Calls for police to reopen Bible John murder probe following new evidence claims

Daily Record

30-06-2025

There have been calls for Police Scotland to reopen the investigation into the Bible John murders by the author of a book on the case who says she has new evidence.
The author of a book on the Bible John murders yesterday called on police to reopen the investigation after tracing a man she claims could finally prove his identity.
Former printer John Templeton was named last year by Australian Jill Bavin-Mizzi as the alleged killer of Helen Puttock, one of three woman murdered in Glasgow in the late 1960s after attending the city's Barrowland Ballroom.
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Templeton, who died in 2015 aged 70, was put in the frame after Jill's research showed he shared a DNA profile and family connection to a former prime suspect, John McInnes, whose body was exhumed in 1996..
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Jill Bavin-Mizz i then discovered Templeton had been interviewed twice by police, that he had been brought up near the spot where the third victims body was found and that he bore a close resemblance to an artists impression released at the time. Now the historian has identified a distant blood relative living in South Ayrshire, a man in his 80's, who she believes could provide a DNA sample linking him to the murders.
Previously it was thought that Templeton had no surviving blood relatives as he had never had any children. The man identified by JIll is in his 80's and related to Templeton's grandfather. Jill, 62, said: "This man is not a close relative but close enough. "The only chance of establishing if John Templeton is Bible John is through the DNA."The DNA can only come from a living blood relative. "I am convinced that John Templeton is Bible John and that he murdered these three women ."I believe the police had the right family in 1996 but the wrong person. "Now is the time to reopen the investigation and look at this new potential evidence."
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Experts have told Jill that DNA can pass through generations and an examination of John McInnes's family tree led Jill to John Templeton, born in 1945. McInnes was identified as a suspect in the Helen Puttock murder in 1995 through DNA after a cold case review of the original police investigation.
The former soldier, from Stonehouse, Lanarkshire, who took his own life in 1980, had been interviewed about the murder of Helen in 1969 but then was ruled out. But DNA obtained in 1995 from a semen stain on Helen's clothing bore comparisons to samples provided by a surviving brother and sister. However, when McInnes' body was exhumed from Stonehouse Cemetery there was no conclusive match.
Helen's body was found on October 31, 1969, at the back of a tenement in Earl Street in Scotstoun, Glasgow, where she lived with her two children and husband. The 29 year old had been last seen by her sister Jean when they shared a taxi with a man Helen had met in the city's Barrowland.
The body of Jemima MacDonald, 31, had been found in a derelict flat in MacKeith Street, Bridgeton, near where she lived, three months earlier. Patricia Docker, 25, was found in a lane near her Langside Place home in Glasgow's south side in February 1968.
All three were mums of young children and menstruating at the time. Following the murder of Helen Puttock police linked all three homicides into one inquiry.
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Jill, 62, published the Templeton allegations in her book Bible John A New Suspect after tracking down his ex-wife. She gave Jill a photograph that bears an uncanny likeness to the artist's impression from the time - drawn from information provided by Jean. The ex revealed that Templeton was interviewed by police in their home in Glasgow's North Kelvinside six months after Helen's murder.
Jean, who died in 2010, told police the stranger in the taxi had called himself John and given a surname that sounded like Templeton or Sempleson. The stranger also told Helen and her sister he worked in a laboratory. Templeton at the time was a specialist compositor or typesetter and may have worn a lab style coat. Dental analysis of the photograph provided by the ex led Jill to believe Templeton had the killer's overlapping tooth and another missing as described by Jean.
Templeton had been fostered as a child to a family in Dumbarton Road in Scotstoun. The stranger was said by Jean to have identified the site of a local former children's home on the journey home. Jean also told police that the suspected killer had used religious phrases which led to him later being dubbed Bible John by newspapers.
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After the publication of her book last summer Jill was contacted by former colleagues who had worked with him at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow between 2001 and 2006. He had boasted how he was interviewed twice by police about the murder of the third victim. Templeton was also nicknamed "Bible John" because of his resemblance to the artist's impression.
He had joined Glasgow City Council as a library attendant after leaving his job with a city printing firm. One former colleague also remembers Templeton having a gap in his teeth - similar to the stranger described by Jean. Jill was in Scotland last week from her home in Perth in Western Australia for a series of talks about her book and further research.
She added:"John Templeton has a lot of the characteristics of the man in the taxi including age, height and hair colour. "He was also a foster child, as police suspected the killer was. "The three women who were murdered at the time had young children and they deserve answers. "I would beg Police Scotland to reopen the case and at least contact me. "I know the name of the relative who could give them a DNA sample. "To get justice for the families we need to get DNA evidence and it is now possible to do that."