Death of Jessie Earl

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The death of Jessie Earl occurred in May 1980, after she disappeared in Eastbourne, on the south coast of England. She was 22 at the time. Her body was discovered in scrubland near the top of Beachy Head in 1989. The coroner recorded an open verdict at the inquest as there was a lack of evidence to indicate her cause of death, although her parents have always maintained that she was murdered and in 2000 Sussex Police opened a murder investigation, saying that they believed she was murdered. In 2020 her parents requested that the Attorney General open a new inquest into her death so as to formally re-classify her death as murder. In December 2021 the request for a new inquest was approved.

Serial killer and sex offender Peter Tobin, who lived in the area at the time, has been a suspect in Earl's murder and the case was investigated as part of Operation Anagram, which had been set up in the late 2000s to investigate links between Tobin and unsolved murders. Apparently related to Earl's disappearance and murder is the disappearance of another young woman from Beachy Head in 1988. 18-year-old Louise Kay vanished after saying she was going to sleep in her car on Beachy Head in June 1988 and neither she nor her car have ever been found again. Earl's body was found on Beachy Head less than a year later. Tobin is also the prime suspect in Kay's presumed murder.

Earl's parents believe Peter Tobin could be responsible for her murder.

Background[]

Jessie Earl was born to Valerie and John Earl, and was described as "strong and independent".[1] She became an art student, studying at the Eastbourne College of Art and Design (now East Sussex College).[2] She enjoyed writing about and being amongst nature, and liked walking on the Sussex coast.[1] Her favourite place to walk was on Beachy Head and she would enjoy reading there.[1][3]

Disappearance[]

Photograph of scrubland on Beach Head
Scrubland at the top of Beachy Head with Eastbourne beyond

On Wednesday 15 May 1980, Earl rang home from a phone box on the seafront at Eastbourne. She wanted to tell her mother that she would see her on the Friday.[1] When Earl failed to arrive on the Friday, her parents were not overly concerned. They were simply worried that she had not phoned them to tell them that she had changed her plans. She always notified them when she did.[1]

The next day, 18 May, Jessie's mother Valerie caught the train to Eastbourne to find out what had happened.[1] Upon opening the door to Jessie's bedsit in Upperton Gardens, she immediately felt there was something wrong.[1] There were dirty dishes on the table, a book and Jessie's reading glasses on the floor, and her purse on the bed.[1] It appeared that the room had been abandoned, as if she had briefly left for a short while but not returned.[1] Friends said that they hadn't seen her since the Wednesday.[1] There was nothing in Earl's diary which gave any indication of why she had gone missing.[4] Earl was 22 at the time.[5]

Police sniffer dogs searched the area and Jessie's bedsit was searched for clues, while missing person posters were distributed.[1] After three weeks, Sussex police flew a helicopter over the South Downs, using a thermal scanner in the hope of finding something.[6]

After police found no trace of her, the investigation was scaled down.[1] Jessie's parents continued to campaign and made appearances on the BBC's Wogan chat show and on Crimewatch to appeal for information.[1]

Discovery of body[]

Earl's body was located in 1989.[1] An 8-year-old girl had been flying a kite on Beachy Head before losing control in the wind.[1][3] The kite got caught in an overgrown thicket, and when the child's father waded into the shrubland to retrieve it, he discovered a skeleton, which was Earl's remains.[1][3] The only piece of clothing police found was a bra, tied around Earl's wrists.[1] Apart from this, she was found naked.[7] Her silver ring, watch, leather bag and her asthma inhaler were missing.[8] Forensics were only able to establish that Earl had died at the scene.[8] Officers cleared an area of twenty square yards around where she had been found, and this was then excavated and the soil minutely examined for evidence.[8]

A volunteer team of metal detectors led by an archaeologist searched the cliffs and found items such as jewellery and belt buckles, although they didn't help the investigation.[2][8] Four months after the discovery of the body, a coroner recorded an open verdict at the inquest.[9] The reason cited for the open verdict was that there was a lack of evidence that might have proved a cause of death.[8]

2000 murder inquiry[]

In 2000, the police launched a new murder inquiry. The Detective Chief Inspector leading the investigation commented "We believe that Jessie was murdered."[2] However, because Earl's death was never officially classed as a murder, the key forensic evidence had been destroyed by police in 1997.[4] This included Earl's bra and the earth that Earl had been found on, which had been stored after she was found.[4][3] This meant that when the murder inquiry was opened in the year 2000, the evidence could not be analysed using modern forensic techniques.[4][3] The lead investigator of the 2000 inquiry, DCI Steve Dennis, has stated that this was a significant mistake.[4][3]

Peter Tobin as a suspect[]

A new suspect emerged in the late 2000s, serial killer and sex offender Peter Tobin.[10] Tobin had killed 23-year-old Angelika Kluk in Glasgow in 2006, but was subsequently linked to two missing persons cases from 1991 after police suspected he was responsible for numerous other murders.[11] The two young women's bodies were later found buried at his former home in Margate.[11] Police set up Operation Anagram after his 2006 murder, with the aim of tracing Tobin's past movements and investigating whether he could be linked to unsolved murders.[11] The case of Jessie Earl was one of the main cases that Operation Anagram reinvestigated.[11]

Tobin had lived in the area at the time of her murder, and Earl fitted in with the kind of victims Tobin attacked.[12][3] Tobin could also be specifically placed in Eastbourne at the time, as he was discovered to have had links to Holy Trinity Church in Eastbourne, and it is believed he worked as a handyman at the church as a Scottish man named Peter was known to be working there in 1980.[4] Shortly after the discovery of Earl's body became public knowledge in 1989, Tobin hurriedly moved with his wife and child a great distance to Bathgate, Scotland, without prior informing his wife of these plans, which suggested he had an underlying reason to suddenly leave the area.[4] This was notably similar to how Tobin had suddenly moved a great distance from Bathgate to Margate in 1991, shortly after he had murdered 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton in Bathgate, which showed how Tobin had a habit of moving across the country to avoid being detected for crimes he had committed.[4] This was further suggested to be the case in Earl's murder as Tobin was found to have checked into a hospital in Glasgow a few days after she was killed, which again fitted his habit of moving as far away as possible after committing a murder.[8] When Earl was found, her bra had also been used to tie her hands, and Tobin was known to have tied Vicky Hamilton's hands with her bra when he murdered her.[8]

As part of Operation Anagram, police took DNA samples from Jessie's parents and from Jessie's clothing, hoping to find a match with Tobin's clothes or possessions.[8] However, police were unable to find enough evidence to charge Tobin with Earl's murder.[8] A DNA link between Tobin and Earl's body could not be established through modern forensic techniques due to the key forensic evidence being destroyed by police in 1997.[3][4]

Louise Kay links[]

Apparently linked to Earl's murder and a similar case Operation Anagram investigated was the disappearance of 18-year-old Louise Kay from the same town of Eastbourne in 1988, a case which bore notable similarities to Earl's murder.[3][11] Not only had both young women last been seen in Eastbourne, but Kay's last known location was also at Beachy Head, where Earl's remains would be found only a year later.[3] Kay had been out with friends the evening she disappeared and ended the night by dropping her friend off by car at her house in Eastbourne, saying she was going to spend the night sleeping in her car on Beachy Head as she often did.[3] Earl's body was found on Beachy Head less than a year later. Kay has never been found.[3]

As with Earl, Operation Anagram established that Tobin was also living in the area at the time of Kay's disappearance, and it was discovered that he was working in a hotel in Eastbourne.[3] Kay's distinctive gold Ford Fiesta with a white door that she was driving that night disappeared with her and has never been found, and Anagram established that Tobin was selling a small hand-painted car after Kay's disappearance.[3] Kay had also met an unknown Scottish man in Eastbourne a few days before she vanished, who had given her money to buy petrol.[3] Some of Tobin's former homes in Brighton were searched in 2010 in the belief that Kay may have been buried there, although she wasn't found.[3] In 2018, investigative reporter Mark Williams-Thomas released a documentary as part of his The Investigator: A British Crime Story series, in which he asserted that the cases of Earl and Kay were likely linked and that both women were victims of Tobin.[3] In criminologist David Wilson's 2012 episode of Killers Behind Bars: The Untold Story that centred on Tobin's involvement in Earl's murder, Kay was also briefly brought up.[4] The lead DSI of Operation Anagram, DSI David Swindle, told Williams-Thomas in the 2018 The Investigator documentary that he believes Tobin murdered Kay.[3]

Subsequent developments[]

In 2018, Sussex Police stated that they had "no evidence implicating Tobin or any other named or known individual" in Earl's murder.[7] By this point they had no open lines of enquiry, but they were reviewing the case every two years.

Earl's parents asked the Attorney General to open a new inquest in June 2020. They stated that her body had been found naked and that they had "always known it was murder."[5] In November 2020, the Solicitor General gave permission to appeal the verdict for a fresh inquest. The Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP said "I have concluded the initial investigation was insufficient and further lines of inquiry should have been pursued. It is in the interest of justice the application for a new inquest be heard by the High Court."[13] In December 2021, the request for a new inquest was approved by the High Court.[14]

Earl's parents believe that Peter Tobin could be responsible for her murder.[7]

Television[]

Jessie Earl's death is investigated in a 2012 episode of criminologist David Wilson's Killers Behind Bars: The Untold Story.[15] Wilson concluded that Tobin was likely responsible for Earl's murder.[4]

Earl's case also features as part of a 2018 episode of investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas's documentary series The Investigator: A British Crime Story.[3] Williams-Thomas concluded that Earl's death could be linked to Tobin and that it was linked to the disappearance of Louise Kay from Eastbourne in 1988.[3]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Wilson, David; Harrison, Paul (2010). The Lost British Serial Killer: Closing the Case on Peter Tobin and Bible John. London: Sphere. pp. 222–223. ISBN 978-0-751-54232-5.
  2. ^ a b c "Death in 1980 now murder inquiry". The Times. 22 March 2000. Gale IF0501333417.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Simon Cowell; Mark Williams-Thomas; Adam Winpenny; Hugh Ballantyne (5 April 2018). "Series 2, episode 1". The Investigator: A British Crime Story. ITV Studios. Syco Entertainment.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Killers Behind Bars: The Untold Story - Peter Tobin (TV Documentary) (Series 1, episode 2 ed.). Channel 5. 19 June 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Fresh inquest bid over art student's 1980s death". BBC News. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  6. ^ "More police in hunt for girl aged 14". The Times. 9 June 1980. pp. 2–3. Gale CS36275913.
  7. ^ a b c "Jessie Earl death: Parents want inquest verdict changed". BBC News. 25 September 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wilson, David; Harrison, Paul (2010). The Lost British Serial Killer: Closing the Case on Peter Tobin and Bible John. London: Sphere. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-751-54232-5.
  9. ^ "Parents' plea over daughter's 1980 death". BBC News. 25 September 2018. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  10. ^ "Could serial killer Tobin have killed Eastbourne student?". The Argus. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Piecing together serial killer Peter Tobin's past". BBC News. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  12. ^ Kinchen, Rosie (27 September 2020). "The death of Jessie Earl: how her parents knew it was murder". The Times. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  13. ^ McKelvie, Geraldine (21 November 2020). "We still hope for truth over our girl's murder after she's found at Beachy Head". Mirror. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  14. ^ "Jessie Earl: Fresh inquest for art student found dead in 1989". BBC News. 14 December 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  15. ^ "Killers Behind Bars: The Untold Story - Peter Tobin" (TV Documentary). IMDb. 2012.
Retrieved from ""