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)
NationalityBritish
OccupationShop assistant
Known forVictim of serial murder
Height5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)

The murder of Jayne MacDonald is 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 the Ripper's victims as prostitutes and "good-time girls". 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.[2]

Early life[edit]

Jayne Michelle MacDonald was born in Leeds on 16 August 1960. She was the second child of Wilfred MacDonald (a railwayman) and his wife, Irene (née Sutcliffe).[3] She had two half-sisters - Carole and Janet (born 1957) - from her mother's first marriage, and siblings Debra (born 1961) and Ian (born 1964).[4] Carole married Victor in 1964 and moved with him to Johannesburg, South Africa; Janet remained with her mother and half-siblings in West Yorkshire.[4]

MacDonald had recently left Allerton High School and since April 1977 had been working as a shop assistant in the shoe department at Grandways supermarket.[5] She was described in police reports as being 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m) with shoulder-length brown hair. She was a Bay City Rollers fan and enjoyed dancing and roller skating.[6]

Murder[edit]

On 25 June 1977, MacDonald went to meet friends 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."[7]

At approximately 10:30 p.m., MacDonald and a friend, 18-year-old Mark Jones, walked 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.[8]

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, where he bludgeoned her further about the head before stabbing her once in the back and repeatedly throughout the chest.[9][10]

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. A post mortem exam was carried out by the Home Office pathologist Professor David Gee. The extent of her injuries was not revealed at the time by police although it was subsequently revealed she had been hit on the head three times with a hammer and had been stabbed in the chest and back. A broken bottle was found embedded in her chest.[11]

MacDonald was buried in Harehills Cemetery, Leeds, West Yorkshire on 20 December 1977.[12]

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. She was said to be his first "non-prostitute" murder victim, his youngest murder victim and his fifth known murder victim.[13] 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".[14]

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."[15]

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."[16]

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.”[17] 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.[18]

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[19] 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.[20]

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,[21] 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".[22]

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.[23] 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.[24]

Wilfred MacDonald, who had to identify Jayne's body, died in October 1979 at the age of 60. He was buried with her.[25][26]

References[edit]

  1. ^ David Yallop (1993). Deliver Us From Evil. Corgi.
  2. ^ Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son: The Story of Peter Sutcliffe ISBN 0-7493-1331-5 p. 184
  3. ^ The Yorkshire Ripper: The In-Depth Study of a Mass Killer and His Methods ISBN 978-0-586-05526-7 p. 81
  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 Attacks and Murders: JAYNE MacDONALD". Execulink.com.
  6. ^ Carol Ann Lee (2019). Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter. Michael O'Mara Books.
  7. ^ The Yorkshire Ripper: The In-Depth Study of a Mass Killer and His Methods ISBN 978-0-586-05526-7 p. 80
  8. ^ Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son: The Story of Peter Sutcliffe ISBN 0-7493-1331-5 pp. 178-179
  9. ^ "Remembering each of the 13 victims of the Yorkshire Ripper and who they were". www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk. February 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  10. ^ The Yorkshire Ripper: The In-Depth Study of a Mass Killer and His Methods ISBN 978-0-586-05526-7 pp. 80-81
  11. ^ "The Attacks and Murders: JAYNE MacDONALD". Execulink.com.
  12. ^ "Jayne Michelle MacDonald (1960-1977) - Find A..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ "FOI Release: Sir Lawrence Byford Report into the Police Handling of the Yorkshire Ripper Case". Gov.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  15. ^ Carol Ann Lee (2019). Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter. Michael O'Mara Books.
  16. ^ "Voice of a Killer". Washington Press. 30 June 1979.
  17. ^ "The Yorkshire Ripper". Crime and Investigation.
  18. ^ "Case Notes: S01E07 – The Yorkshire Ripper, part 1 of 5". En Clair. 30 April 2019.
  19. ^ Chris Burn (26 March 2019). "Restoring reputations of Yorkshire Ripper's victims after decades of victim-blaming". Yorkshire Post.
  20. ^ "Why Reclaim the Night". Reclaim the Night.
  21. ^ "The Yorkshire Ripper Files: Why Chapeltown in Leeds was the 'hunting ground' of Peter Sutcliffe". Yorkshire Post. 26 March 2019.
  22. ^ David Yallop (1993). Deliver Us From Evil. Corgi.
  23. ^ Gordon Burn (1986). Somebody's husband, somebody's son: The Story of the Yorkshire Ripper. Penguin.
  24. ^ "The mother of the Yorkshire ripper's youngest victim was awarded damages of $12,328 for the death of her daughter". UPI. 6 March 1982.
  25. ^ "Interview with Irene MacDonald". YouTube.
  26. ^ Carol Ann Lee (2019). Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter. Michael O'Mara Books.

External links[edit]

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