Bible John: Difference between revisions
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==Murders== |
==Murders== |
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On 23 February 1968, the body of 25-year-old Patricia Docker was found in a Glasgow doorway. She had been strangled. The previous night she had |
On 23 February 1968, the body of 25-year-old Patricia Docker was found in a Glasgow doorway. She had been strangled. The previous night she had told her parents that she was going out dancing at a nearby club, the Majestic Ballroom in Hope Street, Glasgow. Patricia did, in fact, go to the Barrowland Ballroom for the over-25's night. |
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On 15 August 1969, Jemima McDonald, 32, went for a night out at the |
On 15 August 1969, mother of three Jemima McDonald, 32, also went for a night out at the Barrowland Ballroom. The next day her body was seen in an old building, by kids playing there...but no-one took the kids seriously. Two days later, her sister went out looking for her and remembered what had been said by the kids. She went to the tenement building and found Jemima strangled with her own stockings. Witnesses said they had seen her leaving the club at midnight with a tall, slim young man with red hair. |
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On 31 October 1969, 29-year-old Helen Puttock was found murdered. She had been to the Barrowland Ballroom the night |
On 31 October 1969, 29-year-old Helen Puttock was found murdered. She had also been to the Barrowland Ballroom on the night she went missing; she had gone there with her sister Jean and had met two men called John. One said he was from Castlemilk, the other did not disclose where he was from. After being in their company for well over an hour, they left to head home. Castlemilk John headed to [[George Square]] to get a bus, while Helen, Jean and the other John got into a taxi. They crossed the city to the Scotstoun area where Jean got out. The taxi then continued to Earl Street in Scotstoun where Helen lived. |
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This was the last sighting of Helen alive. Her body was found in the early morning by a man walking his dog. The woman had been strangled, and her handbag was missing. |
This was the last sighting of Helen alive. Her body was found in the early morning by a man walking his dog. The woman had been strangled, and her handbag was missing. |
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==Suspect== |
==Suspect== |
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Revision as of 20:35, 27 September 2011
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2007) |
Bible John | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Victims | 3 |
Span of crimes | 22 February 1968 – 30 October 1969 |
| Country | Scotland |
Date apprehended | 2006 |
- For other uses of the name, see Bible John (disambiguation)
Bible John is the nickname of a serial killer who is thought to have operated in Glasgow, Scotland, in the late 1960s. Three murders were attributed to him, but it is not clear if they were the work of the same person.
Murders
On 23 February 1968, the body of 25-year-old Patricia Docker was found in a Glasgow doorway. She had been strangled. The previous night she had told her parents that she was going out dancing at a nearby club, the Majestic Ballroom in Hope Street, Glasgow. Patricia did, in fact, go to the Barrowland Ballroom for the over-25's night.
On 15 August 1969, mother of three Jemima McDonald, 32, also went for a night out at the Barrowland Ballroom. The next day her body was seen in an old building, by kids playing there...but no-one took the kids seriously. Two days later, her sister went out looking for her and remembered what had been said by the kids. She went to the tenement building and found Jemima strangled with her own stockings. Witnesses said they had seen her leaving the club at midnight with a tall, slim young man with red hair.
On 31 October 1969, 29-year-old Helen Puttock was found murdered. She had also been to the Barrowland Ballroom on the night she went missing; she had gone there with her sister Jean and had met two men called John. One said he was from Castlemilk, the other did not disclose where he was from. After being in their company for well over an hour, they left to head home. Castlemilk John headed to George Square to get a bus, while Helen, Jean and the other John got into a taxi. They crossed the city to the Scotstoun area where Jean got out. The taxi then continued to Earl Street in Scotstoun where Helen lived.
This was the last sighting of Helen alive. Her body was found in the early morning by a man walking his dog. The woman had been strangled, and her handbag was missing.
Suspect
The suspect was described by Helen's sister Jean as being a well-dressed young man, tall, slim and with reddish/fair hair, and described as being polite, well-dressed and well-spoken. She said the stranger had given his name as "John Templeton" or "Sempleson" and that he had frequently quoted from the Bible. He was reported to have said: “I don’t drink at Hogmanay, I pray,” and to have referred to Moses and his father’s belief that dancehalls were “dens of iniquity”.[1]
The last possible sighting of Bible John was of a well-dressed young man in a dishevelled state with possible scratch marks on his face, getting off a bus at Grey Street at Sauchiehall Street around 1:30 am. He was last seen heading towards the public ferry to cross the River Clyde to the south side of the city.
Investigation
The police made a determined effort to hunt for the killer, now nicknamed "Bible John", but although a number of suspects were questioned, no arrests were ever made, and no further victims have been attributed to him. All three victims had been strangled with their stockings, all were menstruating at the time and all three had sanitary napkins or tampons placed on or near the bodies.[2] Their handbags were also missing.
In 1996, police exhumed the dead body of John Irvine McInnes, the cousin of one of the original suspects, from a Lanarkshire graveyard. McInnes, who had served in the Scots Guards, had committed suicide aged 41 in 1981. Police ran a DNA test and compared it with semen found on Helen Puttock's tights and announced it to be non conclusive.
Lord Mackay, then the Lord Advocate, said there was not enough evidence to link the murders with McInnes.
On 12 December 2004, police announced they were to DNA test a number of men in a further attempt to solve the case. This followed the discovery of an 80% match to a DNA sample taken at the site of a minor crime two years earlier.
Developments
The 4 May 2007 conviction of Peter Tobin for the murder of student Angelika Kluk led to speculation that he is Bible John.[3] According to a report in The Times, there are striking parallels between Bible John and Peter Tobin. All three of Tobin's former wives gave accounts of being imprisoned, throttled, raped and beaten by him. There are strong similarities between photographs of Tobin when aged in his 20s and the photofit artist's impression of Bible John, and Tobin had moved from Glasgow in 1969 after marrying his first wife, whom he met at the Barrowland ballroom the same year as the killings officially ended. It is alleged that Tobin is driven to violence by the menstrual cycle, something which has long been suspected as the motive behind the Bible John murders. Additionally, Tobin was a Roman Catholic with strong religious views.[2][4]
As a result of Operation Anagram (set up to locate any other potential victims of Tobin) a woman said she had been raped by Tobin after she had met him at the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow in 1968 - around the time of the Bible John killings.[5]
In September 2010, the only woman ever to have come face-to-face with Bible John, Jean McLachlan, died aged 74, marking the end of the hunt for the killer.[6][7] McLachlan, who shared a taxi with the mystery killer and her sister Helen Puttock, gave police the description used in the artist's impression, which remains the biggest clue to his appearance more than 40 years later. Although DNA had been used to rule out a previous suspect, detectives believe a DNA link to Tobin is unlikely due to a deterioration of the samples through poor storage.[3]
It is not universally accepted that the three killings were the work of the same person. It has been claimed that the gap of 18 months between the first two killings is unusual with serial killers, the later two may have been copycat killings, and the police may even have hampered their own investigation by prematurely jumping to the conclusion that they were the work of the same person.[8] Professor David Wilson, an expert in criminal behaviour, has stated that the 18 month gap is not unusual following a serial killer's first murder. Wilson investigated the case for three years and believes the available evidence supports that Peter Tobin is Bible John.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Brown, David; O'Neill, Sean (14 November 2007). "'Bible John' – the sanctimonious dancehall killer who vanished". Times Online. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- ^ a b Reid, Melanie (8 May 2007). "Was Angelika's murderer the infamous Bible John?". Times Online. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- ^ a b David Wilson "Killer question", Times Online, 27 December 2009
- ^ a b Scots murderer Peter Tobin is Bible John, says UK serial killer expert Daily Record 13 June 2010
- ^ Peter Tobin update Crimewatch, BBC, July 2010
- ^ Hunt for Bible John comes to an end after only witness in case dies Daily Record, 26 September 2010
- ^ Only Bible John witness dies Scotsman.com News, 27 September 2010
- ^ Jeffrey, Robert Crimes Past: Glasgow's Crimes of the Century
External links
- Men give DNA in Bible John case BBC News, 12 December 2004
- Sunday Mail [dead link] - Reports background to new DNA test
- Bible John Crime Library