201: Bible John | Scotland

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Our cases deal with true crimes and real people.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Some parts are graphic in nature, and listener discretion is advised.

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Each episode is produced with the utmost respect to the victims, their families, and loved

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_00]: ones.

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: It was a cold frost-covered morning, a Friday, February 23, 1968, when 67-year-old Maurice

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Morris Goodman happened upon a figure lying on the ground on Carmichael Lane in front of

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_00]: lock-up garages, not far from Langside Place in Glasgow, Scotland.

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Such a sight wasn't that uncommon after bar room nights.

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Likely, someone had had a bit too much to drink and passed that outside.

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: But as Maurice stepped closer intending to wake the person, he realized that was not

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_00]: the case.

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_00]: He was looking at the naked and terribly pale body of a young woman lying on her

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: back, with her head turned to the right.

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Hoping things would not be as bad as they looked, Maurice nudged the body with his foot.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: It was then that he knew the woman was long gone, as he later recalled, it was like touching

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: a block of ice.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: In horror, Maurice ran back home to Carmichael Place to call the police.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: There was no way for him to know it at the time, but he initiated the investigation

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_00]: that would grow to be one of the biggest and most frustrating in Scotland's history.

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Detective Sergeant Andrew Johnston and Detective Constable Norman MacDonald arrived at the scene

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_00]: at about 8.10 am, thinking they were going to deal with a simple case of death from exposure.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: But as they took a closer look at the body, detectives saw ligature markings on the

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: woman's neck.

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: This was a homicide, not an accident.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: According to police pathologist Dr. James Emory, the victim had been dead for a few hours before

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: the body was discovered.

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: The woman's clothes were nowhere to be seen nor was the murder weapon.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: The victim had suffered extensive face and head injuries, but Dr. Emory speculated she

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_00]: had been strangled to death with a belt.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: The subsequent autopsy confirmed the cause of death and even though no clear signs

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: of sexual assault were found, it was believed the victim was almost certainly

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: raped.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: The medical examiner also noted the woman was on her period at the time of death.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_00]: A detail that may sound insignificant, but would prove strangely important later.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_00]: The investigators discovered a sanitary towel at the crime scene.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Despite the killer carefully taking everything else with him, extensive door-to-door inquiries

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: followed in an effort to find potential witnesses and identify the victim.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: But despite the fact there had been a big party in the neighborhood that night,

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: nobody remembered seeing or hearing anything strange.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody but one woman who told the police that sometime during Thursday evening she had heard

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_00]: a woman scream, leave me alone twice.

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: It was possible the woman had heard some of the last words of the victim, but there

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_00]: was no way for the police to tie the account to the unidentified body.

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: In the end, the inquiries left the police practically empty-handed and no closer to

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: finding out who the woman was.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: However, a breakthrough soon followed, totally by chance when an ambulance driver happened

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: to see the body at the morgue at Victoria Hospital.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Due to severe facial injuries, other employees of the facility had failed to recognize

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: one of their own.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: But the driver could tell this person was Patricia Docker, a 25-year-old nursing assistant.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: The driver's suspicion was confirmed the following day when John Wilson,

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Patricia's father, arrived at the police station to report his daughter missing

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: as she had failed to return home after a night at the majestic ballroom.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: One look at the photo John had with him of Patricia was enough for the detectives to know

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: the young woman had already been found.

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_00]: John was taken to the morgue where he officially identified the body

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_00]: of the murdered young woman, as his daughter.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Patricia Docker had been a lively young woman with a cheeky smile,

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: short brown wavy hair, gentle hazel eyes, and a slim 5'3'' figure.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_00]: She worked at Mearnskirk Hospital, working night shifts which started at 10pm

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and finished the following morning at 8.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Her work and the fact she was a single mother of a 4-year-old son kept Patricia busy.

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Patricia had married her son's father, Alex Docker, 5 years prior,

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: but the couple had since separated and Patricia had moved back into her parents'

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: house in Glasgow at 29 Langside Place.

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Having her parents around gave Patricia the opportunity to sometimes have time to herself

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and enjoy a child-free night dancing in one of Glasgow's dance halls.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: According to John, that is exactly what his daughter was planning to do on the night of her murder.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: He told the detectives Patricia had headed out that Thursday evening

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: to meet her friends at the majestic ballroom on Hope Street.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Back in the 1960s, ballrooms were the UK's second most popular form of entertainment,

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: only surpassed by the cinema.

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: In Glasgow alone, there were 14 permanent dance halls,

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: including the La Carnault, the Majestic and the Plaza.

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_00]: A newspaper survey at the time showed how important the ballrooms really were,

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: suggesting that as many as 70% of all married couples in the UK had met dancing.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Patricia and her estranged husband had also met at a dance hall,

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: but the failed marriage had not reduced her love for dancing.

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Knowing the victim's identity and assumed plans before their death,

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: the police began to trace Patricia's last steps.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: The detectives interviewed people who had visited the majestic ballroom

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: on Thursday, February 22nd and even found a witness who remembered dancing with Patricia.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: But this person later retracted his statement, saying he got the night wrong.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_00]: It took several days before the police finally found out that the majestic

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: wasn't the only dance hall Patricia visited on the night of her murder.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Patricia and her friends had been dancing at the majestic ballroom,

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: listening to the resident band Dr. Cough and his crackpots,

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: but at some point, Patricia had changed the location without her friends.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody could say for sure if Patricia always intended to go to another dance hall

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: called Barreland Ballroom or if something drew her there after the majestic closed at 10.30pm.

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_00]: That something could have been the fact that Thursdays and Saturdays at the Barrelands

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: were Palay Night when only over 25s were allowed in.

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: These nights had a certain reputation, while single people came to dance, drink and flirt,

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: so didn't marry people, but without their partners.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: If you were looking for an extra marital affair or a trist of some sort,

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Barreland was the place to go. At the time, people were joking about the attendees who

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: stopped at the entrance to slip off their wedding rings before stepping in.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: One Glasgow resident described the Palay nights by saying,

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: It was well known that if you wanted a bit more than a dance then Thursday night was

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: the evening to visit the Barreland. I don't think many used their actual name on a Thursday night,

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: folk were cautious. Anything that happened after dancing was finished was usually a one-off.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_00]: The Barreland Ballroom's reputation could have been why Patricia didn't mention it to her parents.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Despite the fact she had moved out of her husband's house, Patricia was still technically

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: a married woman and telling her parents about Barreland could have caused an awkward conversation.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, Patricia may have simply wanted to continue the evening at the only dance hall that

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_00]: was still open. Whatever the reason was, by the time the detectives realized Patricia had gone

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00]: to the Barreland on that Thursday night, the trail was already getting cold.

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: While several witnesses came forward saying they saw Patricia in a yellow dress dancing

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: with a number of men, including one with red hair, nobody could remember seeing her leave.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_00]: The spot where Patricia's body was later found was about 4.8 kilometers from the Barreland Ballroom

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and only a few hundred meters from the home of her parents. The police were unable to find anyone

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: recalling seeing a young woman in a yellow dress walking the route, so it was likely Patricia

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_00]: had taken the taxi or had been given a lift, possibly by her killer.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Despite extensive searches of the area, the investigators never found Patricia's

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_00]: handbag and her bracelet in a small river around 100 meters from where she was found.

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_00]: The police were puzzled by why the killer had thrown away some of Patricia's belongings,

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: but kept their clothes. Perhaps they contained incriminating evidence or

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: they were taken to souvenirs. It seemed that instead of finding answers as time passed,

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: there were only more questions. The only potential suspect the police had was Patricia's

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_00]: husband, Alex. But he was quickly ruled out when his alibi was confirmed. He had been at RAF

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Digby in Lincolnshire at the time of the murder, more than 400 kilometers away. Within weeks,

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_00]: the investigation into Patricia Dockers death began to slow down before eventually coming to

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_00]: a standstill. Little by little, the terrible death of the young woman was not totally forgotten,

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_00]: but faded into the background. 18 months later, on Saturday, August 16, 1969, when 32-year-old

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Jemima McDonald was planning to spend a night at the Barreland Ballroom, the unsolved murder

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_00]: didn't even cross her mind. Jemima resembled Patricia. She was also attractive, slim,

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_00]: a mother of three children and she loved to dance. The McDonalds lived in a tenement

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_00]: building at 15 McKeith Street in Bridgeton, near Jemima's sister Margaret. The last two nights,

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Margaret had looked after Jemima's 12-year-old daughter and nine and seven-year-old sons as

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: she had gone out dancing. Saturday was going to be the same. Jemima dropped her children off

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_00]: with Margaret before heading to the Barreland Ballroom, wearing a black pinafore dress,

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_00]: white blouse, off-white slingback shoes, and warm brown coat. On her head, Jemima

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_00]: had a scarf that covered her curlers that she planned to take off just before entering the dance

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_00]: hall so that her hairdo would look as good as possible. Due to the fact that many of Jemima's

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_00]: friends were married and faithful to their partners, she was going to the dance hall alone.

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00]: That didn't bother her though. She often went out by herself and knew she was going

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_00]: to find someone to dance with at the over 25s night. So she stopped at Betty's Barre

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: on the Gallo Gate to have something to drink before heading to the dance hall,

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_00]: which at the time didn't serve any alcohol. Saturday was the busiest day of the week,

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_00]: with up to 2,000 dancers filling the dance floor. Jemima was quickly lost in the crowd,

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_00]: dancing the night away like there was no tomorrow. But that tomorrow eventually came,

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_00]: and Jemima failed to collect her children from her sister. Margaret immediately became concerned.

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: It was not like Jemima to fall off the grid, but perhaps she had simply had an

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_00]: unusually long night. But then, Margaret happened to hear neighborhood children talking about

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_00]: the body in the tenement. The timing of a rumor like that couldn't have been worse.

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_00]: The nearby abandoned tenement building at 23 McKee Street was a playground for the children,

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_00]: but also a home for vagrants and a place for sex workers to serve their clients.

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_00]: If there really was a body in that tenement, it could belong to a homeless person.

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_00]: But the fact this happened just when Jemima went MIA did not sit right with Margaret.

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_00]: By Monday, as her sister still hadn't returned, Margaret couldn't help but head to the empty

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_00]: building to see if the rumors were true. When she arrived at 23 McKee Street,

[00:12:03] [SPEAKER_00]: several other people were gathered around the building. Surprised, Margaret walked inside,

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_00]: where she was directed to a bed recess by one wall on the ground floor.

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_00]: At first, Margaret thought she was looking at a mannequin lying on the floor,

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_00]: but then she recognized the torn black pinafore dress, the white blouse,

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and the blighted face that belonged to her sister.

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Jemima McDonald had been brutally beaten on her head and face,

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00]: raped, and strangled with one of her own stockings in the early hours of Sunday morning.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Most of Jemima's clothes were present, but her black patent other handbag

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_00]: and her headscarf were missing, and were not found during subsequent searches.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_00]: An autopsy confirmed Jemima had been menstruating at the time of her death,

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_00]: just like Patricia Docker, which of course could have been a total coincidence.

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_00]: But as the investigators found a sanitary pad at the crime scene close to the body,

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_00]: they couldn't help but wonder if the two murders were connected.

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Upon interviewing people who had been in the area on the night of Jemima's murder,

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_00]: the police learned very little useful information. One woman said she had heard a woman screaming,

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_00]: but she wasn't sure about the time. In addition, another witness had said that they had seen a woman

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_00]: who looked like Jemima talking with a man outside the empty tenement around 1240am,

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_00]: but nobody could say for sure if it was really Jemima. Fortunately, this time,

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_00]: the authorities knew immediately that Jemima had been at Barreland Barroom,

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_00]: so they got to interview the attendees while their memories of the evening were still fresh.

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Several people did remember seeing Jemima at the dance hall, and they also remember the man she

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_00]: had been with. According to the witnesses, the person stood out because he didn't seem to fit in.

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_00]: The man, around 25-35 years of age, was wearing a quality suit with hand-stitched lapels

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_00]: and a white shirt and he had unfashionably short reddish hair.

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Compared to the other dancers, this person seemed a bit too smartly dressed,

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_00]: giving an upscale feeling. Based on the witness reports, it seemed that the same person had been

[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_00]: with Jemima at Betty's bar before the two headed to the Barreland Barroom,

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_00]: but none of the people who remembered seeing Jemima and her companion knew who this man was

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_00]: or could remember ever seeing him at the barroom before. Witnesses later saw Jemima leaving

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_00]: with this person, walking down Gallo Gate before turning right onto Bain Street,

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_00]: and then to London Road. The police received reports from people seeing the two walking

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_00]: together on London Road between 12.15 and 12.30 am. From there, they took a shortcut by way of

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Landresy Street and James Street. It should have taken Jemima only about 20 minutes to reach your

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_00]: home at McKee Street, but she never made it. Although the witness reports provided a good

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_00]: description of the man Jemima had been seen with, days kept passing without any potential

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_00]: suspects in the case. In need of a new approach, the head of the city of Glasgow Police CID,

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Goodall, asked George Lenick Patterson,

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Deputy Director of the Glasgow School of Art to create a painting of the red-haired man's face.

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Something like this had never been done in the history of Scottish criminal investigation,

[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and Goodall had to ask for official permissions from the Crown Office in Edinburgh.

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_00]: After getting the green light, the sketch was created based on the witness reports

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and released to the press on Tuesday, August 26th, 10 days after Jemima's death.

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Lenick's Patterson's impression of the suspect and the murder of Jemima McDonald

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_00]: would eventually become infamous. Not just because of how accurate the sketch was thought to be,

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_00]: but because of the mocking expression on the supposed killer's face.

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It was believed that with such a clear image of the suspect's face,

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_00]: somebody would recognize him in no time. But despite the portrait becoming a media sensation,

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_00]: no new leads were produced, and the police still had no name for the red-haired man.

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Soon, just like what had happened with Patricia Dockers' murder investigation,

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Jemima's case hit a brick wall. And then, just two months after the second murder,

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_00]: another young woman lost her life.

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_00]: 29-year-old Helen Puttick had just returned to Glasgow with her husband George and their

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_00]: two young children after a long stay in Germany. George was a corporal in the British Army,

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_00]: and Helen had initially followed her husband on his posting. But in the end,

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_00]: life as an army wife was not for her. So by 1969, Helen and the couple's two sons,

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_00]: David and Michael, had moved back to Glasgow to live temporarily with her mother at 129 Earl Street.

[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_00]: To be closer to his family, George applied for a posting near Glasgow,

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and in the meantime, spent all his leaves with his wife and children.

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_00]: On Thursday, October 30th, 1969, George was at his home in Glasgow,

[00:16:44] [SPEAKER_00]: and on that night, Helen wanted to go out dancing with her older sister, Jeanne Lankford.

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER_00]: George was a too keen on Helen going out without him, feeling that dancing was a rather

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_00]: inappropriate thing to do as a married woman. But Helen managed to convince George,

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_00]: explaining she just wanted to enjoy herself and have fun with her sister.

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't like Helen had a lot of free time for herself as a mother of a five-year-old in

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_00]: an infant. Before Helen and Jeanne left for the bus at about 8pm, George gave his wife

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_00]: 10 shillings to use for a taxi back home. Helen, who was wearing a black sleeveless dress,

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_00]: black shoes and a fake fur ocelot coat, smiled and assured her husband she would not stay out too

[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_00]: late. In the city centre, the two sisters visited a few pubs for drinks before heading to the

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_00]: barrel land ballroom where they arrived at approximately 10pm. Although Helen and Jeanne

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_00]: had heard about the murder of Jemima McDonald just 10 weeks earlier and the possible connection

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_00]: to the death of another young woman, neither was particularly worried.

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Unlike Jemima and Patricia, the sisters were not alone and would look after each other.

[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_00]: What could go wrong? The following morning at 7.30, a man named Archibald McIntyre was

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_00]: walking his dog along Earl Street into the enclosed garden behind the apartment building.

[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_00]: It was then that Archibald's dog began sniffing as if there was something left

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_00]: lying on the ground. Archibald followed his pet and soon stumbled upon a grisly scene.

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_00]: The body of a young woman with a pair of stockings nodded around her neck.

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_00]: When the police arrived, they discovered the woman lying on the ground face down

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_00]: with her clothes torn and her face so badly beaten she was unrecognizable.

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_00]: A medical examiner later confirmed the woman had been raped before she was strangled to death.

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_00]: She also had bite marks on her body. Some reports say they were found on her wrists,

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_00]: some say on her buttocks or thigh, and she had been menstruating at the time of her death.

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_00]: A sanitary pad was found placed underneath the woman's left armpit,

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and there was a semen stain on her tights. The similarities to the deaths of Jemima McDonald

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and Patricia Docker didn't go unnoticed. It began to seem like there was a serial killer

[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_00]: on the loose in Glasgow. After the discovery of the body, the police set up an incident

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_00]: caravan outside of the door of 95 Earl Street. When George Puttack woke up that morning

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and realized his wife had still not returned home, he glanced out the window and noticed the caravan.

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_00]: While George didn't know why the police were in his neighborhood,

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_00]: he was glad he could go and speak with an officer straight away about Helen being missing.

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So George approached the caravan and explained the situation to the nearest officer

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_00]: who then asked what Helen had been wearing the night before.

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_00]: As soon as George mentioned the faux fur coat, it was realized the badly beaten body

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_00]: belonged to Helen Puttack.

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Naturally, the police immediately needed to speak with Jeannie Langford, the person who had gone out

[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_00]: with Helen and supposedly stayed with her the whole night. Jeannie however, was so distraught upon

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_00]: hearing the news about her sister's death, it took a while before the detectives were able

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_00]: to interview her. But when they did, it was learned that Jeannie had not just seen the potential

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_00]: suspect, she had also spoken to him and that they shared a taxi. According to Jeannie,

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_00]: as soon as they arrived at the Bearland Barroom, she got together with a gentleman who said his name

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_00]: was John. Helen also found herself a companion, a tall young man who appeared suave and a little

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_00]: sophisticated. The four of them danced and chatted and the women eventually laughed after

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_00]: learning both of them were called John or so they claimed. It wasn't strange for people

[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_00]: to use aliases during over 25 nights and based on Helen's partner's behavior, Jeannie felt

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_00]: like he wasn't completely honest as she later recalled. I don't believe either of them were

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_00]: called John, in fact the man I was dancing with was first to introduce himself to the others.

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_00]: When it came to Helen's partner, he seemed to pause for a second or two before giving his name

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_00]: as John. He seemed a bit apprehensive and it was the only time I saw him look less than

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_00]: confident because he seemed so certain of himself in every other way. Neither Jeannie

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_00]: nor Helen really cared about whether these men were named John or something else and if

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_00]: they were married or not. The sisters just wanted to dance and have some fun.

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_00]: The four spent just over an hour together at the barrel land before it was time to leave at 11.30

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_00]: p.m. On their way out, Jeannie tried to buy cigarettes from a vending machine but lost her

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_00]: money due to a malfunction. Jeannie later explained to the police that at this point

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_00]: her sister's red-haired companion became a bit overly irritated and demanded to speak with

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_00]: the manager. But not at any point was this person outraged or shouting. Instead, he

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_00]: spoke in a collected manner sounding like a school teacher speaking to a young child.

[00:21:29] [SPEAKER_00]: While Jeannie thought John would end up being kicked out by a bouncer because of speaking

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_00]: to the manager in a way he did, the manager actually agreed with him and said Jeannie should

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_00]: return the following day to get her refund. And so, the four continued their way. Helen's

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_00]: John murmuring something along the line of, my father says these places are dens of

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_00]: iniquity. Outside, Helen red-haired John and Jeannie walked towards Glasgow Cross to hail a taxi

[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_00]: while the other John headed to the city center as he intended to catch a bus to Castle Milk.

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_00]: During the 20 minute drive back to Scottsden, Jeannie noted John seemed even more irritated than

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_00]: before but perhaps it was because she was a third wheel in this man's eyes. Jeannie later

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_00]: told the detectives this John was approximately 25 to 30 years old, tall, somewhere around

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_00]: six feet with a medium build. He had light, arbor and reddish hair brushed to the right

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and grayish blue eyes. Jeannie also noticed that John had good teeth with one imperfection.

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_00]: One of his teeth on the upper right jaw overlapped the next tooth. That night, John was wearing

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_00]: a brownish, flecked single-breasted suit, a knee length brownish coat of tweed or garbadean,

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_00]: a light blue shirt in a dark tie with red diagonal stripes.

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Jeannie recalled John having a metal badge on the lapel of his jacket that he was constantly touching

[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and rubbing for one reason or another and that he had been smoking embassy brand cigarettes.

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_00]: While John had shared very little about himself back at Barreland, in the taxi

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_00]: he told the two sisters his surname was either Templeton or Sempelson. He lived

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_00]: in the Castle Milk area with a relative and he was unmarried. Strangely,

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_00]: when Jeannie asked of John like dancing, he became almost angry, speaking about adulterous women

[00:23:13] [SPEAKER_00]: attending the city's dance halls. John said he had been raised in a very strict religious household,

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_00]: which explained his habit of quoting religious scripture throughout the conversation.

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_00]: When Jeannie asked what John was planning to do on New Year's Eve or

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Hogmanay as the Scottish say, he replied,

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't dance at Hogmanay, I pray. It was about 12.30 am on Friday night that

[00:23:35] [SPEAKER_00]: the cab driver left Jeannie at her home on Kelso Street before taking John and Helen to Earl Street.

[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Jeannie found it strange that John insisted that the driver took her home first,

[00:23:45] [SPEAKER_00]: about 800 meters further on. And when Jeannie was saying goodbye to Helen,

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_00]: telling her they would see each other the following week, John had slammed the door closed,

[00:23:54] [SPEAKER_00]: pretty much mid-sentence. The taxi then stopped outside 95 Earl Street. The driver told

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_00]: the police Helen had gotten out and walked toward her home without looking back,

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_00]: while John paid the fare and headed after her. And now an hour and a half later,

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_00]: a number six bus stopped between Garner Street and Fort Rose Street and picked up one passenger.

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_00]: The young man with red hair stepped in, seemingly embarrassed by his appearance,

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_00]: looking like he had been in a fight. He had a red scratch on his face,

[00:24:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and his jacket was all muddy. When this is on the bus, remember this person repeatedly

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_00]: tucking a short cuff of one sleeve into his jacket sleeve, which was a significant observation

[00:24:31] [SPEAKER_00]: as a man's cuff link had been found next to Helen Puddock's body.

[00:24:35] [SPEAKER_00]: The man exited the bus a short time later, and was last seen walking towards the public ferry

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_00]: to cross the river Clyde to the south side of the city.

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_00]: A few days later, Glasgow newspapers began publishing articles about the Bible

[00:24:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Quoting Killer alongside Jeannie's description of John. Soon, this individual was given the

[00:24:53] [SPEAKER_00]: name that we still know today more than five decades later, Bible John. After Helen's

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_00]: death, the police were sure they were about to catch Bible John at any moment.

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_00]: There were too many witnesses and too many detailed descriptions of his appearance

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and behavior for him to go unidentified for much longer.

[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Jeannie was shown the portrait made by George Lennox Patterson, which she commented on by saying,

[00:25:18] [SPEAKER_00]: My whole inside just churned. To me the resemblance was there. When I looked at it,

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_00]: it's a funny feeling. It's like something just turns in your guts, you know?

[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like a wee kind of shiver or something. When I saw that I thought,

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_00]: God, that's a terrific resemblance. Jeannie's reaction seemed to confirm that whoever

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_00]: had killed her sister was also responsible for the death of Jemima McDonald. George and Jeannie

[00:25:39] [SPEAKER_00]: worked together to improve the painting of Bible John and make it even more accurate.

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_00]: This time, George created a full-color version that was sent to the press

[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and widely distributed throughout the United Kingdom. Jeannie also helped Glasgow City Police

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_00]: photo-fit technicians to create another composite image of Bible John's face.

[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Due to the fact this man had been seen wearing a type of watch favored by servicemen,

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and because of his short and neat hair, Bible John's picture and description

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_00]: were also sent to British Army bases and Royal Navy ships.

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_00]: The authorities felt confident Bible John's random terror would finally come to an end.

[00:26:14] [SPEAKER_00]: The appeals resulted in numerous reports from witnesses who had thought they had seen

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_00]: the man known as Bible John. The police spent countless hours investigating these leads

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and bringing men in for lineups, but Jeannie didn't recognize any of them.

[00:26:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, the barrel land became a stakeout point where 16 police officers kept an eye on

[00:26:32] [SPEAKER_00]: the attendees of the notorious over 25 knights. Due to the fact that the investigators had to

[00:26:38] [SPEAKER_00]: do everything in their power to blend in, the press eventually dubbed the group as

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Marine Formation Dance Team. Constable Bruce Forsythe later told a local newspaper,

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_00]: when this inquiry started, I could hardly dance a step, now I get better every week.

[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_00]: But while the officers' dancing skills improved, they failed to identify any viable suspects.

[00:26:58] [SPEAKER_00]: The same results came back after detectives analyzed British military and NATO records.

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_00]: It was thought that because Patricia and Jemima had been killed 18 months apart,

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Bible John may have been posted abroad during that time.

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, nothing helpful was ever found. The police also spoke with over 450

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_00]: hairdressers in and around Glasgow in addition to numerous tailors and dentists.

[00:27:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Bible John's hairstyle wasn't typical for the era, but none of the barbers remembered a client

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_00]: matching his description. The dentist's offices provided records of over 5,000 patients

[00:27:30] [SPEAKER_00]: with an overlapping front tooth in the upper jaw, but in the end, the inquiry proved fruitless.

[00:27:37] [SPEAKER_00]: All 5,000 men were located and cleared. And it was not just that the police weren't able

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_00]: to locate Bible John, they didn't find the other John either. The detectives would have

[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_00]: wanted to speak with him as he was the only other person who had spent time in Bible John's presence

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_00]: that was still alive. The second John eventually became known as Castle Milk John because of where

[00:27:58] [SPEAKER_00]: he was heading after the night out. The authorities spent a lot of time looking for this individual,

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_00]: but it was thought that Castle Milk John was purposely avoiding the police because he didn't

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_00]: want someone to find out that he had been at the barrel land that night.

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps he was a married man who had used a false name and now refused to help with

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_00]: the murder investigation so that his actions would not become public. Whatever the reason was,

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER_00]: the fact that Castle Milk John never came forward was a big blow for the police. But when one line

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_00]: of investigation failed, the detectives moved to another one. No stone was left unturned.

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Officers visited over 400 golf courses across Scotland because Jeannie remembered

[00:28:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Bible John talking about golf and his cousin achieving a hole in one.

[00:28:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Numerous churches were also investigated, but no viable suspects were found.

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_00]: In time, the search for Bible John grew to one of the biggest ever undertaken by a Scottish police

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_00]: force. Door-to-door inquiries produced over 50,000 witness statements. More than 5,000 potential

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_00]: suspects were questioned within a year and over 100 detectives and police officers were involved

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_00]: in the inquiry. And yet it's seen that police never got closer to finding Bible John.

[00:29:06] [SPEAKER_00]: As conventional investigation methods failed, the Scottish Daily Records eventually paid for

[00:29:10] [SPEAKER_00]: psychic and parapsychologist Gerard Kreuzett to visit Glasgow and hopefully help in the search.

[00:29:16] [SPEAKER_00]: According to Gerard, Bible John lived in the Govan area in a particular looking house, but

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_00]: again, door-to-door inquiries yielded nothing. After coming up empty-handed once more,

[00:29:27] [SPEAKER_00]: the psychic's side step was described as a waste of time. Although nothing else had

[00:29:31] [SPEAKER_00]: produced results either, the investigation into the three murders gradually became cold

[00:29:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and resources were moved to be used in different cases. The only good thing seemed to be that

[00:29:41] [SPEAKER_00]: while the police had failed to locate Bible John, he had also stopped killing. Because no more murders

[00:29:46] [SPEAKER_00]: followed the death of Helen Puttick, it was believed Bible John moved away, continued killing

[00:29:50] [SPEAKER_00]: somewhere else, was jailed for an unrelated offense, or was incarcerated at a mental hospital.

[00:29:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, it was possible that he simply decided to stop due to the massive manhunt.

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_00]: It was difficult for the detectives to understand how nobody had come forward

[00:30:04] [SPEAKER_00]: positively identifying the man despite the detailed description and sketch,

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_00]: as Detective Superintendent Joe Beattie said after his retirement in 1976,

[00:30:14] [SPEAKER_00]: sometimes you get the ones you shouldn't get, and you don't get the ones you should.

[00:30:18] [SPEAKER_00]: This was one we should have got. We knew so much about him, it is quite incredible that

[00:30:23] [SPEAKER_00]: this man has eluded us. Still over the years some names have popped up as potential suspects.

[00:30:29] [SPEAKER_00]: One of them was a man known as John White. This individual was arrested in late 1969.

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Outside the barrel and ballroom following an argument with a woman. Detective Les Brown,

[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_00]: who was present at the time, noticed John's resemblance to Bible John and he was taken in

[00:30:43] [SPEAKER_00]: to be questioned. But there was one obvious issue. John White didn't have notably overlapping

[00:30:48] [SPEAKER_00]: front teeth. Still, he was considered a viable suspect for the Bible John murders for quite

[00:30:53] [SPEAKER_00]: some time. Detective Brown's suspicions were further raised because John White's name

[00:30:57] [SPEAKER_00]: wasn't really John White, but John Edgar. He had also given a false address to the police.

[00:31:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Ultimately, there was no evidence linking him to the crimes of Bible John and he was released

[00:31:06] [SPEAKER_00]: without charges. Years later, after Detective Brown published an autobiography including a

[00:31:12] [SPEAKER_00]: chapter about John White, John Edgar contacted authorities and offered to provide a DNA sample

[00:31:17] [SPEAKER_00]: to clear his name. Apparently this was never done, but it seems unlikely John Edgar had

[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_00]: anything to do with the murders. Another suspect was a man named John Irvine McInnes,

[00:31:27] [SPEAKER_00]: an ex-soldier in furniture salesman. John came from a strong religious background and was known

[00:31:32] [SPEAKER_00]: to be a heavy drinker and gambler. Witnesses placed John at the barrel and ballroom the

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_00]: night before Helen Puddock was murdered and he did resemble the description of Bible John.

[00:31:41] [SPEAKER_00]: But the thing is, during the investigation, John McInnes was included in more than one

[00:31:46] [SPEAKER_00]: identity parade and Jeannie Langford never picked him out. John also didn't have crooked front

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER_00]: teeth and his jug ears didn't match those of the man Jeannie had seen. Eventually, John was

[00:31:56] [SPEAKER_00]: eliminated as a suspect in 1969 and yet almost three decades later in 1996, his body was exhumed

[00:32:03] [SPEAKER_00]: after a cold case investigation put him under suspicion again. John died in 1980 at the age of

[00:32:09] [SPEAKER_00]: 41 of a self-inflicted wound that severed the brachial artery in his arm and after a DNA

[00:32:14] [SPEAKER_00]: sample taken from Helen's tights was linked to a member of the McInnes family as an 80% match,

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_00]: the investigators wanted to test his DNA too. For a moment it was thought that Bible John

[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_00]: was finally going to be identified and the case closed. But several test results conducted proved

[00:32:30] [SPEAKER_00]: inconclusive and John McInnes was again cleared as a suspect in July 1996. Finally, the person who

[00:32:38] [SPEAKER_00]: would cause the most speculation was convicted serial killer Peter Tobin. In 2006, Peter raped

[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Polish student Angelica Kluk before beating and stabbing her to death. Investigators had a

[00:32:49] [SPEAKER_00]: feeling that the killing wasn't Peter's first. Their suspicion was later confirmed when

[00:32:53] [SPEAKER_00]: the bodies of 18-year-old dynamic Nickel and 15-year-old Vicki Hamilton were found buried in

[00:32:58] [SPEAKER_00]: the garden of a house in which Peter had previously lived. Once the police investigated Peter's background,

[00:33:05] [SPEAKER_00]: they learned he had been living in Glasgow as late as 1969 before marrying and moving to Brighton.

[00:33:11] [SPEAKER_00]: That was not all. Peter was known to visit the Barreland Barroom regularly

[00:33:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and he was described as a smart dresser. Apparently, Peter also sometimes used a false

[00:33:20] [SPEAKER_00]: name, John Semple, which sounded similar to the name Jeannie had heard in the taxi, John Sempleson.

[00:33:27] [SPEAKER_00]: After the book The Lost British Serial Killer was published in 2010, stating Peter Tobin was

[00:33:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Bible John, several women came forward stating Peter had sexually assaulted them at the Barreland

[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Barroom in the late 1960s. In addition, three of his former wives gave accounts of being in

[00:33:42] [SPEAKER_00]: prison, throttled, beaten and raped at Peter's hands and most notably he was angered by

[00:33:48] [SPEAKER_00]: the female menstrual cycle. Nobody could deny Peter Tobin sounded like the most potential suspect

[00:33:53] [SPEAKER_00]: for the Bible John murders, but many details contradicted the theory. First of all, Jeannie

[00:33:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Lankford said that she was certain Peter Tobin wasn't her sister's killer after seeing his

[00:34:03] [SPEAKER_00]: picture. Furthermore, Peter moved to Brighton before the murders of Jamima McDonald and Helen

[00:34:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Puttick. Peter got married on August 6th, spent his honeymoon in Brighton and was then arrested

[00:34:14] [SPEAKER_00]: on August 20th regarding an unrelated crime. Jamima McDonald was killed on August 16th,

[00:34:21] [SPEAKER_00]: so it seems Peter couldn't have been responsible for her death. Peter himself refused to cooperate

[00:34:25] [SPEAKER_00]: with the police saying he didn't care about the families of the victims and if they got closure

[00:34:30] [SPEAKER_00]: or not. He did however eventually open up to a prison pal in 2021. I am not Bible John,

[00:34:38] [SPEAKER_00]: but I did kill others. People just think I am Bible John, but I'm not, it wasn't me,

[00:34:42] [SPEAKER_00]: nothing to do with me, I didn't kill them. In the end, no evidence has been found to link

[00:34:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Peter Tobin to the Bible John murders. His DNA was tested and it didn't match the sample taken

[00:34:54] [SPEAKER_00]: from Helen Puttick's tights. And so, Peter was finally eliminated as a suspect and the police

[00:34:59] [SPEAKER_00]: had to return to the drawing board. Today, five decades after Bible John killed three young

[00:35:06] [SPEAKER_00]: women who had simply wanted to dance and have fun, we are no closer to solving the mystery.

[00:35:10] [SPEAKER_00]: The case of Patricia Docker, Jamima McDonald and Helen Puttick remain open,

[00:35:16] [SPEAKER_00]: waiting for the piece of the puzzle that would finally reveal the identity of their killer.

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