Bible John (General Discussion)

[Herlock Sholmes]

Spot on Herlock!

The Don of the Scottish library world has come good!

I just need to assassinate his rivals at Scottish Museums and Art Galleries as payment!

For the purpose of clarification though, it was definitely a veggie haggis and not one of those horrible offal filled sheep intestine ones!

Isn’t veggie haggis considered the work of Satan in Scotland?

[Tom_Wescott]

I finished reading the book last night. Been a while since I saw that many notes and sources in a crime book! I thought it was fantastic. The author's approach was innovative and the amount of work she put into it was monumental. Is her John Templeton the real and true 'Bible John'? Perhaps. There's much to recommend him. However, it must be said that Bavin-Mizzi seems to take for granted that a) BJ actually said his name was Templeton. Jeanie said it was something like that and offered two alternative surnames, and b) That BJ was honest about his name. I saw in a documentary that some if not much of the detail Jeanie provided was whilst under hypnosis. I don't recall that being addressed in Bavin-Mizzi's book (I may have missed it) and that concerns me. Bavin-Mizzi also takes for granted that the DNA results from the 1990s are accurate and that the result which led to the wrong identification of McInness as Bible John wasn't somehow corrupted, as was quite common at the time. In other words, if there's no familial connection between Bible John and McInnes at all, then her John Templeton is out of the frame.

Bavin-Mizzi's explanation for how BJ knew his victims were menstruating was sensible and even likely, though it begs the question why the police, press, and Jeanie herself, didn't suggest the 'sanitary towel as outerwear' idea at the time. I like it, though. That's one of the most intriguing elements of the case for me. I don't know why Bavin-Mizzi didn't address this subject when speaking to Templeton's ex, June. Or if she did address it, why she didn't publish June's responses. Had she admitted to Templeton having had a fetish for or repulsion of menstruation, it would have greatly advanced her suspect.

The fact that Suspect Templeton married shortly before the murders began and was apparently happy in his marriage throughout the period of the murders and beyond is not helpful to the case against Templeton. Based on BJ's comments and actions, he appears to be a man who PRIOR to the murder had been cuckolded. That certainly doesn't kill the theory but it was something I was looking for in her case against Templeton.

All in all, I think Bavin-Mizzi has done some brilliant work and I consider it a shame her work wasn't published by a major publisher and given the wider market it deserves. Her John Templeton should probably be considered the leading suspect at this time, but it falls short of being a conclusive identification. I would assume Scottish authorities are getting some of the best forensic genealogists on this case? If so, it should be only a matter of time before they conclusively identify Bible John.

I wish we had more cold case studies like Bavin-Mizzi's. Truly impressive, excellent stuff.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott