Random (13 page)
But the finger went to Keith Imrie at the
Daily Record
. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be expecting what was going to land on his desk. I just hoped that after shitting himself that he would be able to find out what he needed to know.
I couldn’t be sure from his stories if he was up to it or not. Much of the stuff he had written up till then had been crap. But he was getting the scoop of his life dropped in his grubby lap and all he needed to do was make a few phone calls. These guys had contacts, all he had to do was use them. Just in case, I gave him a helping hand as well as the finger. I included a printed slip of paper with five names on it.
DS Rachel Narey
.
Jonathan Carr
.
Billy Hutchison
.
Thomas Tierney
.
Wallace Ogilvie
.
A finger and five names. Nothing else. I didn’t want to join the dots completely for him. Four unsolved murders. One cop. One severed finger. One big fat scoop. Work it out Imrie. Come on. You can do it.
Phone Rachel. Phone the cops that take your back handers, the cops that let you buy them drinks, the cops that take used cash for information. Get off your lazy arse and do the work.
Imrie didn’t let me down. The headline in the
Record
screamed ‘Jock the Ripper’. Above it a strapline roared ‘Serial killer stalks Glasgow. Four dead’. In full glorious and gory colour, across the front page was a huge picture of the severed right pinkie of Wallace Ogilvie.
The cops would be furious. I was pleased.
Inside there were photos of Carr, Hutchison, Tierney and Ogilvie. There were quotes from anonymous police sources. There was an abrupt quote from Rachel Narey. There was sensationalism all through it.
It was perfect.
SERIAL KILLER STALKS GLASGOW. FOUR DEAD JOCK THE RIPPER
EXCLUSIVE by Keith Imrie.
Friday, 16 October 2009.FOUR VICIOUS unsolved murders which have baffled Strathclyde Police were carried out by the same person – a crazed psychopath who mutilates his victims. The
Daily Record
has uncovered stunning proof that links the four cases and reveals that a serial killer is stalking Glasgow
.Scotland’s number one newspaper has handed over vital evidence to the police which may lead to the capture of the barbaric murderer. The killer of city lawyer Jonathan Carr, bookmaker Billy Hutchison, drug dealer Thomas Tierney and businessman Wallace Ogilvie has sparked the biggest murder hunt since the city was terrorised by the Bible John case in the 1960s
.Full story on pages 2 and 3.
FINGERS UP TO COPS
A PSYCHOPATH who has carried out four brutal and seemingly unrelated murders in Glasgow is taunting police by sending them body parts from his victims. The
Daily Record
can exclusively reveal that each time Jock the Ripper strikes, he saws off the right little finger from his prey and then posts it to police officers. Detectives are said to be infuriated at being mocked by the sick killer. It has made them even more determined to catch him but it is believed that they have no significant leads
.The latest sawn-off pinkie was acquired by this reporter. It has been handed over to Strathclyde Police and they are currently carrying out DNA tests to establish identity. However there seems little doubt that it belongs to the Ripper’s fourth and most recent victim, businessman Wallace Ogilvie
.Police sources say that they are working on the basis that there is no link between the four murders. While they maintain an open mind on the matter, they believe the killer strikes at random
.Sources close to the investigation say that detectives had deliberately withheld from the public and the press the fact that all four were murdered by the same person. They did so for ‘procedural reasons’ and to avoid public panic. However, the force was last night blasted by community groups and local politicians for not releasing information which could have helped saved people from the Ripper. Councillor Bill Houston said that Strathclyde Police had been derelict in their duty to the public
.‘There is a serial killer in our midst and the people of Glasgow have the right to know that. There is no way that the police should have kept this information to themselves. Someone who is deranged enough to murder four innocent people and cut off their fingers is completely out of control and people need to know that they must take appropriate safety measures.’
Tam Pearson, community councillor for Maryhill, said that there was great unease in the area and people were terrified the Ripper would strike again
.‘People are afraid to leave their homes at night. It is an utter disgrace that the police knew there was a killer like this on the loose and didn’t see fit to tell anyone. Somebody should lose their job for this.’
The Ripper first struck on February 10 when he murdered lawyer Jonathan Carr in a layby near Milngavie. The killing of the 37-year-old was originally thought to have been a robbery gone wrong or a revenge attack from someone involved in a previous case of Mr Carr’s. However the
Record
’s startling revelations now make this look unlikely. Strathclyde Police have consistently refused to reveal the manner of Mr Carr’s murder but we have learned that his mouth was sealed and his nostrils glued together until he suffocated
.Victim number two was popular Maryhill bookie Billy Hutchison. The 58-year-old was found electrocuted in May and his death was originally thought to have been a tragic accident. However the subsequent involvement of murder squad detectives gave the first clue that all was not what it seemed
.The Ripper struck for the third time when he murdered smalltime Baillieston drug dealer Thomas ‘Spud’ Tierney. The 26-year-old was stabbed to death in what was viewed as a retaliatory attack by a rival gang on September 27. Tierney was a known associate of Glasgow businessman Alexander Kirkwood
.Victim number four is businessman Wallace Ogilvie (52) who was murdered on Monday. The cause of his death was not made known by officers but they appealed for anyone who had information as to his last-known whereabouts to contact them
.The
Record
can exclusively reveal that Mr Ogilvie had been frozen to death before dying of a heart attack. As well as a finger being removed from each victim and sent to the police – initially to the CID and then specifically to Detective Sergeant Rachel Narey – the
Record
can reveal that there is DNA evidence conclusively linking the four deaths
.Although Strathclyde Police refused to confirm it, sources maintain that on two separate occasions, DNA of one victim was found on the body of another. It is thought that the same implement was used each time to sever the finger of the victim and that blood, skin and tissue was transferred from one to another
.One officer close to the case said, ‘It is grisly stuff but it looks like the killer didn’t even bother to clean the blade of whatever he used – we think it was a pair of gardening type shears – after he hacked the fingers off these people. The lab guys found bits of skin and tissue belonging to Carr and Hutchison on the finger cut off Spud Tierney. There were then DNA particles of both Carr, Hutchison and Tierney found on Ogilvie
.‘No doubt we’ll find the same thing once the results come back on the latest victim.’
The Ripper case is being led by Detective Chief Inspector Lewis Robertson and Detective Sergeant Rachel Narey. When the
Daily Record
contacted DS Narey by telephone she said that she would not comment on operational matters. However when the
Record
told her that we were in possession of a severed finger which we knew to belong to one of the Ripper’s victims, she could not hide her surprise. She agreed to meet with this reporter and took possession of the severed finger
.DS Narey agreed to make a statement on the unsolved murders but the
Record
would like to stress that this was not dependent on the provision of the finger. We were happy to hand it over as part of our civic duty and to help the police catch the maniac that is terrorising the city
.‘I cannot confirm that these four men were killed by the same person but I can say that Strathclyde Police are looking at all four cases as part of the same investigation. We have ruled nothing either in or out of that investigation
.‘There has been contact by someone who may well be the killer of one or more of these men but we would prefer not to comment on the nature of that contact in order to reduce the possibility of imitators
.‘The revelation of the nature of any contact between a possible killer and Strathclyde Police would, in this instance, be unhelpful and possibly damage this investigation.’
The
Daily Record,
its editor, management and owners take the safety of the public very seriously indeed and that is why, after much consideration, we have taken the decision to publish the details we have about this horrendous killing spree. We do not take lightly the possibility of interference into a murder investigation but we believe that public safety is paramount. The people of Glasgow need to be fully informed about the murderous lunatic that has already taken four lives
.We can also reveal that Strathclyde Police have recruited a leading Cracker-style forensic psychologist to work on the case. Well-known profiler Dr Paul Crabtree has been involved with the case since the third murder. He has drawn up a profile of the Ripper and officers are now working within certain parameters in their pursuit of the killer
.Strathclyde Police have always been reluctant to make use of such profiles in recent years so some will see the hiring of Dr Crabtree as an act of desperation. Crabtree himself has previously been openly critical of the force’s suspicion of forensic psychology
.The
Daily Record
will continue to help Strathclyde Police in any way it can in the course of this investigation. In the meantime, we ask all the people of Glasgow, indeed all of Scotland, to be vigilant and to contact this newspaper if they have anything which might help catch Jock the Ripper
.
Crazed
.
Psychopath
.
Barbaric
.
Brutal
.
Sick
.
Deranged
.
Maniac
.
Murderous
.
Lunatic
.
Perfect. Say what they want. Think what I want them to think.
I had been on day shift so knew she would be sitting waiting for me when I got home. I was sure she would know by then but apart from that I had no idea what to expect.
I closed the front door behind me and paused for a second or two before going in search of her. I opened the door to the living room but one look inside showed me she wasn’t there. I tried the kitchen.
She was sitting at the table with her back to me. Her hair was loose but unruly, as if it had been pulled out of a hairband and just left where it fell. She was wearing a dark cardigan and it was pulled tight to her.
My heart was in my mouth. Maybe for the first time in a very long time, I knew the feeling of fear.
She must have heard me come in to the house. Must have heard the kitchen door open and close. Knew I was standing behind her but she didn’t move, didn’t speak. I walked round her to the other side of the table, seeing the open newspaper that lay in front of her. Even before I looked at it I knew what it would be. Couldn’t be anything else. The photographs of Carr, Hutchison, Tierney and Ogilvie – although she was only looking at one of them. The lurid headlines screaming at her. The words, so many words. All laid out in front of her eyes.
There was no tea or coffee on the table. No kettle on the boil. Just her, the table, the newspaper and the photograph of Wallace Ogilvie.
I pulled back the chair, deliberately scraping it against the floor so it made a noise before I sat down. She didn’t flicker. Her eyes, red and wet, stayed fixed on the paper.
My breathing was stilted and I could hear my heart. My eyes went from her to the paper and back again. I tried to will her to look up and say something.
I followed her eyes. She was reading it all, word after word, not for the first time I was sure of that. But after every few paragraphs her gaze switched to the photograph of Wallace Ogilvie for a few moments then back to the text. Few paragraphs, picture, few paragraphs, picture, few paragraphs picture.
I could see she was nearing the end of Imrie’s article and hoped that meant she would stop and look at me. Speak to me. Tell me what it meant to her. I almost began to speak as she reached the last few words, ready to ask or answer. But her eyes switched back to the beginning of the story and she read again.