“The town that loved dancing was suddenly living in fear of a killer who was picking off his victims on the dance floor,” says Glaswegian Audrey Gillan, who was two weeks old when the first victim was murdered. “They saw the artist’s sketch and thought, ‘That’s the guy in the shop.’ Or, “I see him walking his dog in the park.” He changed the way women felt – and kids like me grew up thinking he was a dad.” An outcry was heard along the lines of: “Imagine having the audacity to go out and dance your period.” Gillan, a former Guardian journalist, knows more than most about the man behind the mystery: she has just launched a podcast series, Bible John: Creation of a Serial Killer, on BBC Sounds. But not just morbidly fascinated with the killer, the podcast explores the short stories of the three women – Patricia Docker, Jemima McDonald and Helen Puttock – while also dispelling the misogyny their murders faced from the press, the police and the public. Gillan says she shares the shame of this treatment, having previously covered the story for a Scottish newspaper 26 years ago. A few stories… Patricia Docker, a 25-year-old nurse who was murdered after leaving the Barrowlands in 1968. Photo: PA While cutting her teeth as a reporter, she published an exclusive, claiming that – following new DNA findings and an exhumation – the John Bible had finally been identified. In the end, it turned out not to be the case. But that’s not what Gillan is trying to fix. “The story I did was about this guy and the women were just a sidebar,” she says, her voice clearly laced with regret. During the lockdown, Gillan decided to return all the documents she had obtained on the case. “Being older,” she says, “and now having a different perspective, I looked at them and thought, ‘They’re so awful!’ It was so misogynistic.” The time had come to revisit history. On the Ground, Gillan’s compelling and disturbing 2020 podcast about the Iraq integration for this wartime article, was nominated for a Foreign Press Association Award. Gillan felt that Bible John would be a perfect fit for the podcast format, her liberties allowing her to dig deep and include more voices in the story, as she was a big influence on On the Ground. According to Gillan, police made notes about how the victims “liked the company of men”, described them as “messy” and described one as “an only child and rather spoiled”. All the women were menstruating when their bodies were found. Their used sanitary products linked the murders, but also sparked a general outcry: “Imagine having the audacity to go out dancing while on your period!” They were judged for it, says Gillan. “Imagine if the victim was a man – the notes would not have been written that way. I think it was a big failure.” Podcast suggestions for unexpected audio delights. Our critics and audio producers pick the top shows of the week Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our site and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Never recorded … the portrait of the man believed to be Bible John. Photo: Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy As bleak as they sound, Gillan shines a light on the series by vividly painting the people of Glasgow and celebrating the community, as well as focusing on the three women: Pat, Jemima and Helen. “I wanted to know what these women were like. What color lipstick were they wearing? What were they singing in the shower?’ To find answers, he turned the microphone over to family members to talk about their loved ones’ lives, not their deaths. A bonus episode is given to Alex Docker, Patricia’s son, who was too young to remember his mother properly, but does recall memories of his father and aunt. He talks about the family time he spent in Cyprus with his pet dog, the separation of his parents, the hours of bathing in the two-storey house above a shop and the smiling face of his mother. Inevitably, we are also told what is known about the killer, which really isn’t much. The name was coined because witnesses said they heard him quoting passages from the Bible. But every exciting true-crime podcast has to come with a bombshell reveal, and from episode one, Gillan talks about a “dynamite parallel” story she may have missed while covering the case. “I can’t tell you about that,” he says, explaining that more will be revealed in future episodes. “I don’t want to spoil it for you.” Can there ever be a satisfying ending to the story, given that the killer was never found and is likely long dead? “People can feel let down,” says Gillan. “But they will learn more about these women than they have heard before. It’s not our job to solve these murders. I am a journalist. I’m not a detective.” Bible John: Creation of a Serial Killer is now available on BBC Sounds
