About David Burnie

David Birnie was the oldest of five children and grew up in Wattle Grove, Western Australia, a semi-rural suburb of Perth. School friends and acquaintances from church remember the family as having been dysfunctional, and subject to frequent rumors involving alcoholism, promiscuity, and incest. The family never had regular meals together, and Birnie's parents did not cook meals for their children.

In the early 1960s, Birnie's parents decided to move the family to another Perth suburb, where Birnie met Catherine Harrison through mutual friends. At age 15, Birnie left school to become an apprentice jockey for Eric Parnham at the nearby Ascot Racecourse. During his time there, Birnie physically abused the horses and developed a habit of exhibitionism. One night, Birnie, wearing only stockings over his head, broke into the room of an elderly lady where he was boarding and attempted to rape her.

By the time he was an adolescent, Birnie had been in and out of prison for several misdemeanors and felonies. As an adult, he became addicted to sex and pornography, and was a paraphiliac. He married his first wife during his early 20s and the couple had a daughter, Tanya, who was aged 10 at the time of his arrest. Tanya, who has changed her surname since Birnie's capture, has never married and had no children, stating, "I don't wanna spawn another David Birnie".[2]

In late 1986, at the time of the murders, Birnie was employed at a car wrecker's shop in Willagee, a suburb of Perth.