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Triple murder examined by CIA

The next case reopened by Crime Investigation Australia led to a victory for victims of crime in NSW.

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The next case to be examined by Crime Investigation Australia will air on Thursday, September 25 at 7.30pm.

In 1978 young Sydney mother Valda Connell and two of her children, arrived home to find a man on parole, John Ernest Cribb, breaking into their house. He abducted them at gunpoint and drove them into bushland, raping the woman in front of the children. He gagged them and left them abandoned but later returned to kill them, fearing they knew too much.

After he was arrested, he escaped from Morisset Mental Hospital with another man and they were involved in the abduction and rape of two Sydney school girls prior to their recapture. Although jailed for life for the crimes, Cribb applied to the Supreme Court to have his sentence redetermined and a definite term set.

The victim’s family, the Connells, were successful in having new laws passed in both houses of NSW Parliament in June this year which means killers will now only have one chance to ask the Court to give them a determinate sentence. They will no longer be able to drag the families of their victims back to court every three years.

Press Release:
FOXTEL’s popular crime series, Crime Investigation Australia, will revisit one of New South Wales’ most horrific crimes during the world premiere of CIA: THE DEVIL INSIDE – JOHN ERNEST CRIBB, airing on Thursday, September 25 at 7:30pm AEST on Crime & Investigation Network.

Hosted by Steve Liebmann, this chilling one-hour special investigates the abduction and brutal murders of young Sydney mother Valda Connell and two of her six children, and the subsequent police manhunt and hostage drama that followed.

CIA: THE DEVIL INSIDE – JOHN ERNEST CRIBB features detailed re-enactments and interviews with key figures from the case including the investigating police and witnesses, plus intimate interviews with three of Valda’s surviving children.

On a winter’s afternoon, Friday August 11, 1978, mother of six, Valda Connell and her four-year-old son Damien, arrived home after having collected 10-year-old Sally from school. What was an average day for the Connell’s turned to horror when Valda and the children were confronted by a man brandishing a rifle and ordering them back into the car.

The man, John Ernest Cribb, had just a few months earlier been released on parole after serving six years for armed robbery. That afternoon, Cribb had broken into the Connell’s house but was disturbed as he left when Valda and the children arrived home.

As Cribb drove north along the NSW Mid North Coast, Valda pleaded to let her and her children go. Later, under the dark of night, Cribb raped the 39-year-old mother, while her two children remained in the car terrified, cold and hungry.

In the early hours of the next morning near the small town of Wingham, Cribb left the family gagged and bound in bushland next to a deserted road and then drove back south towards Newcastle. But he began telling himself that Valda knew too much and decided he must instead go back and silence her. He returned and with his knife, viciously slayed the family one by one.

In a bizarre act, Cribb then transported the bodies in the boot of the car and looked for a place to bury them. En route he crashed the car down a steep embankment and left the scene unhurt. Early on Sunday August 13, a couple of tow truck drivers discovered the grisly cargo and so began one of NSW’s largest manhunts, culminating in a ten-hour hostage drama and finally his arrest.

However, the story doesn’t end there. Some months after his committal, Cribb escaped from custody with William Munday from the Morisset Mental Hospital. They were involved in the abduction and rape of two Sydney school girls prior to their recapture.

Although jailed for life for the crimes, Cribb applied to the Supreme Court in 1993 to have his sentence redetermined and a definite term set. He applied again early this year, but later withdrew his appeal at the last minute.

After working closely with the Homicide Victims Support Group of NSW, the Connell family were successful in having new laws passed in both houses of NSW Parliament in June this year. As a result, killers like Cribb will only have one chance to ask the Court to give them a determinate sentence, which means they will no longer be able to drag the families of their victims back to court every three years.

CRIME INVESTIGATION AUSTRALIA: THE DEVIL INSIDE – JOHN ERNEST CRIBB airs on Crime & Investigation Network on Thursday, September 25 at 7.30pm AEST.

11 Responses

  1. my thoughts and prayers go out to those in the family who have to live through this nightmare everyday

  2. You just wonder how these sick animals turn out the way they do……Those beautiful kids and mum, how could someone do that!!!

  3. I am still reeling from the effects of watching this harrowing story,i didnt sleep last night, this is pure evil at its worse, i cant even begin to understand how that mother would have felt the fear would have been indiscribable and the children well how do little minds understand that the boogey man is here he is real. My heart went out to the family left to get on with their lives how they do that i dont know , a cloud is now hanging over my day i hope i can clear this vile image from my head and get back to the goodness that is still with us on this earth may god bless this family and bring love back them, my prayers are for you.

  4. A perfect example for the re introduction of capital punishment. No excuse, no doubt, why are we paying to keep this grub alive? That was a gripping show.

  5. Corey…I’m assuming that means your dad was an inmate also as CIA said Cribb married an inmate’s sister.

    Don’t particularly care how anybody knows him (it’s not a fact I would be proud to share anyway). What a sick, sick, sick excuse for a human being. A filthy animal who deserves nothing more than to rot in jail…

    The woman and her kids were killed for what? Cribb told the police everything he did to them anyway and that’s what he feared the mother would do so to what end did killing them acheive his aim? I am certain that any mother faced with what she was faced would rather escape with her life and that of her children’s and never speak a word of the attack to police than be killed

    I, too, thank CIA for showing the cases they do. I send prayersand love to the victims’ family and have such a deep, deep sadness for what happened to their beautiful loved ones

  6. This tragic story has left me feeling so angry. This evil disgusting filthy pig deserves the worst punishment that can be handed. I hate the fact that after what he has done he still has so called rights.

    I really don’t care what the hell he has been diagnosed with – this creature can never be released into society. I would say bring in the death penalty but this would be too easy an escape for this vile excuse for a human being.

    He should be tortured for the rest of his sickening life!!

    To the family who will be in pain for the rest of their lives – my heart truly goes out to you.

  7. I have been against the death penalty all my life (I am 45 years old) – until I saw this program. I cannot find the words to describe this unbelievable act and the person who committed it. He simply does not deserve to live. The ridiculous laws that allow these people to exist, let alone, have the right to appeal every 3 years, and continue to reignite the victims family’s hell, is unconscienable.
    I will never forget this horrific story.
    My sincere thoughts are with the Connells. God bless you all.

  8. john ernest cribb, a charming man with a IQ of a twig, and a real waste of skin plus a coward in the worst possible way

  9. this was a haunting story, i esacaped being stalked by a man two years ago
    After phoning his ex-wife ,she told me he had schizophrenia and she had lived in a violent marriage ,even waking up to a gun to her head
    during the time I was harrased by this man he eventually showed paranioa he has never been assessed by a psychiatrist , I had no idea that males with these mental states murder…. but i noticed as i began finding out his marriage history he became more aggressive and paraniod , i eventually fled the town, and feel
    i’m very lucky but damaged emotionally from it all
    these shows help understand the mental states of murderers and are very helpful… thanku’

  10. I would assume Mr Cribb is a chronic alcoholic to do the absolute atrocious acts that he did. No decent human being could be so callous.
    For that poor woman to go through what she did and then her children to witness everything only to be put to death too, I was in tears.
    I can’t get the vision out of my mind. I am a Mum with kids the same age as those who were killed and I can not begin to imagine going through that.
    This man shows no remorse and unfortunately regardless of what his story is he must never be released.
    Until he shows some remorse the victims family will never be at peace.

    This was one of the most moving CIA shows yet and well done for presenting it in such a way that the public want to jump up from their lounge chairs and help the victim support group.

    Perhaps some information on how to help this group would be very helpful.

    Thankyou

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