The Hunt for Bible John

Taal: NL
Categorie: reportage

Over 18 months from 1968, three women were found murdered in Glasgow. They had all been to the same iconic dancehall and were killed in a similar brutal and sadistic fashion. The suspect's now infamous moniker came after a key witness described a man who picked up women yet quoted extensively from the Old Testament and frowned on adultery. Despite one of the biggest manhunts in Scottish history, more than 50 years on, these brutal killings remain unsolved. Episode one begins in 1968 in Glasgow. Far from the swinging sixties of London, Glasgow was in a state of disarray. The living conditions in much of the city were appalling, with many of the tenement slums being torn down. Life was hard, but Glaswegian's had a lifeline in the form of the dancehalls. Glasgow was known for being "dancing daft" and boasted many of the country's top dancehalls. But given the cities numerous gangs and hard-drinking reputation, there was always a level of violence simmering beneath the surface. We hear from retired Detective Chief Superintendent Joe Jackson, then a young detective constable, who recalls attending at the scene of a young woman's body being found in the south side of the city. She's identified as Patricia Docker, a married mother who worked as an auxiliary nurse and lived nearby. There are no witnesses and very little information for detectives to act on. All that that is known is that Patricia had been dancing at Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom the evening before. Former Evening Citizen reporter Colin Adams worked the early shift and ran a front-page story on the murder, but after a few weeks and no significant developments in the case, police are assigned to fresh murder cases in Govan and the Patricia Docker inquiry goes cold. It was over a year later that the Barrowland became the focal point for another murder. Mother of three, Jemima MacDonald, was a regular at the Barrowland Ballroom. Her niece, Anne Darroch, reveals that Jemima went dancing alone on Saturday 16th August 1969. Jemima was meant to be with her sister, but her sister had argued with her husband that night and didn't go. The next morning, rumours began to spread around Mackeith Street, Bridgeton, that local children had found a body. Worried about Jemima who hadn't returned home, her sister went looking in the abandoned tenements, where she found Jemima's strangled body. Daily Record crime reporter Arnot McWhinnie, attests that it was at this point he recognised that the murders were so similar that they had to be the work of the same person. Once again, detectives tried to gather information from witnesses who may have seen Jemima at the Barrowland ballroom. One witness reveals that they saw Jemima with a man that night and gave a description of him to detectives. Police take the unprecedented decision to release an artist's impression to the national press in an attempt to trace the man. Despite over a hundred phone calls to police, there are no significant lines of inquiry launched. 12 weeks later, the killer strikes again. Mother of two Helen Puttock went for a night of dancing at the Barrowland with her sister. Helen's husband George recalls that evening when he sent Helen off with five pounds taxi money, as he stayed home to watch their two sons. Helen's body was found by a dogwalker in a backcourt near her home in Scotstoun the next morning. Detectives from across the city, are drafted in to work the case. There are similarities with both the Patricia Docker and Jemima MacDonald murders, but this time police have something they never had with the first two murders - a material witness in the form of Helen's sister. She left Helen in a taxi with a red-headed bible quoting man called John just a few hours before her body was discovered.