RIPPER KILLED MY WIFE, NOT TOBIN
Only ‘irrefutable evidence’ will change George’s mind
BIBLE John victim Helen Puttock’s husband has told how he doesn’t believe Peter Tobin killed his wife – but thinks the Yorkshire Ripper did.
George Puttock says he has always believed Peter Sutcliffe was responsible for Helen’s death in 1969.
He said unless there is “irrefutable evidence such as DNA that it was someone else” he won’t change his mind about the killer’s identity.
ALMOST 52 years after Bible John killed Helen Puttock, her husband George says he believes it was Peter Sutcliffe not Peter Tobin who killed her.
George said Tobin’s denial earlier this month that he was Bible John – whose true identity has never been uncovered – has only reinforced his belief that Helen was murdered by the Yorkshire Ripper.
Helen, 29, was the third victim of suspected serial killer Bible John. She was raped and strangled with her tights in Scotstoun, Glasgow, following a night out with her sister Jean McLachlan at the Barrowland Ballroom in October 1969.
George said Helen had also suffered a serious head injury which prompted police at the time to ask if he had ever hit her.
He said: “They asked me if I hit her and, of course, I said no and asked why.
“They said she had a blunt force injury to her head and it wasn’t until years later when I discovered that Peter Sutcliffe favoured using a ball-peen hammer that I began to investigate him. I was able to place him in Glasgow at the time too.”
Sutcliffe, who died last year, was jailed in 1981 after being convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven more in Yorkshire in the 1970s and 80s.
But George said he thinks Sutcliffe started killing in Scotland and that Helen was one of his first victims.
He added: “A photograph of Sutcliffe from the 60s, showing him clean-shaven and digging a grave, bore a remarkable resemblance to the pictures police put out on Bible John.
“Also on the night of the murder Jean told police she went to the cloakroom and on her return the man with Helen was showing her something on a piece of paper and Helen’s face was one of shock or surprise.
“Police always said maybe he was showing her a Police ID card or a military ID card but Helen was a military wife, I was in the Signals regiment for 22 years, she would not have been surprised at a military card but she may have been shocked at a grave digger’s card.”
George, who is in his 80s, added: “Sutcliffe was back and forwards to Scotland in his lorry. That night Helen was wearing a topaz ring, it was large. She would have fought back against her attacker, I’m convinced she’d have ripped away at their face as she was fighting for her life.
“Maybe that’s why Sutcliffe suddenly grew a beard, he wanted to hide scratches. The ring has never turned up. I don’t know if police have it or the killer took it. Why was he never checked out? I’ve repeatedly asked police over the years and have never received a firm
answer. Even just to rule him out but they never did or if they did they never told me.”
George, who lives with his second wife of 47 years, Mavis, in his childhood home in Wokingham, Berkshire, said he believed police focused too much on Jean’s evidence.
He said: “They never traced the other ‘John’ who was dancing with Jean that night. He could have added to the famous description and picture.
“The police placed too much pressure on Jean who would have been drunk that night as well. Her recollections would have been hazy. I think a lot of mistakes were made and now there is no evidence so I don’t think we’ll ever get any answers.
“Jean gave descriptions but she’d had some whiskies before going to the Barrowlands. Police should have looked for more witnesses but Joe Beattie, the officer in charge, was set that she was the only reliable true witness.”
Earlier this month, the Record revealed that Scots serial killer Tobin denied rumours that he was Bible John. That reinforced George’s view. He said: “I’ve never been convinced by Tobin. I’ve looked through those trophies they found in his bag and there is nothing to connect him to Helen. He might be a serial killer and he might have been in Glasgow when Helen was murdered but I’ve never thought it was him.
“Nothing will convince me it wasn’t Sutcliffe unless there is irrefutable evidence such as DNA that it was someone else.
“I think back and I remember giving Helen a fiver to get a taxi home thinking she would be safe in a taxi. It turned out to be the worst £5 I’ve ever spent. It might be over 50 years ago but I would still like to know who killed Helen because I don’t believe Bible John exists. She and my sons deserve to have the mystery solved once and for all.”
A police spokesman said: “The murder of Helen Puttock remains unresolved, however, as with all unresolved cases, they are subject to review and any new information about her death will be investigated.”