Inquest begins into death of Sydney school coach

ABC NEWS (Australia)

An inquest into the death of a young Sydney woman has heard a former partner stalked her after she ended their short relationship and then rehearsed his premeditated killing. Lilie James was found with serious head injuries in the gym area of a school in the CBD in October 2023. An inquest is now examining her brief relationship with a Dutch citizen and issues around coercive control.

Transcript

00:00Lily James met Paul Tyson, this 23-year-old Dutch national, through her work at St. Andrew's

00:09Cathedral School in Sydney's CBD, where they were both sports assistants.

00:14Now, the inquest has heard that this was a pretty brief relationship.

00:17It was somewhat casual, but that is one of the key questions that the coroner, Theresa

00:22O'Sullivan, will be looking at.

00:24What was the nature of this relationship?

00:26When did it start and when did it end?

00:28Now, Tyson's body was found at Cliffs in Vaucluse, days after Lily James was found

00:33in the toilet area of the gym in that school, with very serious head injuries in October

00:392023.

00:41So another issue for the inquest will be whether Paul Tyson died as a result of suicide.

00:47Now, today, on the opening day, counsel assisting the inquest, Jennifer Single, SC, has told

00:53the court that the evidence will establish that Paul Tyson killed Lily James with a hammer

00:58in the toilet area of that school soon after she ended this brief relationship.

01:04Ms. Single said the evidence indicates that after that relationship had ended, that Paul

01:10Tyson stalked Lily James.

01:12He carefully planned his attack and he rehearsed his attack by making a number of dry runs.

01:18Ms. Single also said the preparation was calculated.

01:21It wasn't a momentary loss of control.

01:23And she said this was a premeditated killing.

01:26Now, Ms. Single has referred to the police investigation into these deaths as incredibly

01:31thorough.

01:32We've heard that the evidence that will be heard over the next three days includes a

01:36very significant volume of documentary material, as well as video and audio exhibits, CCTV,

01:43witnesses who are experts in things like coercive control and psychology and psychiatry will

01:50be giving evidence as well.

01:53And the other part of the evidence will be direct communications between Lily James and

01:57Paul Tyson over social media, although we've heard that they are not complete records because

02:03we're really relying on what Snapchat messages, for example, were saved by Paul Tyson.

02:09So Ms. Single has said that there are a lot of key questions here about why he planned

02:14this killing and when he planned this killing.

02:17But she said the sad reality is that we may never know the answer to those questions because

02:21one of the only people who could answer them is Paul Tyson himself.

02:25We heard about two previous relationships that Tyson had, and one in particular was

02:29with a young woman who has recalled being asked by him to turn her location sharing

02:36services on her phone on so he could see where she was.

02:40Now, initially, she didn't want to do that, but she agreed, and she said when she turned

02:44that functionality off, he would, quote, blow up at her.

02:48Now, she's also recalled that she found eventually this relationship to be quite suffocating,

02:54and she felt like she was being controlled by Paul Tyson.

02:58At one point, he went back to the Netherlands, and he was sending her things like gelato,

03:03getting deliveries to her.

03:05At one point, while he was still overseas, she decided to move away from him, and she

03:11changed her social media photos and tried to block him, but he hacked into her Snapchat

03:17to continue this communication and said he was returning to Australia.

03:20Now, this same woman has recalled that when she later broke things off with him in a park,

03:26he punched some branches that were quite close to her head.

03:30And when he was asked why he did that, he said, because I can't punch the one thing

03:34that I want to punch.

03:35So there are a lot of behavioral issues to be explored here by this inquest, which we'll

03:40largely hear from friends who had things to do with Lily James and Paul Tyson.

03:46Lily James' parents are here today on the opening day, and the coroner, Theresa O'Sullivan,

03:51acknowledged them at the beginning of the proceedings and said that this will be an

03:54incredibly difficult three days for the family, but she said, we're all here to support you

03:59through this.

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