Police are examining new revelations about three unsolved murders as a result of the BBC podcast Bible John: Creation of the Serial Killer.
The award-winning podcast investigated the murders of Patricia Docker, Jemima MacDonald and Helen Puttock in Glasgow in the late 1960s.
All three woman were killed after a night out at the Barrowland Ballroom.
The death of Ms Puttock in 1969 came after a man shared a cab home with her and quoted religious verse.
The podcast claimed the identity of the man in the taxi was “covered up” by top police chiefs, and alleged that evidence pointed to the man being John Irvine McInnes, the cousin of a senior police officer.
It said his name was known to high-ranking officers at the time, but it never appeared in the official records.
There is no evidence that Mr McInnes actually carried out the murder.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We are assessing the contents of a recent podcast in consultation with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
“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.”
The families of the serial killer’s victims said they had recently been told that information from the podcast series had triggered new lines of inquiry.
Patricia Docker, Helen Puttock and Jemima MacDonald were all murdered after nights out at the Barrowland Ballroom
Allan Mottley, the youngest son of Jemima MacDonald, said: “When the police officer phoned and said they were going to reinvestigate, that was a bit of a bombshell.
“I never imagined that they would get to this and that they would relook at it all.
“I am not expecting that much to be honest.
“They might openly admit these murders were not investigated properly in the first place and we might get an apology over the way they were investigated.”
‘Failed investigation’
Alex Docker, son of Patricia Docker, said he expected an apology as a result of any investigation.
He said: “But to be meaningful, it needs detail on exactly what the apology is for and what the consequences are.
“For me, it would mean that the Bible John lead is at the very least suspect and opens the real story of poor judgement, misdirection, and a failed investigation.
“There are lessons to be learned and lives were lost as a result. “
Elaine Paterson, whose mother Margaret was Helen Puttock’s cousin and appeared on the podcast, said her family was looking forward to police investigating.
“At the end of the day families lost a loved one and it had a ripple effect on the rest of the family,” she said. “Helen’s mother never ever recovered from the death of her daughter – so much so that she moved out of Glasgow and never set foot in the city again, not even for a day.
“I wish this investigation had happened sooner when Jean was alive.”
Image source, Police Scotland
Police previously issued an image of what Bible John might look like
The high-profile investigation into the murders was one of the largest in Scotland ever, and they still remain unsolved more than 50 years later.
Police interviewed more than 7,000 people and took 4,000 statements, however no arrests were ever made.
But a quarter of a century later, a tiny DNA sample recovered from the waistband of Ms Puttock’s tights led to a new team being set up to review the evidence.
The BBC Scotland podcast came out at the end of 2022, and journalist Audrey Gillan spoke to senior detectives, Det Ch Insp Jim McEwan and Det Con Brian Hughes – who reopened the cold case in 1995.
Body exhumed
Ms Puttock was the third victim, and she was last seen alive in a taxi with a man on Thursday, 30 October 1969.
The detectives said their investigation found enough evidence that John Irvine McInnes, who killed himself in 1980, was the man in the taxi with her and that the procurator fiscal would have issued a warrant for his arrest if he had been alive.
However, they believed that senior police chief Joe Beattie, who led the inquiry, had kept his name out of the investigation because he was good friends with the suspect’s cousin Jimmy McInnes.
As a result of the 1995 review, John Irvine McInnes’ body was exhumed so that a DNA sample could be tested against the evidence found on Ms Puttock’s tights.
But there was no match and experts later announced that the results were inconclusive which formally cleared Mr McInnes of any involvement.
The 1995 detectives told the podcast they were still certain he was the man in the taxi, who everyone had believed was Bible John.
The BBC podcast won gold and silver at the New York Festivals Radio Awards.
