Between February 1968 and October 1969, three young women were murdered in Glasgow after evenings at the Barrowland Ballroom, a dance hall in the city's east end. Patricia Docker was found in February 1968 in the Battlefield district; Jemima MacDonald was found in August 1969 in a derelict tenement on MacKeith Street; Helen Puttock was found on October 31, 1969, in Scotstoun. Each had been strangled, and police came to believe the three killings were the work of one man. The case's name was coined by a newspaper journalist from the account of Helen Puttock's sister, who shared a taxi with Helen and a well-spoken man calling himself John on the night of the murder — she told police he had quoted scripture during the ride. Her account became the basis for a famous composite portrait. More than 100 detectives worked the case and some 50,000 statements were taken, but the man was never identified.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Bible John
- BBC News — reporting on the investigation and the 1996 exhumation (secondary reporting)