I escaped the clutches of brutal dating app killer Ashley Gaddie. This is the chilling text he sent me hours before murdering a young teacher... and the web of lies he told to lure in women

A woman who escaped the clutches of dating app killer Ashley Gaddie has revealed he sent her a message asking for date on the same night he murdered a teacher.

Gaddie, 35, met Dannielle Finlay-Jones, 31, on dating app Bumble just days before he beat her to death at a home in Cranebrook, in Sydney’s west, on December 17, 2022.

He fled the scene before becoming involved in a 12-hour stand-off with police at a the top of a cliff in the Blue Mountains. 

He was eventually arrested, charged with murder, and jailed while awaiting trial.

However, in April this year, he took his own life at Clarence Correctional Centre having never entered a plea or given any explanation for Ms Finlay-Jones' murder.

Daily Mail Australia can now reveal that while Gaddie was sitting at a pub with Ms Finlay-Jones just hours before he brutally killed her, he secretly texted another woman, Danni Godfrey, 31.

At 7.47pm that night he told her: 'Wish I could take you on a date.'

The text was one of many Gaddie had sent Ms Godfrey over 12 months in an attempt to persuade her to go out with him, which involved a web of lies designed to manipulate her.

Ms Godfrey said she had panic attack when she learned what Gaddie did to Ms Finlay-Jones,' telling Daily Mail Australia: 'It could have been me'.

She has deleted her dating apps and has not been romantically involved with anyone since.

'Do you believe in true love?' 

Ms Godfrey said she and Gaddie grew up in the same town and had known each other as teenagers, but it wasn't until a Covid lockdown in about June 2021 that the pair started chatting on dating apps.

'We matched and became friends on social media, but he started to become creepy around that period,' she said.

Gaddie's first message to Ms Godfrey on Facebook was sent at 5.55pm on June 25, 2021. He said: 'Hi Danni, can I ask you a question?'

She replied: 'Hello, sure.'

He said: 'Do you believe in true love? Or love in our generation.'

When Ms Godfrey didn't reply, Gaddie wrote back about three hours later: 'Sorry I didn't mean anything by it.'

She replied to his initial question, saying: 'Yes I do, why do you ask?' 

Gaddie then started talking about a security guard from the Philippines who said his grandchildren couldn't find love 'because of the way our generation are'.

'Since I don't speak to women and you are the only lady on my [Facebook] I thought I'd just ask the question,' he added.

Web of lies 

Two days later, and without a reply from Ms Godfrey, Gaddie continued: 'I wasn't trying to creep on you, I lost both my dogs and was really struggling. I won't bother you again. Sorry again.'

When Ms Godfrey showed police the messages between herself and Gaddie following the murder of Ms Finlay-Jones, officers told her he had lied to a number of women about owning dogs.

'I have a dog and I found out through police it was a tactic he used with women because he didn't own a dog,' she said.

Gaddie also told her that he had a broken leg when she uploaded a photo of her own fractured ankle on social media.

'Hopefully it's a speedy recovery. Mine was fractured for four months,' he said.

Police told Ms Godfrey that Gaddie had never broken a leg.

On August 29, Gaddie messaged her again, unprovoked, to ask how 'the Bumble dating life' was going. 

Ms Godfre explained she didn't have Bumble and hadn't used dating apps for months because she met a pharmacist while she was out with a friend, telling him the encounter was 'random but nice'.

Gaddie replied: 'Lol that is random. Still with him?'

She said: 'Yeah. I was too short to get something off the shelf so he helped me and the rest is history lol.'

Gaddie replied: 'Right place right time. Lucky bugger.'

He then went on a tirade about how the women he dated were supposedly disingenuous about their motives.

'I just manage to find girls who waste my time,' he said.

'I met someone who was the opposite, school teacher of all things.

'Turned around three months later and said she never wants to have kids or get married, just lied about what she wanted cause she wanted to be with me.'

In November, Gaddie asked how Ms Godfrey how her ankle was healing, but she didn't reply.

Three weeks later, he sent another message saying: 'I'm sorry your last relationship didn't work out for you.'

Ms Godfrey didn't reply to that message either and told Daily Mail Australia he was 'constantly trying' to engage her and she knew he was talking to multiple at the same time. 

'It could have been me' 

Gaddie's final message to Ms Godfrey was sent in response to a Facebook photo she shared with her friends, showing her family enjoying an early Christmas celebration.

He said: 'Wish I could take you on a date.'

Gaddie sent that message on the night he went on his third date with Ms Finlay-Jones, after they matched Bumble. She had wanted to introduce him to her friends.

The pair had a brief argument over a drinking game while at the Marsden Brewhouse, but they made up and went back to Ms Finlay-Jones' home in Cranebrook.

When they hadn't surfaced by 2pm the following day, the friend entered the bedroom and found Ms Finlay-Jones' beaten body.

Her face was bleeding and her neck was covered in strangulation marks.

That day, a friend sent Ms Godfrey a message asking if she remembered Gaddie  after news broke that police were looking for him.

'I had a panic attack when I saw his face because I thought it could have been me,' she said.

'Police have CCTV of him searching my profiles while sitting at the pub with Dannielle.'

Ms Godfrey has not been on another date since and says she will never use a dating app again.

'Psychotic' predator

Ms Godfrey said she was raped at the age of 21 and has been assaulted multiple times since, so she was furious when she learned what Gaddie did to another woman.

She has had professional mental health training in the years since she was assaulted and now knows the warning signs of a predator - which is why she never fully engaged with Gaddie online.

Ms Godfrey said one of Gaddie's most alarming red flags was that, while he was 'creepy' from the outset, he didn't show any signs of anger or aggression during their online conversations.

'I found out through detectives who came to interview me that this wasn't the first time he had been involved in domestic violence - he had offended before,' she said.

When Gaddie met Ms Finlay-Jones, he was partway through a community corrections order for stalking and choking another woman.

Five other women had apprehended violence orders against him, including an ex-girlfriend who he tried to kill.

Ms Godfrey said the best way to keep women safe is to warn them when domestic abusers are granted bail.

She did not report her own rape as she was dating her attacker at the time and didn't think anyone would believe her.

Se said she wanted victims to feel safe enough to share their stories.

'I want women to know there are communities of other women out there who have been subject to similar violence where it is safe for them to tell their story, and where they can start their healing journey,' she said.

'Things like this cause trauma and fear and that's why I work to help women, to turn my trauma and pain into a form of healing,' she said. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, phone 1800 RESPECT of the Crisis Care Helpline on 1800 199 008.