A Dark City

Bible John

• Bryan • Episode 1

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What if a killer could disappear into the shadows, leaving behind nothing but fear and unanswered questions? Join us as we unravel the chilling mystery of Bible John, the elusive figure behind the unsolved murders of Patricia Docker, Jemima MacDonald, and Ellen Putuck in late 1960s Glasgow. Each woman met her tragic end after a night of dancing at the Barrowland Ballroom, and despite a meticulous investigation involving over 100 detectives and thousands of witness statements, the case remains unsolved. Through the haunting accounts of the victims' last moments and the relentless search for their killer, we explore the massive manhunt's setbacks and breakthroughs, including the innovative but ultimately inconclusive PhotoFit system.

Our journey through this ominous chapter in Glasgow's history doesn't end there. We reflect on the lingering impact of these crimes, from the cultural fear instilled by Bible John to the ongoing quest for justice by the victims' families. With insights from Audrey Gillan's podcast, "Bible John: Creating a Serial Killer," we delve into the intriguing theories and forensic advancements that have kept this case in the public eye for decades. Despite the advent of DNA testing and other forensic techniques, the mystery endures, leaving us to ponder how a series of brutal murders could echo through time, haunting a city and its people.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to A Dark City, the podcast that delves into the shadowy underbelly of Glasgow, a city with a storied past and a reputation for resilience. Here we uncover the chilling true stories of serious crimes that have left their mark on the city's history, from notorious gangland wars to unsolved mysteries. Join us as we explore the darker side of Glasgow and the people whose lives were forever changed by its crimes. In this episode we're going to speak about Bible John. Bible John is an unidentified serial killer who is believed to have murdered three young women between 1968 and 1969 in Glasgow. Bible John's victims were all young brunette women between the ages of 25 and 31, all of whom met their murderer at the Barrowland Ballroom that was a dance hall and music venue in the city. The perpetrator has never been identified and the case remains both unsolved and one of the most extensive manhunts in Scottish criminal history. The case would prove to be the first time in Scotland in which the Crown Office authorised publication of a composite drawing of any individual suspected of murder. On the 23rd of February 1968, the naked body of a 25-year-old nurse, patricia Docker, was found in the doorway of a lock-up garage by a man on his way to work at Carmichael Place in the battlefield area of Glasgow. The location of her body was only yards from her home at Langside Place. Her body bore evidence of extensive blunt force trauma, especially to the face and head. She had been strangled to death with a strong ligature, possibly a belt. Patricia's handbag, watch and clothes were all missing from the crime scene. Her clothing was never found, although her handbag was later recovered from a river and her watch was recovered from a puddle of water close by the crime scene. Her clothing was never found, although her handbag was later recovered from a river and her watch was recovered from a puddle of water close by the murder scene. Extensive door-to-door inquiries in the area produced a witness who recalled hearing a female voice scream leave me alone the previous evening. Little hard evidence, though, was discovered at the crime scene. Nonetheless, an ambulance man who retrieved the body informed the police that the victim was a nurse who worked at Mearnskirk Hospital in nearby Renfrewshire. This enabled the police to contact Patricia's dad, who formally identified her body the following day.

Speaker 1:

Patricia was a married mother of one. The night of her murder she informed her parents she'd be spending the night at the Majestic Ballroom in Hope Street, although for unknown reasons she had chosen to spend the majority of that evening at the Barrowland Ballroom. This is probably because that was the over-25's night. When she failed to return home that evening, her parents assumed she'd spent the night with a friend. Police inquiries would only determine several days later, though, that Patricia had left the majestic ballroom to attend the Barrowland. A post-mortem conducted at the University of Glasgow Medical School confirmed that the cause of death had been strangulation and that Patricia's body bore no clear evidence of sexual assault. Furthermore, the stage of rigor mortis upon her body at the time of discovery indicated that she had likely died a short time after leaving the Barrowland Ballroom. The police surmised that the perpetrator had likely grabbed Patricia before repeatedly punching her and kicking her in the face as she shouted leave me alone. He then proceeded to strangle Patricia to death, leaving her naked body with nothing but one shoe nearby, close to that doorway at the lock-up garage at Carmichael Place.

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Six months later, on Saturday, the 16th of August 1969, 31-year-old mother of three, jemima MacDonald, also opted to spend the evening at the Barrowland Ballroom. Jemima was a regular attendee of the Barrowland and, according to her family, her sister, margaret O'Brien, would look after her three children while she was there as midnight approached. She was seen by several people in the company of a young, well-dressed and well-spoken man of slim build, aged between 25 and 35, and between 6 feet and 6 feet 2. This individual had short brownish hair. Jemima was last seen leaving the Barrowland shortly after midnight on the 17th of August in the company of this individual and was last seen walking towards her own home in the Bridgeton area of Glasgow.

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Her sister, margaret, became concerned when she failed to return home. Later that same day she began hearing local rumours that young children had been seen leaving a derelict tenement building in McKeith Street discussing a body in the premises. By the Monday morning, margaret was so concerned that she herself, fear in the worst, walked into this old building. It was there she discovered her own sister's battered body lying face down with her shoes and stockings lying beside her. Post-mortem conducted that Jemima had been raped and extensively beaten, especially around the face, before she had been strangled to death with one of her own stockings. Her murder had occurred approximately 30 hours before her body had been discovered. Unlike Patricia Docker, the body of Jemima MacDonald was fully clothed, although her clothing underneath had been torn and, like Patricia, she had been menstruating at the time of her death. Movements on the night of her murder produced several eyewitnesses who were able to accurately describe the man with whom she had been in the company with at the Barrowland Door-to-door. Inquiries on McKeith Street also produced a woman who remembered hearing female screams on the evening of Jemima's murder. Although this individual could not recall a precise time, the police considered this information of little use to the inquiry. Although the City of Glasgow Police noted several striking similarities between the murders of Patricia and Jemima, including that both women had attended the Barrowland Ballroom on the evening of their murder, been beaten before being strangled to death with a ligature, were menstruating and had their handbags taken from the crime scene.

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On the 31st of October 1969, a man walking his dog discovered the body of 29-year-old Ellen Putuck behind a tenement building in the Scotstoun area of Glasgow. Her body was found beside a drain pipe in the Bark Garden area of Arrow Street. She had been stripped partially naked, extensively beaten around the face before being raped, then strangled to death with one of her own stockings. The contents of her handbag had been scattered close to her body, although the handbag itself was missing from the crime scene. Grass and weed stains were on the soles of her shoes and the soles of her feet, indicating that she had engaged in a ferocious struggle with the killer. She had evidently at one pointcious struggle with the killer. She had evidently at one point attempted to scale the nearby railway embankment. Her body also bore a deep bite mark. The murderer had placed her sanitary towel beneath her left arm.

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The evening prior to the murder, Helen and her sister Jean Langford had both been to the Barrowland Ballroom where both had become acquainted with two men, both named John. One of these guys had said he worked as a slater and resided in Castle Milk, while the other man, who did not disclose where he actually lived. After being in the company of these two individuals for more than an hour, all four left the Barrowland to head home. The man named John from Castle Milk, who had been Jan's dance partner, walked to George Square where he boarded a bus, while Jan and Helen and the man who had been Helen's dance partner jumped a taxi. The trio set off from Glasgow Cross, making the 20-minute westward journey towards Langford's Knightswood home.

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During the trio's conversation in the taxi, most of the crucial information pertaining to this killer's psychological profile became apparent. Upon arrival at her home, jean exited the cab, leaving Helen and her dance partner still inside the taxi, then continued towards Helen's home in Scotstoun. Jean later informed the police that her sister's companion had been a teetotal guy who repeatedly quoted from the Old Testament. This is where the name Bible John comes from. He also referred to the Parland as an adulterous den of iniquity and his disapproval of married women visiting his premises.

Speaker 1:

The suspect was described by Helen's sister, jean Lankford. The suspect was described by Helen's sister, jean Langford, as being tall, slim and a well-dressed young man with reddish or fair hair, rounded neatly at the back, aged between 25 and 30 and approximately 5 feet, 10 to 6 feet. This guy had given his name as either John Templeton, john Sempleson or John Emerson and he had been a polite and wee spoken guy, having frequently quoted from the Old Testament during the taxi ride home, while also indicating he was neither Catholic nor Protestant. Jean stated that it had become increasingly clear that, as the trio driven in the taxi, that this man considered her presence in the vehicle to be an inconvenience. At one point during the ride he had explained to the women that the reason he refrained from consuming alcohol was due to stripped upbringing by his parents. He even says I don't drink at Hogmanay, I pray. He then made reference to any married woman who frequented these premises as being adulterous by nature. Joan also informed detectives that she could recall him, mentioning that he had been familiar with several drinking premises in the Yorker area of Glasgow and that he had at one stage worked in a laboratory. She was able to describe distinct facial features of this man, such as overlapping front teeth. However, bouncers at the Barrowland Ballroom dismissed much of this description, claiming that the man had been short and well-spoken individual with black hair.

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The last possible sighting of the suspect was made by both the driver and the conductor of her night bus service, who noticed a young guy matching the description given by Jean getting on a bus at the junction of Dunbarton Road and Grey Street at approximately 2am on the 31st of October. He was in a particularly dishevelled state, with mud stains on his jacket and a livid red mark on his cheek just beneath his eye. Both witnesses also recalled him repeatedly tucking his shirt cuff into the sleeve of his jacket. At the crime scene, a man's cuff link had been found alongside the body of Helen. This individual was last seen walking towards the public ferry to cross the River Clyde, to the south side of the city.

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The murder of Helen Putock held remarkable similarities to the two previous murders, further raising suspicions that all three murders had been committed by the same person. Each of the victims had been the mother of at least one child and had met her murderer at the Barrowland Ballroom. The handbag of each woman was missing, each victim had been strangled to death and at least two of the three women had been raped prior to their murders. In addition, each of the three women had been escorted home by her killer and murdered within yards of their doorstep. At the time of their death, each had had their sanitary towel or tampon placed upon, beneath or near her body, leading to speculation that the women had been murdered for the refusal to engage in intercourse with their murderer. Within hours of the discovery of the body of Ellen Putock.

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Hours of the discovery of the body of Ellen Putock, an additional composite drawing of the suspect was created using the detailed description provided by her sister, jean Langford. Jean had saw the earlier image created after the murder of Jemima MacDonald and believed it was an excellent likeness. Detective Superintendent Joe Beatty asked the public to closely study this composite drawing should it resemble anybody that they knew, due to the suspect's hair being unfashionably short for the era, over 450 hairdressers in and around Glasgow were shown the updated drawing of the suspect, and all dentists in and around the city were at to examine their records to determine whether they held anything for a male patient with opal laughing teeth and missing a tooth in the upper right jaw. Both lines of inquiry proved fruitless, though. The police also produced an artist's impression created by Lennox Patterson, registrar of the Glasgow School of Art, based on the recollections of Helen's sister. In June 1970, police employed the PhotoFit system in an attempt to produce a better likeness of the suspect. As mentioned before, this was the first instance this method of identifying a murder suspect was utilised in Scotland.

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More than 100 detectives were assigned to work full-time on the case and 50,000 witness statements would be taken in subsequent door-to-door inquiries. Ultimately, more than 5,000 potential suspects would be questioned in the first year of inquiry alone, and Jan Langford would be required to attend over 300 identity parades. Although she was adamant, none of the individuals required to participate in these identity parades had been the individual with whom she had last seen her sister with, and all would be cleared of any involvement, fearing that the perpetrator would strike again. A team of 16 detectives was instructed to mingle with the dancers at the dance halls in Glasgow. In particular, these detectives frequented the Barrowland Ballroom on Thursday and Saturday nights at these over 25 events where each of the victims was presumed to have met her murderer.

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Despite the extensive manhunt, no further developments would arise and the investigation into the three murders gradually became cold cases, with many officers assigned to the case believing that the perpetrator had either died, been jailed for an unrelated offence, had been incarcerated at a mental hospital or that senior police officers had known his actual identity but had been unable to prove he had committed the murders. Others speculated that he may have simply just moved away from the Glasgow area. This possibility prompted police to circulate multiple copies of that composite drawn at all British Army, navy and Air Force bases in the United Kingdom, europe, the Middle East and even the Far East. This line of inquiry failed to produce any significant leads. There were actually a few suspects, the first being John White, former detective Chief Inspector Les Brown. In particular, these detectives frequented the Barrowland Ballroom on Thursday and Saturday nights at these over 25 events where each of the victims was presumed to have met her murderer. Despite the extensive manhunt, no further developments would arise and the investigation into the three murders gradually became cold cases, with many officers assigned to the case believing that the perpetrator had either died, been jailed for an unrelated offence, had been incarcerated at a mental hospital or that senior police officers had known his actual identity but had been unable to prove he had committed the murders. Others speculated that he may have simply just moved away from the Glasgow area. This possibility prompted police to circulate multiple copies of that composite drawn at all British Army Navy and Air Force bases in the United Kingdom, europe, the Middle East and even the Far East. This line of inquiry failed to produce any significant leads. There were actually a few suspects, the first being John White, former detective chief inspector Les Brown. Many years later, les Brown spoke at length to a detective who'd taken the same guy to a hospital after arresting him outside the Barrowland Ballroom at the time of the murders. Although the suspect had needed several stitches in his head for an altercation, as soon as the handcuffs had been released he escaped from the hospital. At the time of this incident, the guy had also falsely given his name to medical personnel as John White.

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In addition to this basic, circumstantial evidence. The whole demeanour of this guy had led Les Brown and several of his colleagues to believe he may have been a perpetrator. However, after Brown wrote of his suspicions in his 2005 autobiography, this guy came forward and offered to provide DNA in order to clear his name. This led to his elimination as a suspect. In 1983, an unidentified man contacted the Strathclyde police. This guy claimed that he knew that his friend had been Bible John, and to that both he and his friend had been raised in the Cranhill area of Glasgow and both had frequented the Barrowland Ballroom in the 60s. He had, he claimed, read an article in the Evening Times five years before this, suddenly realising his friend had been the perpetrator of the murders. The alleged suspect was traced living in the Netherlands, married to a Dutch woman. Nothing more was ever heard from his claimant or the reputed suspect.

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Then we come to John Irvin McInnes. In 1996, strathclyde Police exhumed the body of John Irvin McInnes from a graveyard in Stonehouse, south Lanarkshire. Mcinnes, who had served in the Scots Guards, had died by suicide in 1980 at the age of 41. He was the cousin of one of the original suspects in the Bible-drawn investigation and turns out he was related to a senior police officer. A DNA sample was taken from McInnes' body for comparison with the semen samples found on the stockings belonged to Helen Puttick and which had been used to strangle her. The results of the tests conducted proved inconclusive, with then-Lord Advocate, lord Mackay, stating insufficient evidence existed to link McInnes with the murder of Helen Puttock. The Crown officially cleared McInnes of any involvement in the Bible-drawn murders in July 1996.

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Then we come on to Peter Tobin. Several criminologists and investigators have speculated that convicted serial killer Peter Tobin may have been Bible-drawn. Tobin was convicted of the 2006 murder of Polish student Angelika Kluck. He relocated from Glasgow to England in August 1969. This was just before the final two murders committed by Bible-drawn, after marrying his first wife, whom he had met at the Barrowland Ballroom in 1968. From August 1969, tobin lived in Brighton. He lived there for 20 years and from the late 80s he would alternatively reside in either Scotland or the south of England.

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The Tobin attack clock so ferociously hit her body and then absconded back to London prior to his arrest did not suggest the work of an amateur. However, one discrepancy is that Bible Drawn displayed his victims' bodies in public places, whereas Tobin buried his and all his other victims, which we'll come to in another episode. Some contemporary visual similarities exist between Peter Tobin when aged in his twenties and the 1969 composite drawn of Bible Drawn, although the composite drawn showed Bible Drawn with ready share and the contemporary pictures of Tobin showed he did not have that hair colour. Tobin's former wives have given accounts of being repeatedly imprisoned, throttled, beaten and raped by him, and each has stated that he had been driven to extreme physical firings by the female menstrual cycle, a fact that is long suspected by investigators as being the perpetrator's motive behind the murders. In addition, tobin is known to have been a staunch Roman Catholic with strong religious views, and the earliest Bible drawn may have given to Jean Langsford and Helen Puttock in 1969, similar to one of the synonyms known to have been regularly used by Tobin John Semple. As you'll recall, that's a similar name to what Jean Langford thought she heard in the taxi that night.

Speaker 1:

Although DNA testing has been used to clear several suspects, detectives believe obtaining a forensic link between Peter Tobin and any of the murder victims linked to Bible Drawn is unlikely. Due to the deterioration of the physical samples owing to poor storage, tobin has since been eliminated as a suspect by police, although often reported that Tobin moved from Glasgow to Brighton after the 1969 murders. He in fact relocated from Glasgow to Brighton with his fiancée Margaret Mountney before the second murder attributed to Bible Drawn. Operation Anagram discovered that Tobin was in Brighton at the time of the final two Bible Drawn murders. That Tobin was in Brighton at the time of the final two Bible-drawn murders. He had married his first wife in Brighton on the 6th of August 1969, ten days before the 16th of August murder of Jemima MacDonald, as recorded on her marriage certificate. Tobin's wife testified the pair were still on their honeymoon in Brighton at the time of the murder of the second victim and she insists he was with her at the time. Tobin was in police custody regarding an unrelated crime when another of the killings occurred. He was also still living in Brighton at the time of the third murder, meaning he would have had to travel without his wife's knowledge to Glasgow and back from Brighton to commit the murder of Helen Putock.

Speaker 1:

Tobin's DNA was checked against the semen sample for the Bible John is part of Operation Anagram. The results of this analysis conclusively prove the bodily fluid did not source from Tobin. The doubts surrounding the DNA evidence notwithstanding, the police also have a record of the bite mark that was found on Helen Putock's body, which they can cross-check with Tobin's dental records, as had been done with John McInnes when he was exhumed and subsequently eliminated as a suspect in 1996. So that was the case of Bible John, an evil serial killer who brought terror to the city of Glasgow in the 60s. After the third killing, it all seemed to stop. All leads went dead and all suspects were eliminated.

Speaker 1:

Years later, though, when other police officers got involved in the case, they got back onto John Irwin McInnes. There was long suspicions due to the fact that he was related to a high-ranking police officer, and it just smelled of a cover-up and conspiracy. These police officers working at the Partick police station discovered some amazing things had been going on, but that's for a different story. If you're familiar with the podcast Bible John Creating a Serial Killer by Audrey Gillan, she explains everything in much greater detail. Dna testing was used to eliminate him. The bite mark eliminated him, but there's just so much more to that story.

Speaker 1:

It's worth a listen and it's a great podcast that brings an end to this episode. A sad story of three young women brutally murdered in terrible circumstances. Nobody was ever brought to justice for this, and nobody ever will. I don't think Bible John was this scary boogeyman type figure when I was a wee boy. In fact, some of the older kids used to try to frighten us by saying Bible John is going to get you. This was going on for decades and decades. It's a real shame for surviving family members that this case has never been brought to justice. Thank you.