Turmoil for family of dead woman

Jacqueline Gallagher walked Glasgow's red light district

Eight years after the murder of Glasgow prostitute Jacqueline Gallagher her family continue to hope for justice.

Her mother, Alice Wilson, left court after charges against accused George Johnstone were found not proven with tears in her eyes.

For her the torment will carry on until someone is behind bars for her daughter's death.

Following Jacqui's murder in June, 1996, her mother said she should not be judged on her life as a prostitute.

'Lovely girl'

In a public appeal for information to help track down the killer, Mrs Wilson said: "Somebody knows who killed my daughter.

"I didn't know she was a prostitute but it doesn't matter what she was doing. She was a lovely girl and didn't deserve to be killed."

Jacqui, of Glen Allan Way, Paisley, Renfrewshire, was 26 when she disappeared from Glasgow city centre on the day of her murder.

Seven other Glasgow prostitutes were killed inside seven years

She had been due to meet her mother that day but the planned phone call to arrange their meeting never came.

Instead, her battered and strangled half-naked body was found in a Dunbartonshire lay-by the next day.

Jacqui turned to prostitution to fund her drug habit but her family said she remained a "lovely" girl.

Her parents knew she had a "problem" but did not realise she was working the streets of Glasgow's red light district.

She was one of seven prostitutes from city's red light area murdered between 1991 and 1998.

'Ripper' theory

Police have always insisted their deaths are not linked amid speculation that a single "ripper" could be responsible.

The killings began in 1991 when Diane McInally, 23, was found dead in Pollok Park.

Two men were charged with her murder but later released because of a lack of evidence.

In 1993 Karen McGregor, a 26-year-old mother-of-two, was strangled with her body found in bushes near the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Her husband Charlie was tried for the killing but the jury returned a not proven verdict.

In 1995, Leona McGovern was found dead in a city car park after she had been stabbed 17 times and throttled.

Jailed for life

A man was charged with killing the 22-year-old but a jury later found him not guilty of the charge.

The same year, the battered body of Marjorie Roberts, 34, was found floating in the River Clyde.

But police could not prove if she had fallen or been pushed into the river.

In 1996, Tracey Wylde, 21, was found beaten to death in her Glasgow flat. No-one has been convicted for her killing.

And finally, in 1998, Margo Lafferty, 27, was murdered after picking up a client in the city centre.

Brian Donnelly was jailed for life for her killing in 2001.