Mother of Moira Jones tells of ordeal after murder
● Private journals reveal ‘trauma and despair’ of bereaved family
It was a case that shocked the nation. Now the mother of a Scottish woman murdered in a Glasgow public park 12 years ago has shared her private journals for the first time.
Beat rice Jones’ daughter Moira was abducted, rap ed and murdered in Queens Park on 28 May, 2008.
Ms Jones, 40, had lived in a flat overlooking the park in Glasgow’s south side and was dragged from the street yards from her front door before being subjected to an ordeal lasting up to three hours.
The sales executive, whose screams were dismissed by passers-by, was found the following day by a park ranger behind a privet hedge in the 148-acre park.
The subsequent murder investigation eventually led to Slovakian former soldier Marek Harcar being ordered to serve at least 25 years behind bars.
In a feature-length BBC documentary The Dark Shadow of Murder, to be shown tomorrow, Beatrice Jones, 79, from Dundee, shares her own private journals to reveal the heartache her family endured.
She says: “I will never find the words to describe our trauma, devastation and despair, the horror of how Mo ira died. Shortly after–to try to cope better – I started to write my inner turmoil. Much later, I thought that this could also help other people.
“These writings have never been shared with anyone… until now.”
In one entry, she wrote :“I have decided my writing is going to be for Moira. This is something that may help me, something that will keep me focused, by giving me a purpose. And it may help others to understand the anguish associated with the violent death of a loved one.
“Maybe my pain will be eased if, as I write of my desolation and despair, I also write of my lovely Moira.”
In another, she recalls her da ugh eras“a joy–always loving, always loved”.
Mo ira Jones had lived in Glasgow for five years after moving from the village of Weston in Staffordshire.
Her battered body was discovered on 29 May, 2008. A post-mortem examination later revealed she suffered more than 65 injuries while trying to defend herself from the attack.
CCTV from a passing bus captured the moment Harcar abducted her in Queen’s Drive and led her to the park. A witness later told how Harcar had spent several days in a bedsit near the park but had left after Ms Jones’s death.
Harcar was arrested in Slovakia and extradited back to Scotland, where he was found guilt y by a jury following a 21-day trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Lord Bracadale said Harcar’s conduct reflected “a level of wickedness very rarely encountered”.
The Dark Shadow of Murder highlights Beatrice Jones’ s campaigning to offer the families of murder victims in Scotland support.
It also features contributions from Moira’s father Hu and brother Grant, who attended court each day, as well as detectives involved in the investigation.
The Dark Shadow of Murder is on BBC Scotland tomorrow at 10pm.