Murder of Leanne Tiernan

The murder of Leanne Tiernan was a high-profile English child abduction and murder involving a schoolgirl who was abducted less than one mile from her home on 26 November 2000 while returning from a Christmas shopping trip in Leeds, West Yorkshire, and subsequently murdered.^[1][2] The missing persons inquiry which followed was one of the largest in the history of West Yorkshire Police, involving the search of around 1,750 buildings, underwater searches of thirty-two drainage wells, the draining of a two-mile section of canal and the halting of household waste collections.^[3] Her body was discovered on 20 August 2001 in dense woodland just 50 yards from a busy car park at Lindley Woods near Otley, on the border of North and West Yorkshire.^[4][5] Post mortem examination indicated that Tiernan's body had only been at the woodland site for a matter of weeks, and had been stored in a cold, dry place for the previous nine months.^[6] Following the discovery of her body, DNA samples were taken from 200 people, including family, friends and known sex offenders living in the area.^[3] Forensic evidence led police to her killer, John Taylor, who lived only 1,300 yards from Tiernan's home. On 8 July 2002 Taylor pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to her kidnap and murder and received two life sentences, with the trial judge telling him that he should expect to spend the rest of his life in prison.^[7] At the end of his trial, the police officers who brought him to justice spoke of their belief that he may have been responsible for other unsolved murders, including the 1992 murder of Bradford prostitute Yvonne Fitt.^[2]

On 3 April 2003, following a police review of unsolved sexual attacks in the area, Taylor pleaded guilty to two separate rapes committed before the schoolgirl's murder and received a further sentence of life imprisonment with a recommended minimum of 30 years.^[5] As a result of the Tiernan murder inquiry police re-opened at least ten further cold case murder investigations.^[8][9]

Abduction and missing person inquiry

Tiernan, a pupil at West Leeds High School,^[10] was last seen alive at 16.50 on 26 November 2000 when she and her friend, 15-year old Sarah Whitehouse, returned to Bramley by bus after a shopping trip to Leeds city centre.^[5] The girls parted company at Houghley Lane, and Whitehouse last saw her setting off along an unlit path through an area of wooded wasteland known as Houghley Gill.^[5][11] When Whitehouse arrived home, she telephoned Tiernan's home and was surprised to find she was not there.^[12] At 17.20 Tiernan's mother rang her mobile phone to find out where she was, but the phone rang out for some time and then cut off. When she rang it again, it was cut off after four rings. At 19.00 she rang the police and reported her daughter as a missing person.^[12]

The police immediately began a missing person inquiry, headed by Detective Superintendent Chris Gregg, and a search of the area where Tiernan was last seen was undertaken, although no trace of her was found. As the inquiry progressed, it became one of the largest ever undertaken by West Yorkshire Police, involving up to 200 officers and hundreds of volunteers. More than 1,400 house-to-house inquiries were conducted, 800 houses along her probable route, designated by the police as "Red Route", were searched, along with 800 sheds, garages and outbuildings and 150 commercial premises within a half-mile radius of Houghley Gill. DNA samples were taken from 140 men interviewed by the police in connection with the inquiry and twelve search warrants were executed at various addresses in Leeds. The West Yorkshire Police Underwater Search unit carried out a search of a three-mile section of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal between Spring Garden lock and Bramley Falls, two miles of which was drained to a depth of one metre. The unit also searched thirty-two drain shafts in the area and Yorkshire Water were called in to help locate disused and abandoned drains and wells.^[3][13] Collections of household waste were halted temporarily to allow police to search all bins in the area for evidence. The inquiry also received assistance from British Waterways, British Transport Police, the Ministry of Defence’s aerial reconnaissance department, Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team, Interpol and the Police National Search Centre, a joint police and military training facility.^[3] On 3 December 2000, police staged a reconstruction of the girls' last movements, reenacted by Sarah Whitehouse and Tiernan's older sister Michelle, in the hope of jogging the memory of potential witnesses about Leanne's movements.^[11] Detectives also sent text messages to Tiernan's mobile phone, which was now switched off, but had briefly been activated on 27 November 2000.^[3] A local businessman offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to her safe return, and supermarket chain Iceland printed her picture and details on milk cartons sold at its stores nationwide.^[3][14]

Her disappearance meant Christmas was put on hold for her family, the Westlife CD Michelle had bought her remained unopened. There were unconfirmed reports of sightings as far away as Doncaster and Blackpool, but after nine months, there had been no positive sightings. Leanne's boyfriend, care assistant Wayne Keeley, 19, pleaded with her to get in touch.^[10] On 4 December 2000 police released an E-FIT facial composite of a man who had been seen walking a dog in the Houghley Gill area shortly before Tiernan disappeared. He was described as being "5 feet 8 inches tall and of stocky build with a round, reddish face that may possibly be scarred... wearing a black woollen hat, a three-quarter-length waterproof jacket and dirty jeans".^[14] The E-FIT would later prove to be an accurate likeness of John Taylor.^[12] Two witnesses came forward who said that they had heard a woman's "high-pitched scream" in the area at around the time Tiernan disappeared, but there were no other witnesses and no confirmed sightings of her.^[12] No evidence of a struggle was found, and no evidence linked to her abduction was ever found.

Discovery of body and murder investigation

On 20 August 2001 Tiernan's body was found by Mark Bisson, who was walking his two dogs in Lindley Woods, North Yorkshire, 100 yards from where another murder victim, prostitute Yvonne Fitt, had been discovered buried in 1992.^[2][15] Tiernan was identified from her fingerprints on 22 August 2001, and DS Gregg announced that the inquiry had now become a murder investigation, codenamed Operation Conifer.^[16] Tiernan's body had been wrapped inside nine green plastic bin bags secured with twine, with a black bin bag secured around her head with a leather dog collar, then placed inside a floral-patterned duvet cover.^[15][17] Tiernan's Ellesse coat and black boots were not found. Plastic cable ties had been used as a ligature to strangle her and more ties had been used to bind her hands. A dark coloured scarf was also wrapped around her neck.^[17][18] Her hair was still tied in a ponytail with the same band and hairclips that she had been wearing when she disappeared. There was no evidence of a sexual assault, but the absence of her jacket and boots and the position of her underwear were among forensic evidence indicating a sexual motive. Policed called in former SAS tracker "Jungle Eddie" McGee, who had helped track down murderer Barry Prudom in 1982, to identify the killer's most probable route through the woodland.^[6]

The state of decomposition of Tiernan's body led some forensic experts to believe that after her death she had been kept in cold storage or a freezer up until a few weeks before the body was found, in part to avoid detection and in part as a trophy.^[6][19] A cryobiology expert was called in to examine the microstructure of Tiernan's cardiac tissue, and concluded that the body could have been kept frozen for some time, taking into account the air temperatures for the months between her disappearance and the discovery of the body.^[20][21] Police made a public appeal for anyone who might have been in Lindley Woods recently or had information about others who regularly visited the area to come forward and contact police.^[22]

Forensic evidence linking Taylor to Tiernan

• The leather dog collar found on Tiernan's body was manufactured by a company based in Nottingham who sold it to 220 separate wholesalers. Detective Constable David Wilson began contacting each of them to ask if they had records of sales to anyone in the Leeds area. The 112th company contacted was a Liverpool-based mail order company called Pets Pyjamas who confirmed that they had made three sales in the area, and emailed a list to DC Wilson. Taylor's name was one of the customers, and this was immediately flagged up for attention as a name previously provided following the appeal by DS Gregg.^[23] This was a major breakthrough for the investigation which now considered Taylor the prime suspect and the police exercised a search warrant at his home.^[12]
• Scientists at the Forensic Science Service (FSS) examined the scarf which had been tied around Tiernan's neck and found a hair caught in the knot which did not belong to her. The FSS were unable to extract a DNA profile from the hair's root using conventional DNA tests so carried out mitochondrial DNA testing within the shaft of the hair. This provided a DNA profile which matched Taylor's.^[24]
• FSS examination of the twine showed that it was of a unique type only manufactured by a company in Devon, England. They usually only supplied products to the Ministry of Defence but a small "one-off" batch had been sold to the public for use as rabbit catch nets. This batch was an exact match for the twine used on Tiernan's body and also subsequently found at Taylor's home.^[24]
• The yellow cable ties found on Tiernan's body were identified as being manufactured by an Italian company who sold 99% of them to the Royal Mail, of which Taylor's employer Parcelforce was a subsidiary.^[23] The same cable ties were found in Taylor's home when it was searched by police.
• Pieces of green plastic identical to that which had been used to wrap the body were found in Taylor's home.^[23]
• Traces of red nylon carpet fibres were found on Tiernan's clothing, which the FSS described as very distinctive, due to the unusual way in which the fibre had been dyed.^[24] When police searched Taylor's home, they discovered that he had recently removed all carpeting from the house and burned it, but small traces of fibres matching those on the body were found caught on nails in the floorboards.^[23]
• The FSS employed an expert in forensic pollen analysis who was able to demonstrate that Tiernan had been in Taylor's garden just before she was killed based on the distinctive types of pollen found in her nasal cavity, on her skin and in her hair.^[16]

Trial

On 15 February 2002, Taylor appeared before Mr. Justice Poole at Leeds Crown Court and entered a plea of guilty with respect to the abduction of Leanne Tiernan.^[21][25] He was not asked to enter a plea on the charge of murder, pending a separate Newton hearing, and was remanded into custody awaiting the trial. On 8 July 2002, the first day of the trial, he entered a plea of guilty with respect to the murder of Leanne Tiernan.^[19] He was sentenced the same day, and Mr. Justice Astill, sentencing, said: "After the death of this girl at your hands you wanted sexual deviancy with a girl of similar age. That not only demonstrates how dangerous you are but demonstrates your lack of remorse. Not by chance were you in this area for this purpose. You were not acting on impulse, you chose a secluded place and a vulnerable young girl who suited your purposes. This was as cold and calculating as can be imagined. You are a dangerous sexual sadist. Your purpose in kidnapping this young girl was so that you could satisfy your perverted cravings. The suffering you caused her and the suffering you continue to cause those who loved her simply cannot be measured. You must expect to spend the rest of your life in custody".^[8][12][26] Taylor was sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment, and the judge recommended that he must serve 25 years before being considered for release by the Parole Board. This was subsequently reduced to a minimum of 20 years by The Lord Woolf, then presiding as the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.

At the conclusion of the trial DS Gregg announced: "We do not believe that this is the first major crime he has committed. We feel that the way this murder was pre-planned, and the way he hid and disposed of the body, was calculated. We cannot exclude the possibility he has killed before".^[12]

In the media

Television

The murder of Leanne Tiernan has been the subject of several television documentaries:

• Looking for Leanne (2002) - Produced by Katherine Blair for Yorkshire Television, this documentary focused on the police and forensic experts who built the case against Taylor. It was first aired in Britain on 9 July 2002 on ITV1.^[27]
• Killer in the Woods (2003) - Produced and directed by Jessica Fowle for True North Productions, this 48 minute programme first aired at 22.55 on 25 February 2003 on channel Five and featured exclusive footage of Taylor's police interviews.^[28]
• Forensic Files: Making The Collar (2004) - Episode 196, (First broadcast 27 August 2004).
• Real Crime: Girlsnatcher (2004) - Produced and directed by Rick Goodwin for Yorkshire Television, this 65 minute programme was part of a series examining well-known or unsolved crime cases from a new perspective, and first aired at 23.00 on 29 March 2004 on ITV1. The programme detailed the missing person inquiry and Taylor's history of sexual violence towards women.^[29]
• Crimewatch: How they caught the Leeds strangler (2009) - Originally aired as part of Crimewatch, the BBC's long-running and high-profile television programme that reconstructs major crimes.
• Someone's Daughter, Someone's Son - ITV1 (First broadcast 19 August 2011).

See also

• Murder of April Jones
• Murder of Amanda Dowler
• Murder of Danielle Jones
• Murder of Hannah Williams
• Soham murders
• Murder of Tia Sharp

Notes

External links

• Forensic Cases: The Murder of Leanne Tiernan