Chilling clues in hunt for killer ‘Bible John’ known as Scotland’s Jack the Ripper with fears he’s behind 4th murder
CHILLING clues in the hunt for a serial killer known as ‘Bible John’ led to the exhumation of a body – amid fears he claimed the lives of MORE victims.
The notorious Scottish slayer, who is believed to have killed three innocent young women between 1968 and 1969, has not been caught.
Police have interviewed thousands of people during the course of a sprawling investigation.
The killer, who targeted young women who frequented Glasgow’s famous Barrowland Ballroom, has been compared to Jack the Ripper who once stalked the streets of Victorian London.
Patricia Docker, a 25-year-old nurse, was found just found yards away from her home in Langside Place on February 13, 1968.
Jemima McDonald, a 31-year-old mum of three, was found in an old tenement building on Mackeith Street in Bridgeton on August 15, 1969.
Helen Puttock was found dead later that same year in October, with her body being dumped in her own back garden.
Police later released a photofit image of man they suspected of being the killer, leading to intense speculation in the city.
Detectives on the trail of the elusive killer have been forced to follow a handful of macabre clues.
The Holy Bible
The killer is said to have quoted verse from the Bible and condemned adultery while travelling in a taxi with Helen Puttock and her sister before she was murdered. This religious association led to the killer being labelled “Bible John.”
A source told the Daily Record: “This man came from a very religious background.
“He told co-workers he frequented the dance halls at the weekends and his face was remarkably similar to the photofit. Not the painting but the original image.
“His behaviour was increasingly bizarre and worrying and he got into trouble a few times. He died in the mid 70s, having killed himself in the most awful of manners.
“Bible John was said to have told Helen Puttock and Jeannie Langford he worked in a lab. I am convinced he is a viable suspect.”
A cover-up
The case was surrounded by intense speculation at the time and one story suggested the killer had been “protected” in some way by relatives on the force.
John Irvine McInnes, who was the cousin of a senior police officer, was said to have been the killer. He had taken his own life in the 1980s. Mr McInnes’ body was exhumed during a review of the case in 1995.
Following a DNA test he was cleared of any involvement in the three killings.
The fairground worker
Another potential name of interest was a fairground worker from Glasgow who was also known to quote the bible and named his children after disciples.
A relative of the man told the Daily Record it was “bizarre” the police never suspected him.
More attacks
Pauline Badge later came forward to claim that Bible John had killed a fourth woman in the south of England.
Ms Badger claimed she believed the killer was responsible for the death of trainee nurse Rita Ellis, who was murdered on an RAF base in Buckinghamshire.
Her body was found by a dog walker on the morning of November 12 1967. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled.
Shortly after the murder a second student nurse was attacked nearby. The woman, who was raped during the ordeal, survived.
Ms Badger, who was a stewardess at RAF Halton when Rita was killed, was watching a documentary on the Glasgow killings when a photofit image of the murderer appeared on screen.
She told author Francisco Garcia: “I thought well this documentary is on, I’ll watch it. I’d seen him before and like I’d seen him again. More than seen him, felt him.”
A BBC Scotland podcast on the case later heard how the three victims were shamed in the aftermath of the murders.
Police reports at the time suggested the women were in someway “promiscuous”.
But reporter Audrey Gillan knocked on doors to speak to the people who knew the women.
In one episode Ms Gillan spoke to Alex Docker, who was just seven-years-old when his mother Patricia was murdered.
Mr Docker described how he was taken into care after his mother’s death, which cast a shadow over the rest of his life.
A Police Spokesperson said to The Sun: “The murders of Helen Puttock, Jemima McDonald and Patricia Docker remain unresolved, however, as with all unresolved cases, they are subject to review and any new information about their deaths will be investigated.”