Murder of Jayne MacDonald

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Jayne MacDonald
MacDonald, c. 1977
Born
Jayne Michelle MacDonald

(1960-08-16)16 August 1960
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Died26 June 1977(1977-06-26) (aged 16)
Chapeltown, Leeds, England
Cause of deathHammer blows (x3) to skull. Multiple stab wounds to upper chest and back
Body discovered9:25 a.m. 26 June 1977, Chapeltown Road, Leeds53°49′04″N 1°31′59″W / 53.81773°N 1.53314°W / 53.81773; -1.53314 (approximate)
Resting placeHarehills Cemetery, Leeds, England
53°48′26″N 1°30′05″W / 53.80714°N 1.50147°W / 53.80714; -1.50147 (approximate)
OccupationShop assistant
Known forVictim of serial murder
Height5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)

The murder of Jayne MacDonald is a British child murder case dating from June 1977 in which a 16-year-old girl was murdered by a combination of bludgeoning and stabbing in Chapeltown, Leeds, while walking home from an evening socialising with friends. Her murder was rapidly attributed to a series of murders committed by a serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper.[1]

Although investigators believed MacDonald's murderer had attacked and/or murdered a minimum of seven women in the two years prior to her death, contemporary misogynistic and sexist attitudes among police officers and society in general had led police and the media to categorise the Ripper's victims as prostitutes and "good-time girls".[2] As such, investigators believed the perpetrator solely preyed on women of specific sexual ethics and the crimes—although the subject of heightened, ongoing investigation—had only received moderate nationwide coverage.

MacDonald's murder caused considerable public alarm and forced the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, Ronald Gregory, to appoint his most senior investigator in command of the investigation to apprehend the perpetrator.[3]

Early life[edit]

Jayne Michelle MacDonald was born in Leeds on 16 August 1960. She was the first of three children born to Wilfred and Irene (née Sutcliffe) MacDonald, with a sister, Debra, born in 1961 and a brother, Ian, born in 1964. MacDonald had two older half-sisters—twins Carole and Janet—from her mother's first marriage.[4][n 1] Her father worked for British Rail and her mother was a housekeeper. The family were close-knit, and resided in a modest terraced house in 77 Scott Hall Avenue in the Chapeltown district of Leeds.[5]

MacDonald grew into a pleasant and popular girl who enjoyed dancing and who occasionally earned money in her mid-teens by babysitting or performing chores. Her primary hobbies included dancing, roller skating and music; she had been an avid Bay City Rollers fan and, although "Rollermania" had largely subsided in the U.K. by 1977, she still remained a fan and had numerous posters of the band adorning her bedroom walls. In addition, although slender and attractive, by her sixteenth birthday, she had only had one boyfriend and had terminated the relationship before it had become physical.[6]

1977[edit]

In April 1977, MacDonald finished her schooling at Allerton High School. Shortly thereafter, she obtained full-time employment as a sales assistant at Grandways supermarket in nearby Roundhay Road, where she quickly became a popular member of staff among her colleagues.[7] She began paying her parents a weekly percentage of her earnings, although much of the remainder of wages were spent on clothes.[8] Much of her social activity occurred on Saturday evenings, when she typically either went roller skating or to a disco at the Merrion Centre.[9]

On Father's Day 1977, MacDonald and her younger siblings purchased several gifts for their father, including a silver cup inscribed 'World's Best Dad', which he placed above the mantlepiece above the living room fireplace.[10] The following week, MacDonald learned her colleagues planned to meet and socialize in Leeds city centre on Saturday evening. As such, she opted to join them.[9]

On 25 June 1977, MacDonald went to meet friends and colleagues at the Hofbrauhaus, a German-style bierkeller in Leeds. She was wearing a blue flared gingham skirt, a blue-and-white halter-neck sun top, a waist-length jacket and platform-soled shoes. Her father would later recollect Jayne had kissed him "cheerio" as she left the family household and that his daughter had been "almost bursting with optimism and the sheer joy of life."[11]

Murder[edit]

According to colleagues, MacDonald spent much of her time at the Hofbrauhaus talking with acquaintances, listening to music, and dancing.[12] At approximately 10:30 p.m., MacDonald and a friend, 18-year-old Mark Jones, walked from the premises in the direction of Briggate, where she suggested the two purchase some chips. By the time the two had found a fish and chip shop and had eaten their purchases, MacDonald had missed her last bus home. Jones then walked with MacDonald towards his home, located close to St James's University Hospital, upon the promise that if his sister was at home, she would "give [MacDonald] a lift" home.

Jones's sister's car was not parked outside his household; therefore, the two continued walking along Beckett Road in the direction of Chapeltown, where the two parted company in a school field close to the gates of the hospital, having arranged to meet the following week. Jones would later estimate the time the two had parted was sometime after 1:30 a.m.[13]

MacDonald first walked along Chapeltown Road, where she passed the Hayfield pub before turning left into Reginald Street. She was attacked by the Yorkshire Ripper at approximately 2 a.m. as she walked past an adventure playground; her murderer dragged her body twenty yards into the darkness of the playground,[n 2] where he bludgeoned her further about the head before stabbing her once in the back and repeatedly throughout the chest.[15][16]

Her body was discovered at 9:25 a.m. the following morning by two children in the playground between Reginald Terrace and Reginald Street in Chapeltown.

Autopsy[edit]

MacDonald's post mortem examination was conducted by Home Office pathologist Professor David Gee. Her autopsy revealed she had received three incapacitating bludgeoning wounds to her head with a hammer before her upper torso had been purposely exposed by her murderer prior to his inflicting several stab wounds to her upper torso and once in the back, with her frontal chest wounds being repeatedly stabbed through the same incision.[17] A broken glass bottle with screw-top attached was also deeply embedded in her stomach.[8][n 3]

Aftermath of murder[edit]

Change of perception[edit]

MacDonald's death marked a change in the tide of the investigation into the Yorkshire Ripper murders - primarily because of her youth and innocence.[19] She was said to be his first "non-prostitute" murder victim, his youngest murder victim and his fifth known murder victim.[20] The police described her as a "respectable young girl" who was a chance victim. The Byford Report was critical of this point, noting that the murder of Jayne MacDonald elicited a more sympathetic response from both the public and the press, and arguing that police should not have assumed that Peter Sutcliffe "wrongly identified MacDonald as a prostitute".[21]

MacDonald's family lived on the same street as one of Sutcliffe's earlier victims, Wilma McCann, and they strenuously objected to the way victims were divided into categories. MacDonald's sister Debra said: "I do remember Mum and Dad feeling really angry about that - the division of victims into good women and bad. It was terrible and none of us saw it that way."[22]

In a public appeal, Irene MacDonald commented: "How many more must die before people wake up and realize it could happen to someone they love? I feel that if (the victims) had all been Sunday school teachers, the public would have come forward with clues and the man would have been found by now."[23]

Journalist Henry Matthews commented: “Prior to that point, the fear, if you like, had been exclusively felt by working prostitutes. But from Jayne MacDonald on there was this feeling that no woman was safe.”[24] After MacDonald's murder there was a public outcry and the next day West Yorkshire Police began to circulate information about the murders of Jayne MacDonald, along with that of Wilma McCann, Emily Jackson, Patricia Atkinson and Irene Richardson. This marked the point at which the attacks were seen as "something truly heinous", and there was significant, systematic urgency to catch the Yorkshire Ripper.[25]

Reclaim the Night Movement[edit]

MacDonald's murder changed the police and press's perception of the Yorkshire Ripper murders (later discovered to be by Peter Sutcliffe) and resulted in public furore[26] and increasing anger amongst women. The police reaction led to the Reclaim the Night movement being formed in 1977.

Women - particularly in Leeds and the North of England - felt the police response to the Yorkshire Ripper murders was slow and that the press had barely reported on them until MacDonald's murder. Although her murder led to more coverage, the police responded by telling women not to go out at night, effectively putting them under curfew. Feminists and a variety of student and women’s groups were angered by this response, as well as by the sensationalizing of the serial murders. This led to the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group calling for women to march in cities across the UK on the night of 12 November 1977 against rape and for a woman’s right to walk without fear at night.[27]

Sutcliffe's testimony[edit]

When Sutcliffe was apprehended in 1981 he admitted to feeling regret about MacDonald's killing. He said he thought she was a prostitute because she was walking through a red-light district in the early hours of the morning,[28] saying: "I felt like someone inhuman and I realised that it was a devil driving me against my will and that I was a beast".[29]

Family's reaction[edit]

Irene MacDonald was reported to have said that she wished Sutcliffe was going to the gallows. "I hope other prisoners have the decency to make every minute he is inside a living hell for him," she said.[30] On 5 March 1982, Irene MacDonald made legal history when a High Court registrar in Leeds awarded her damages of £6,722 against Peter Sutcliffe for the death of her daughter.[31]

Wilfred MacDonald, who had to identify his daughter's body, died in October 1979 at the age of 60. He was buried with her.[32]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Carole married Victor Skorpen when MacDonald was four years old. The two later relocated to Johannesburg, South Africa.[4]
  2. ^ In his 1981 confession to MacDonald's murder, Sutcliffe remarked her shoes had made a "horrible scraping noise" as he dragged her body into the playground.[14]
  3. ^ Sutcliffe would later insist he had not thrust this bottle into MacDonald's torso and surmised the item must have embedded itself into her body as he dragged her from Reginald Street into the adventure playground.[18]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Deliver Us from Evil ISBN 978-1-472-11658-1 p. 320
  2. ^ "Police Urge Ripper to Give Up". The Guardian. 27 October 1979. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  3. ^ Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son: The Story of Peter Sutcliffe ISBN 0-7493-1331-5 p. 184
  4. ^ a b Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter: True Stories from Victims and Survivors of the Yorkshire Ripper ISBN 978-1-782-43925-7 ch. 9
  5. ^ The Yorkshire Ripper: The In-Depth Study of a Mass Killer and His Methods ISBN 978-0-586-05526-7 p. 80
  6. ^ Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter: True Stories from Victims and Survivors of the Yorkshire Ripper ISBN 978-1-782-43925-7 ch. 9 p. 1
  7. ^ Cavendish 1997, p. 2.
  8. ^ a b "The Attacks and Murders: Jayne MacDonald". execulink.com. 1 January 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  9. ^ a b Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son: The Story of Peter Sutcliffe ISBN 0-7493-1331-5 p. 184
  10. ^ The Yorkshire Ripper: The In-Depth Study of a Mass Killer and His Methods ISBN 978-0-586-05526-7 p. 81
  11. ^ The Yorkshire Ripper: The In-Depth Study of a Mass Killer and His Methods ISBN 978-0-586-05526-7 p. 80
  12. ^ Cavendish 1997, p. 5.
  13. ^ Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son: The Story of Peter Sutcliffe ISBN 0-7493-1331-5 pp. 178-179
  14. ^ "That Was The Year That Was: 1977". co-curate.ncl.ac.uk. Co-curate. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  15. ^ Marano, Rebecca (1 February 2021) [13 November 2020]. "The Thirteen Victims of Peter Sutcliffe: Remembering Who they Were". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  16. ^ The Yorkshire Ripper: The In-Depth Study of a Mass Killer and His Methods ISBN 978-0-586-05526-7 pp. 80-81
  17. ^ The Psychology of Serial Killer Investigations: The Grisly Business Unit ISBN 978-0-124-04260-5 p. 37
  18. ^ Convicting the Yorkshire Ripper: The Trial of Peter Sutcliffe ISBN 978-1-399-01190-7 p. 75
  19. ^ Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Hunting Serial Killers for the FBI ISBN 978-0-671-71561-8 p. 259
  20. ^ Martin, Laura (26 March 2019). "Peter Sutcliffe: Who Were the Yorkshire Ripper's Victims and is the Killer Still in Prison Now?". i. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  21. ^ "FOI Release: Sir Lawrence Byford Report into the Police Handling of the Yorkshire Ripper Case". Gov.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  22. ^ Carol Ann Lee (2019). Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter. Michael O'Mara Books.
  23. ^ "Voice of a Killer". Washington Press. 30 June 1979.
  24. ^ "The Yorkshire Ripper". Crime and Investigation.
  25. ^ "Case Notes: S01E07 – The Yorkshire Ripper, part 1 of 5". En Clair. 30 April 2019.
  26. ^ Chris Burn (26 March 2019). "Restoring reputations of Yorkshire Ripper's victims after decades of victim-blaming". Yorkshire Post.
  27. ^ "Why Reclaim the Night". Reclaim the Night.
  28. ^ "The Yorkshire Ripper Files: Why Chapeltown in Leeds was the 'hunting ground' of Peter Sutcliffe". Yorkshire Post. 26 March 2019.
  29. ^ David Yallop (1993). Deliver Us From Evil. Corgi.
  30. ^ Gordon Burn (1986). Somebody's husband, somebody's son: The Story of the Yorkshire Ripper. Penguin.
  31. ^ "The Mother of the Yorkshire Ripper's Youngest Victim was Awarded Damages of $12,328 for the Death of her Daughter". UPI Archives. UPI. 6 March 1982. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  32. ^ Marano, Rebecca (1 February 2021). "The 13 Victims of Peter Sutcliffe: Remembering who They Were". Wakefield Express. Retrieved 30 May 2024.

Cited works and further reading[edit]

  • Bilton, Michael (2003). Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. Glasgow: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-007-16963-4.
  • Burn, Gordon (1993). Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son: The Story of Peter Sutcliffe. London: Mandarin Publishing. ISBN 978-0-749-31331-9.
  • Cawthorne, Nigel; Tibballs, Geoff (1993). Killers. London: Boxtree. ISBN 0-7522-0850-0.
  • Cobb, Richard Charles (2023). Convicting the Yorkshire Ripper: The Trial of Peter Sutcliffe. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 978-1-399-01190-7.
  • Cross, Roger (1981). The Yorkshire Ripper: The In-depth Study of a Mass Killer and His Methods. Hammersmith, London: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-586-05526-7.
  • Gaute, J. H. H. (1991). The New Murderers' Who's Who. New York: Dorset Press. ISBN 978-0-747-23270-4.
  • Jones, Barbara (1993). Voices from an Evil God. London: Blake Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-857-82065-2.
  • Keppel, Robert D.; Birnes, William J. (2003). The Psychology of Serial Killer Investigations: The Grisly Business Unit. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-124-04260-5.
  • Lane, Brian (1995). Chronicle of 20th Century Murder. Bournemouth: Select Editions. ISBN 978-0-425-14649-1.
  • Lane, Brian; Gregg, Wilfred (1995) [1992]. The Encyclopedia Of Serial Killers. New York City: Berkley Books. pp. 350–353. ISBN 978-0-747-23731-0.
  • Lee, Carol Ann (2019). Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter: True Stories from Victims and Survivors of the Yorkshire Ripper. London: Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN 978-1-782-43925-7.
  • Ressler, Robert K.; Schactman, Tom (1992). Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Hunting Serial Killers for the FBI. Sydney: Simon & Schuster Ltd. ISBN 978-0-671-71561-8.
  • Wade, Stephen (2005). Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths around Bradford. Barnsley: Wharncliffe Books. ISBN 1-903425-83-2.
  • Whittington-Egan, Richard; Whittington-Egan, Molly (1992). The Murder Almanac. Glasgow: Neil Wilson Publishing. ISBN 978-1-897-78404-4.
  • Wilson, Colin; Wilson, Damon (2007). The World's Most Evil Murderers: Real-Life Stories of Infamous Killers. Bath: Parragon Publishing. ISBN 978-1-405-48828-0.
  • Wilson, Colin, ed. (1997). "Murder in Mind – The Yorkshire Ripper". Murder in Mind (2). Marshall Cavendish. ISSN 1364-5803.
  • Wynn, Douglas (1996). On Trial for Murder. London: Pan Books. pp. 305–307. ISBN 978-0-09-472990-2.
  • Yallop, David (2014). Deliver Us from Evil. London: Constable & Robinson Limited. ISBN 978-1-472-11658-1.

External links[edit]

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