Dena Thompson

Dena Thompson (born 1960), commonly known as The Black Widow, is a British convicted murderer, confidence trickster and bigamist who is also suspected of having killed a second individual.

Dena habitually met men through lonely hearts columns and stole their money. She was imprisoned for murdering former media manager Julian Webb, her second husband (though she was still married to her first). She had previously been acquitted of the attempted murder of her next husband Richard Thompson (whom she married in 1998 after her divorce), having attacked him with a baseball bat and a knife but being cleared on the grounds of self-defence.

Despite her acquittal for the attempted murder of Thompson, police became suspicious of the circumstances in which previous husband Webb had died, and after Webb's remains were exhumed and analyzed she was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

A High Court ruling in 2007 determined she would serve 16 years, meaning she would not be eligible for release until 2019. She was also convicted of theft and defrauding former lovers.

Following her 2003 conviction, Detective Chief Inspector Martyn Underhill stated: "This woman is every man's nightmare, the most dangerous woman I have ever met. For a decade, she has targeted men sexually, financially and physically. The men of Britain can sleep safe tonight knowing she has been taken off the streets." A judge described her as: "one of the most fluent liars I have come across." DCI Underhill observed Thompson was a misandrist: "I think the events of her childhood have made her hate men. If you look at her life, it is always men she has targeted." After her murder conviction it was revealed that police were investigating the suspicious disappearance of a previous partner she had in Bulgaria, who has never been found.

As of May 2022, Thompson was being held in an open prison with day release provisions (either HM Prison Askham Grange or HM Prison East Sutton Park as these are the only two open prisons for women in England). Thompson was granted release on parole in May 2022, and was released in June.