Bible John suspect boasted about murder interview after third victim's death

An artist's impression of Bible John (L) and John Templeton (R)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


A Bible John suspect boasted to Glasgow work colleagues that he was interviewed twice by cops over the murder of the third victim.

John Templeton, who died in 2015, was nicknamed “Bible John” by fellow works of the Mitchell Library due to his resemblance to the artist’s impression of the serial killer. Initially working as a typesetter in a printing firm, he would go on to secure a role as a Glasgow City Council library attendant.

Templeton was named as the alleged killer of the third victim Helen Puttock in a book published in June by author Jill Bavin-Mizzi. The author is also convinced he murdered two others linked to Bible John - Patricia Docker and Jemima MacDonald.

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All three had attended the Barrowland Ballroom on the nights they died.

Templeton while working for Glasgow City Council in their libraries
Templeton while working for Glasgow City Council in their libraries

The Sunday Mail reports that Templeton's ex-colleagues contacted Jill after reading her book. One who met Templeton in 2001 in Possilpark Library and later in the Mitchell around 2006, said: “He was a charming, chatty man, always smiling but condescending and superior and I didn’t like that. He appeared to enjoy disparaging me and others.”

It is understood that he was a regular visitor to the Spiritualist Church on Berkeley Street and spoke with a speech impediment. Helen’s sister Jean Langford told police a man who shared a taxi with them called himself Templeton or Semperson.

The former colleague has raised questions over whether the sister misheard him. Adding: "John Templeton would sometimes say the letter ‘r’ as ‘w’, and ‘t’ as ‘s’. I remembered this when reading of the man in the taxi giving his name.”

Patricia Docker
Patricia Docker
Mima McDonald
Mima McDonald
Helen Puttock
Helen Puttock

The former colleague did not discover Templeton’s link with Bible John until a Sunday Mail article in June about the new book. Then she learned Templeton’s fellow attendants had called him Bible John because of his resemblance to the artist’s impression.

She added: “He apparently also boasted that he had been questioned twice by police as a person of interest. I am not sure why he did that. Perhaps he wanted people to think he had been cleared as a suspect.”

Australian author Jill Bavin-Mizzi's book cover
Australian author Jill Bavin-Mizzi's book cover

The worker also remembered that Templeton had a gap in his teeth which was similar to the description by Jean. She added: “It never crossed my mind he was Bible John though I was familiar with the story. When we saw the photograph on the front of the Sunday Mail we realised it was the John Templeton we had worked with. We were gobsmacked. It was the talk of the building.”

A second Mitchell Library colleague said Templeton was also called Bible John. Jill, 62, tracked down Templeton’s ex in 2022. She provided a photo that bears a strong likeness to the artist’s impression created by George Lennox Paterson.

The author traced Templeton after researching the ancestry of John McInnes, who was identified as a suspect in 1996. The ex-soldier, from Stonehouse, Lanarkshire, ended his own life in 1980,

He had been quizzed after Helen’s murder. DNA obtained from her clothing bore comparisons to samples given by two siblings.

However, an examination of his body found no conclusive match. The revelation led Jill to question if the DNA may have had some other connection to McInnes.

An examination of the family tree led her to Templeton, born in 1945.

A police spokesperson said: “The murders of Helen, Jemima and Patricia remain unresolved, however, as with all unresolved cases, they are subject to review and any new information will be investigated.”

Bible John: A New Suspect by Jill Bavin-Mizzi was published in April and went on sale in June.

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