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The photo Barn uploaded of Jemima MacDonald is very poignant. The standard photo of Jemima which we all know is hardly flattering but this one shows the obviously genuine love of a mother for her child. A precious thing and heightened by the rather sparse, spartan backdrop which lies in the background behind her and her daughter. Maybe if Beattie and his team had access to this photo they would have approached the investigation in a better way.
Still on the matter of perception, I do wonder about the validity of the Lennox Patterson portrait which history has judged as too mannered and specific to elicit a valuable response. I'm not doubting Patterson's technical ability and we have to remember that Jeannie was very impressed with the final result. But the BJ as sketched by Patterson looks a far more benign presence than the other more hardline mugshots produced at the time. He looks more like a Music Teacher at Hyndland Academy than a killer, whereas the earlier photofits show a more realistic 'street' face.
Having said that I don't doubt that the investigation encountered Bible John at some point, but unfortunately they failed to nail him. He could hardly have escaped the myriad of names being supplied to the police at the time. Yet rather like Sutcliffe, no one ever quite joined the dots. In the Yorkshire Ripper Case they knew Peter Sutcliffe's blood group, his appearance (which he never changed), his shoe size, his make of shoe, his gap tooth, and had a fair idea he was a lorry driver and they even had a fix on where he probably worked due to a new bank note discovered on a victim. His car was seen cruising countless times in Red Light areas yet when arrested he was not even in the top 100 suspects! Despite being interviewed 9 times at least.
I think BJ comes into a similar category. He was traced, interviewed, and mistakenly eliminated. I'm not saying BJ was either McInnes or Templeton but the police must have let him slip through their fingers. The public did their job: the police didn't.
I notice from the much published cictim photo that Jemima MacDonald had what appeas to be a quite ‘heavy’ jaw. The woman in the photograph seems very similar to me. There is a strong likeness because of the jaw I believe. So maybe it could be her. The glasses on the man trouble me. I font think has been any mention of glasses has there. I don't buy the glasses thing as a disguise. He seems fairly well built to me. Just observations
NW
Hi NW,
Yes, it’s the jaw that stands out and makes me see a similarity at least but that’s possibly all that it is. It seems to me that Jemima’s jaw is more ‘pronounced’ for want of a much better word. Jemima also appears to have darker hair than the woman in the photograph.
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