‘ It is incredible this man has eluded us’
IN recent weeks I have described the transformation of Glasgow in the 1960s and early 1970s, but I cannot leave that era without charting a very dark passage in the history of the city.
From 1968, for a period of four or five years – longer if you read the press reports of the time – the name of one man came to dominate the headlines month after month, and it wasn’t even his real name.
Even now, more than 50 years after he conducted his reign of terror, no one really knows the identity of Bible John. Or if they do, they are not saying.
I have written about Bible John elsewhere before and therefore I am well aware that references to him are still painful for surviving members of the families of his three known victims.
Therefore I will keep this account short and factual, though I feel dutybound to record his existence and what he did to this city of ours.
You cannot write the history of a city without including the unpleasantness and in the late 60s and early 70s, Bible John as a serial killer of young women was seen as evil incarnate and he undoubtedly cast a pall over Glasgow for years.
The facts of his nefarious activities are well known. Between February 1968 and October 1969, three young women were brutally murdered in this city.
Though it was not spotted at first, there emerged strong evidence pointing to a serial killer, though that term was not in common use at the time. Patricia Docker, Jemima MacDonald and Helen Puttock had all been dancing at the Barrowland Ballroom in the city centre and met their killer there.
All three suffered death by beating and strangulation. Each woman was a brunette aged between 25 and 31, they were all mothers, and all three had been menstruating at the time of their killing. They were all escorted home late at night by their murderer who killed them near their homes. He sexually assaulted all three and raped two of them. He also stole their handbags.
The first of the women to die was nurse Patricia Docker, 25, a mother of one. She was beaten and strangled to death not far from her home in Langside.
Estranged from her husband, she had gone dancing at the Barrowland Ballroom. Her naked body was found the following morning, February 23, 1968, outside a lock- up garage at Carmichael Place. She had been menstruating at the time of her death.
It would be 18 months before the killer struck again. On the morning of Monday, August 18, 1969, the body of Jemima MacDonald, always known as Mima, was found by her own sister, Margaret O’Brien, in an empty tenement building near their homes in MacKeith Street, Bridgeton. Much was made by the police and press of the fact that Mima was the mother of three young children by two different men.
No immediate connections were made between the two murders, though some police officers and reporters remarked on the similarities. There were also witnesses to both women’s attendance at Barrowland, and after the second murder, detectives used their descriptions to issue a composite drawing of the suspect.
Just 10 weeks later, the body of 29- year- old Helen Puttock was discovered on the morning of November 1, 1969. Her corpse was found by a man walking his dog behind the tenement in Earl Street, Scotstoun, where Helen lived. She was not estranged from her husband who was in the forces, but had persuaded him to let her take their two children and stay with the mother in Scotstoun until he could get a better posting.
She had been partially stripped, beaten around the face and head, raped and strangled with one of her own stockings. She, too, had been menstruating and her handbag was missing.
There was now little doubt that all three victims had been killed by the same man. In the case of Helen Puttock, there was a witness who had seen the man close up – her sister Jean Langford who accompanied Helen and a man called John in a
There must be many people who know someone who looks like this artist’s impression
taxi from the city centre to Scotstoun.
Jean told detectives that the man had quoted from the Bible and journalist John Quinn found out that detail and came up with the name Bible John.
A squad of 100 detectives started working on the case, and 5000 statements were taken from people with any sort of information.
Detective Superintendent Joe Beattie was in charge of the case, and it was clear that the lack of solid leads was very frustrating for him. With further details provided by Jean Langford, a revised artist’s impression was issued, in effect a portrait of a potential killer.
In 1970, with no prime suspect having been identified, Dt Supt Beattie made another appeal for information. He said: “It is quite incredible that this man has eluded us. I am positive this man comes from Glasgow or nearby. He is between 25 and 30, between 5ft 10in and 6 ft tall, has light red hair, good features, bluegrey eyes and a smart modern appearance. I do not think he is a very religious man, but just has a normal intelligent working knowledge of the Bible which he likes to air ... there must be many people who know someone who looks like this artist’s impression.”
Beattie was convinced that Bible John would kill again, but he never did, at least not in Glasgow. But for years from 1969 onwards, the hunt for Bible John never relented. Every police appeal, every leaked detail of the inquiry, every morsel of tittletattle was spread across the city’s newspapers.
It is fair to say that the atmosphere in the city was feverish. Attendance fell at city dance halls, and police officers were asked to be less obvious as they staked out the various venues.
A whole host of possible suspects were interrogated only to be dismissed from the inquiry. Bible John became Glasgow’s bogeyman, and has remained so ever since.