The detective who snared the World’s End serial killer has demanded justice for three other women he says were killed by fiend Angus Sinclair.
Retired detective Allan Jones has spoken out to reveal that the infamous World’s End murders of Helen Scott and Christine Eadie shared “unique signature” traits with three unsolved Glasgow murders that same year.
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Jones claims Sinclair should have been tried for the murders Anna Kenny, Hilda McAuley and Agnes Cooney which he believes were part of the same killing spree in 1977 report the Record.
He said: “If the frankly striking similarities in all five cases had been shown to a jury, I think there is every chance the families of the other victims might have got justice.”
Jones, now 60 and working in security, told how evidence linking Sinclair to the three Glasgow murders was weakened by the fact that investigators lost the ligatures used to bind the three women.
He revealed that every room in every police station in Scotland was searched thoroughly for productions from the Glasgow cases when Sinclair was being investigated for the World’s End murders. He was finally convicted for the World’s End killings in 2014.
The ligatures used in the World’s End murders of Helen Scott and Christine Eadie had been kept in pristine condition and frozen, and as a result they yielded the DNA evidence that proved Sinclair’s guilt.
The search of all Scottish police premises did turn up the ligatures from Anna’s murder, but they had not been preserved as carefully and as a result yielded no DNA evidence.
Jones, however, has no doubts and believes a jury would have convicted Sinclair of all five murders if the Crown had decided to go down that road, with the DNA evidence in the World’s End cases the central pillar.
He added: “When we started to build the case against Sinclair, we looked at every murder of a woman in the UK from the early 1960s to about 2000, and there were around 900.
“Of those, only this handful bore Sinclair’s hallmark. Not only were those cases similar, they were uniquely similar. None of the other 900 or so murders ticked enough boxes to suggest the same signature.
“The use of ligatures around wrists to restrain women, always with their hands behind their back, and in particular his use of a gag, usually the victim’s pants, with a ligature round her head and mouth to keep the gag in place, was unique to him. It was a signature action.
“There were some other cases that involved ligatures, but they didn’t carry his signature, not using gags, using different styles of knots. There were key differences.
“We didn’t have the ligatures in the Glasgow cases until the ones in Anna’s case turned up, badly degraded, but we had photographs of them.
“Crime scene photographs showing how the bodies were left, and all the original reports detailing how the women had been restrained, assaulted and killed all helped.
“It was clear that all five cases were the work of the same man.”
When he was being probed over the World’s End murders Sinclair was already serving life for the murder of Mary Gallagher, 17, in Glasgow in November 1978.
It was the development of DNA evidence in 2001 that led to his prosecution for the infamous World’s End murders.
Jones believes Sinclair went on a killing spree in 1977 and was responsible for the Glasgow killings as well.
Shortly after midnight on August 6, Anna Kenny, 20, disappeared after a night out at the Hurdy Gurdy pub in Lister Street, Glasgow. Her skeletal remains were found on 23 April 1979 in a shallow grave on the grounds of Rockfield Estate, Carradale, Argyll.
Her feet had been bound by a pair of tights and a ligature formed from another pair of tights, a belt and head scarf were found around her neck, all part of Sinclair’s signature actions.
Two months later, Hilda McAuley, a divorced 36-year-old mum-of-two, disappeared in the early hours of 2 October after a night out at the Plaza Ballroom, in Victoria Street, Glasgow.
Her body was found later around mid-day, some 11 miles away, opposite West Ferry Caravan Park, off the A8 in Lanarkshire, a place Sinclair knew well.
She was naked from the waist down, her hands had been bound with a pair of tights and her ankles with a length of nylon string, and she had been strangled by a ligature formed from the same kind of string.
She had been stabbed three times to the chest, but none of the wounds would have been fatal.
Sinclair stabbed some of his victims to subdue them when they fought back. Like Sinclair’s confirmed victims, Hilda had been strangled.
Just a fortnight later, Helen and Christine were raped and murdered after a night out on 15 October at the World’s End pub in Edinburgh. They were bound, gagged and strangled with ligatures made from their own underwear and belts on their clothing.
Seven weeks later, Agnes Cooney, 23, vanished just before midnight on 2 December after a night out at the Clada Club, Westmoreland Street, Glasgow.
Her body was found on 4 December 14 miles away by a farmer on open ground 15 yards off Forrestfield Road, near Caldercruix, Lanarkshire, the disposal echoing that of Helen on the other side of the country near Haddington, East Lothian.
There were signs that Agnes had fought for her life and managed to remain almost fully clothed, but her right sock had been used to gag her and was held in place by a length of electrical flex.
This flex had also been used to bind her hands behind her back. She had died as a result of a stab wound to the neck.
Jones says there were a number of ‘signature’ elements. The women all died extremely violent deaths, the motive was sexual, all were tied up, gagged and most were strangled with ligatures, often fashioned from their own clothing.
Jones’ revelations emerge as well-placed sources claim the Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC, has demanded a thorough review of Scotland’s historical unsolved murders of women, with a new focus on the three Glasgow cases linked to Sinclair, who died in March 2019.
One source close the investigation into the three Glasgow murders, which has never been closed by police, said: “She really seems newly driven, wanting assurances that everything that could be done to solve those murders had been done.
“Every statement was re-examined, every action was reconsidered to see if any possible actions had been missed, and every production still retained was re-evaluated.”
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Police Scotland and the Crown Office insist the three Glasgow murders are still open cases and they are still seeking justice for the victim’s families.
Police Scotland Detective Chief Inspector Brian Geddes, said: “The murders of Anna Kenny, Hilda McAuley and Agnes Cooney in Glasgow in 1977 remain unresolved, however, as with all unresolved cases, they are subject to review and any new information will be investigated.
“Police Scotland never considers cases closed and the passage of time is no barrier to the investigation of unresolved homicide cases.”
A spokesperson for the Crown Office said investigations into the murders of Anna, Hilda and Agnes remained open and under review.
He added: “We recognise the suffering of families who have been denied justice and we are absolutely committed to reviewing unresolved homicide cases along with Police Scotland."
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