The great-granddaughter of one of the victims of the Bible John murders has spoken of her hope that the crime can still be solved.
Jemima MacDonald was the second of three women who were killed in the late ‘60s, having been found strangled near her home in Bridgeton in August 1969. Her great-granddaughter, Sammy Mottley, was first told of the murder when she was 16-years-old and has tried to learn more about her death since.
She wants Police Scotland to reopen their investigation, and hopefully find answers. She told the Daily Record : “My family told me about how my great-gran never came home and was murdered.
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“I became really intrigued and started reading everything I could find about her murder and doing my own research. I would love to have got to know my great-gran and what she was like.
“I am sure Jemima would have had so many stories to tell. She was taken away from her family far too young - she was in the prime of her life.
“She also missed out on her grandchildren and great-grandchildren because of the man who killed her.”
After doing her own research, Sammy believes her great-grandmother may have been attacked because of her previous relationship with a man named Bunny Mottley, and that the murder could be racially motivated. At the time of her murder, Jemima and Bunny had been separated for several years after having two children.
Another daughter of Jemima’s, Elizabeth, passed away in 2019 from cancer. Sammy added: “I hope my great-gran’s murder is solved before any other members of my family die like Aunty Elizabeth.
“It would mean that all three women can finally rest in peace and closure for our family and the families of the other victims.”
The killed dubbed Bible John is also responsible for the murders of Patricia Docker, 25, and Helen Puttock, 29. All three women were young mothers, and were found strangled near their homes.
The term Bible John was coined after Helen’s sister said a man called John had quoted passages from the Old Testament during a taxi ride the three had shared.
Sammy added: “There are so many ifs and buts about my great-gran’s murder. Perhaps she told the man who killed her about her children and Bunny.
“I have wondered if he killed her because he didn’t approve of that kind of relationship? I want to have an idea of what it must have been like for my great-gran in the hours before she was murdered.
Detectives traced several witnesses who were able to accurately describe a man she was seen with at the Barrowland. They then obtained an identikit picture of the man, and the image was released to the newspapers and television – the first time such a step had been taken in a Scottish murder investigation.
Sammy is the second relative of a victim to call for a new police investigation into the Bible John case. Last week, 84-year-old George Puttock, husband of Helen, said there should be a review of all the evidence.
Detective Superintendent Scott McCallum said: “The murder of Jemima McDonald remains unresolved, however, as with all unresolved cases, it is subject to review and any new information about her death will be investigated.”
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