A former teacher at a prestigious Sydney boys school resigned from her position after the principal described vile murderer Paul Thijssen as a ‘fantastic young man’ during a school address.

Clare Walker left following Shore School principal Dr. John Collier’s speech to staff and students regarding the murder of St. Andrew’s Cathedral School coach Lilie James in 2023.

Ms. Walker reported that Dr. Collier, who previously served as St. Andrew’s Cathedral principal where Thijssen was a student, stated there were ‘no red flags’ and the murder was ‘entirely unpredictable’.

In a later coroner’s court hearing, it was revealed that Thijssen, 24, exhibited narcissistic traits and was ‘very calculated and very cold’ in his planning of the murder of Ms. James, 21, whose battered body was found at the school after her killing on October 25, 2023.

Nevertheless, Dr. Collier referred to Thijssen as a ‘fantastic young man’ in his 2023 address, failing to address domestic violence and instead citing male suicide rates without highlighting Ms. James’s murder.

Ms Walker said Dr Collier asked staff to keep an eye out for signs of suicide in the boys and did not refer to Lilie by name.

‘I remember looking around at other colleagues,’ Ms Walker told the Sydney Morning Herald.

‘[I remember thinking] ‘did anyone else clock what I’ve heard?’ I could just feel it in my gut, something had just happened that was wrong.’ 

Ms Walker emailed Dr Collier to express her disappointment that he had not talked about domestic violence. 

‘This incident is all too common for women who attempt to leave or break up with intimate partners,’ she wrote in the email.

‘And I think this is the essence of the issue that arose. I believe it’s crucial for the female staff at the school (and our boys) that this is at least acknowledged.’

Ms Walker said Dr Collier emailed back less than 20 minutes later where he conceded ‘it’s possible’ but ‘not clear that the incident fits this description’. 

About a week later, in the column entitled, Looking Into the Face of Savagery, which was addressed to ‘students, parents and carers’, Dr Collier described Thijssen a ‘fine student, a prefect, and a role model’. 

‘What is chilling about the tragedy which unfolded at St Andrew’s, the shock and grief of which will cascade for a long time, is that the young man concerned was, in everybody’s estimation, an absolute delight,’ he wrote.

‘At the risk of brooking controversy, I have a probably very unpopular alternative question; why does this kind of event not occur more often in our world?’ Dr Collier wrote in one section of the column, before referring to acts of violence and barbarism around the world and throughout history.

Dr Collier, who was the principal at St Andrews between 2010 and 2022, said he knew Thijssen and he ‘was not a monster’.

He said Thijssen ‘committed a monstrous act which was in complete contradiction to what everyone who knew him observed in the rest of this short life’.

Dr Collier also said the former hockey coach carried out an act that was ‘deeply out of character’.

‘This is what makes the situation chilling, in that on every indicator he appeared to be just like the best of us,’ Dr Collier said.

Ms Walker later took stress leave and resigned, claiming the school reused to correct Dr Collier’s views. She lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission in 2024.

Shore School later published an apology in its newsletter, Shore Weekly Record, while Dr Collier gave a ‘speech of acknowledgement’ to staff, and was given ‘ongoing education and support by an external expert in relation to gendered violence and gender equality’.

The Shore School told Daily Mail in a statement in October 2023 that Dr Collier’s comments were not intended to’ create any additional distress for those affected by this tragedy’. 

‘The opinions expressed in this weekly article are deeply personal and reflect the thoughts of a Headmaster who knew the alleged perpetrator and who, like many others, is struggling to make sense of the seemingly senseless,’ the spokesperson said.

‘This edition of our weekly newsletter to parents attempts to consider what responses might be appropriate in a school that seeks to build good men and how our character development programs need to dig deeply into what respect for women fully means.

‘As has always been the case, Dr Collier’s deepest condolences go to the family and friends of the victim and those who knew her.’

The New South Wales coroner, Jennifer Single SC, said in March this year, Ms James wasn’t initially identified due to the ‘extensive injuries to face, fake tan and blood in her hair, dark almost black hair and Asian appearance’.

Told that she was a blonde and Caucasian female, attending officers believed the dead woman in the bathroom wasn’t Ms James, and that she could still be in Thijssen’s company, given he had her iPhone.

Ms James sustained blunt force injuries to her head and neck which were circular, semi-circular or v-shaped, consistent with the shape of a hammer. She also had defensive injuries on her arms and hands, showing that she fought back.

Ms Single said ‘drip stain analysis’ showed Ms James was initially in a upright or semi-upright position moving towards the bathroom shower and a basin.

The blood stain cast-off pattern showed the assault continued as she lay on her back, and although the attack was short it was ‘overkill and went far beyond what was necessary to cause death’.

As Ms James’ body was discovered, police descended on Diamond Bay Reserve in Vaucluse, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, just three minutes after Thijssen called triple-zero to report a ‘female’ body in the school.

Speaking quietly during the call, a ‘calm’ and ‘almost emotionless’ Thijssen told the emergency operator: ‘I’d like to report a body at St Andrew’s Cathedral school’ before giving details on how to find it.

‘If you go into the school, there is an entrance on the left. There is a bathroom on the right hand side where there is a body… where you go into the sports area, the bathroom is there on the right. It’s the first door on the right,’ he said.

Thijssen was asked if the body was male or female, and he answered ‘female’.

The operator then asked him ‘Do you know who it is?’ and he replied ‘No’.

Asked what his name was, he said ‘I’d rather not say’. Thijssen then added: ‘I think someone should just go in there before people arrive in the morning.’

But by the time police arrived, Thijssen had already jumped or fallen off a cliff edge in the reserve. His body was found floating in the ocean below the cliff two days later.

Thijssen was a sports captain at St Andrews after moving to Australia in 2015 from the Netherlands to study at the school for years 10-12.

He graduated from the school in 2017 and then got a job there as a cricket and hockey coach.

Ms James was a water polo instructor at the school and was also a talented dancer and swimmer.

Daily Mail revealed Ms James was in a ‘secret relationship’ with Thijssen for a matter of weeks leading up to her death. 

Ms James’ friend said the relationship had only recently ended.