New lead in Bible John inquiry

Bible John frequented the Barrowland club

Police have pledged to investigate details of a possible new prime suspect in their 30-year hunt for the serial killer Bible John.

Leading criminal psychologist Ian Stephen has has passed new information on a man living in England to police.

Bible John was a serial killer who murdered Patricia Docker, Jemima McDonald and Helen Puttock in 1969 and who was never caught.

He met his victims at the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow where he charmed them and often quoted passages from the Bible. All three were strangled with pieces of their own clothing.

The police were looking for a stereotype, a known sex offender at the time. The profile appears to fit that of Bible John

Professor Ian Stephen

The named suspect was said to be alive and the information was passed to Lothian and Borders Police and forwarded to Strathclyde Police.

Prof Stephen, who was reputed to have inspired the television drama Cracker, starring Robbie Coltrane, obtained the new lead from an expatriate Scot living in America who suspected a member of his extended family was Bible John.

The suspect, whose father was a police officer, was married in the Glasgow area and lived in Lanarkshire with his wife and two children. He moved to England in 1970.

According to the file passed on to the police about the man, his behaviour was said to have changed dramatically in the late 1960s when he increasingly went out alone at night and sometimes failed to return until the following day.

Prof Stephen said: "I would like to think that his name has already been considered and ruled out but I am not hopeful.

"The police were looking for a stereotype, a known sex offender at the time. The profile appears to fit that of Bible John.

"While the information is circumstantial I think the police have got to have a serious look at it."

Strathclyde police said it would examine the correspondence delivered to Lothian and Border Police officers to establish if it represented additional information.