probably the best way I have ever danced. I was moving to the way your body was moving and I was certainly responding the way you were. If anyone was watching my eyes they must have known I was so in love with you.’
To Gillian Philpott, the signs were also becoming all too apparent. She had played the good samaritan and allowed her sister to stay at their home. Now she was abusing that hospitality by having what appeared to be a love affair with her husband. Gillian just could not believe the relationship was only one-way. It took two, that was her attitude. And now she was building up a hatred for them both.
It was December, 1989, and after just one year of married life, Gillian wished she had never agreed to the wedding. Everything was going wrong for them.
The marriage had just been a piece of paper, a confirmation of what they already knew. But now it seemed to have sealed their fate. She felt the relationship crumbling the moment they had returned from the honeymoon. He no longer listened to anything she said. Instead, he heaped praise on Janet constantly while barely acknowledging her existence.
Gillian would walk into rooms where they both were and become immediately struck by the overwhelming silence – as if they had been talking secretly until the moment she entered. At meal times, Graham would respond so lovingly to Janet’s conversation. Always looking deep into her eyes whenever they spoke. Gillian would just sit there. Neglected. Unwanted.
In bed at night it was just the same story. He wasn’t interested any more. Gillian came to the same conclusion millions of wives the world over do every day. She decided he must be