Jacqueline Johns

listeners may find distressing, so listener discretion is advised. On the morning of Monday, the first of October nineteen seventy three, workmen were working in the area of Spicer's Wharf, close to Battersea Power Station. They were loading papers onto lorries from ships that had been docked at the River at Thames. While they were working, they noticed something in a railway siding and were drawn to investigate. They were soon alerted to the fact that what they'd noticed was the body

of a woman. This woman was naked and it was clear that whatever had happened to her was not natural. When police arrived at the scene, there were many worrying aspects. There were few belongings to give an indications to what may have happened or point to the events prior to her death. A pair of yellow and blue striped platform shoes were tossed nearby. However, the woman was nude and she had no coat despite the relatively cold temperatures. The

post mortem would establish that the victim had been strangled. However, contemporary reports state that she had been suffocated. The victim had also been sexually assaulted prior to her death. This was clearly a attack and the person who'd committed this was both violent and dangerous. Police were fairly quickly able to identify the victim, and this made the story all

the more of a tragedy. She was sixteen year old Jacqueline John's Jacqueline had been seen on September twenty ninth, just two days before her body was found close to Battersea Power Station. She lived with her parents in Thornton Heath in South London, and despite her young age, she worked as an insurance clerk in the life assurance department at Commercial Union. Jacqueline had grown up in a loving

and large family with seven other siblings. She was known as a responsible and relatively shy person who was a devout Christian faith was very important to Jacqueline, and she much preferred staying at home than going out and attending parties in her spare time. In fact, her family later said that they often encouraged Jacqueline to go out with her friends and have a good time. Her sister said, I used to have to force Jackie to go out

to parties and things. She was much happier staying in her bedroom listening to records and the new record player we bought between us. She added that Jacqueline loved clothes and she would spend a lot of her money on jumpers, shirts and trousers. On the evening of the twenty ninth of September, Jacqueline had been invited to the wedding of her friend and colleague, Susan, who was getting married in South End in Essex. Jacqueline's mother said at the time

Jackie had second thoughts about going to the wedding. She much preferred staying at home to going out, but we persuaded her to go. We thought she'd have a good time. She phoned on Saturday morning to say that she'd arrived safely. She always let us know where she was. That was the last time we spoke to her. Jacqueline had arrived in South End earlier that day and attended the wedding.

Her family and her friend Susan, who was the bride, have confirmed that she'd been wearing a lemon colored dress for the occasion, as well as a sheepskin coat that she'd borrowed from her sister. The bride's mother explained that it was this lemon colored dress that stood out in her mind from that day and that was how she remembered that Jacqueline was there. She said, at the reception, Jacqueline was very happy. She sticks in my mind as

the laughing girl in the yellow dress. After the wedding had taken place, there was a meal with around one hundred guests in attendance at the Arlington Ballroom, and they had then split into two groups, one group from the bride's family and one for the groom, and they'd returned to Westcliff On Sea to their homes for a reception party. It's known that Jacqueline left the party at around ten thirty pm, and she left with two other colleagues as

they were giving her a lift to Upminster station. She was planning on getting the train back to her home in Thornton Heath that night. It is believed that her plan was to use the District Line to travel back to Victoria Station and then get a train which would take her to Thornton Heath. Her train was due at eleven twenty six at Victoria Station and it's believed that she was sighted on the concourse speaking to a woman After this. However, it's unclear what happened are the events

that unfolded. Police have theorized that perhaps Jacqueline missed the train that would take her back home and instead decided to head to stay with relatives who lived in Battersea. If Jacqueline had headed out in the direction of Battersea, then this may have been where she met her killer that night. This certainly appeared to be a murder of opportunity, and one that relied on the fact that Jacqueline had

missed her train and was unable to get home. How had this occurred, though, the theory that Jacqueline had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time was explored, including the fact that she may have been hitchhiking that night after missing her train. Had she got into someone's car for a lift, had someone offered to help her

at Victorias station. This was the police's biggest line of inquiry and they stopped drivers on Chelsea Bridge in the days after her body was recovered to ask if they recognized Jacqueline from that evening and gave a description of the distinctive lemon colored dress. Someone did come forward to give a description of the woman that had been seen speaking to Jacqueline at Victoria Station at around two twenty

five am. She was around sixteen to seventeen years old, with a thin billed, straight dark hair which was parted in the middle. She was wearing a knee length black dress with full sleeves, a maroon balo top, blue calf length boots and platform shoes. This woman was noted by a porter and a Welsh guardsman. Police did follow up with a number of lines of inquiry and in the two weeks that followed, officers interviewed more than ten thousand people. They also put out an appeal on TV to ask

for help from the public. Despite these appeals, the police said that they came upon a wall of silence from the public and that only a handful of people came forward to state that they saw her at any point that night. Detective Chief Superintendent David Frew, who was leading the investigation at the time, said the only definitive sighting is on the late night underground train from Upminster to Victoria on September twenty ninth. From there she seen her

vanished into thin air. Someone must have seen this girl. With clothing she wore must have made her stand out like a sore thumb. I cannot stress enough the important role the public can play in helping us find her murderer. We can never be sure if he will strike again. A confusing part of the contemporary articles is that they state that Jacqueline was not sexually assaulted, and therefore this was not a motive for the crime. More recent reports

state that she was sexually assaulted. One thing that police appeared to be sure of, though, was that Jacqueline was afraid of being out in the dark, and therefore was unlikely to accept a lift from just anyone who was also stated that Jacqueline had a limited sense of direction, so would have also struggled to find her way around alone.

Jacqueline's sister, Susan, said something similar about who she might have accepted help from that night, saying that she might have got into a car thinking it was a taxi and would be unlikely to just get into a stranger's car. Police wanted to interview everyone that knew Jacqueline in case they knew anything about her movements that night, or if she had contacted them, perhaps in the early hours of

that morning or that weekend. This was hampered by the fact that her diary was in her handbag that was absent from the scene, along with her clothing and her coat, which had not been recovered. This was another line of inquiry because whoever did take these things either wanted to remove evidence from the scene as it could identify Jacqueline, or wanted to take these items as some way of

remembering the act. The lead of the missing Yellow Dress was a strong one, and this was one of the reasons why it's been dubbed by some in the press as the Girl in the Yellow Dress murder. Jacqueline's family were obviously extremely devastated by what had happened to her, and those close to her were shocked and horrified by the fact that the person responsible had not yet been found. Her sister, Susan said, I was very close to Jacqueline as we were just fourteen months apart, and we did

everything together. The family was devastated and heartbroken by her death. I just wish she stayed in South End after the wedding and not tried to come home. This was something echoed by her friend Susan, whose wedding she had attended that day. It was a long time ago. We were the youngest in the department and used to go to lunch together. Jackie was just a normal teenager, but she wasn't a party girl. I think that's why we got on so well. Neither of us really went out on

the town. She didn't have a boyfriend, and I can't imagine that she would have ever voluntarily got into a car with a stranger. She was living in London and I was in South End, so we didn't really see much of each other outside work, but I remember but we were involved in a Christian group which had a sailing barge, and she came away with us for a weekend on a fishing smack. Thinking back to our wedding, I can't remember speaking to her or anyone else from

work because there were so many people there. When we got the bank on our door. On our honeymoon, we didn't know what to think. It was terrible to hear that she'd be murdered, but our families wanted us to know as soon as possible in case we read about it in the papers first. When I went back to work, it was a strange atmosphere not having her there. I

even expected her to suddenly appear. For a few months, I was too scared to go anywhere by myself, but luckily David worked in London so we could commute together. I remember Jaqueline's mother sent me a letter. I also went to her funeral with other work colleagues. It was the first time I'd been to a burial. I spoke to her mother at the funeral. It was very upsetting. The thing that appears to have bothered many people close to Jacqueline is that her case disappeared from the headlines

so soon after her murder occurred. In February nineteen seventy four, an inquest was adjourned, which confirmed that Jacqueline had indeed been murdered by person or persons unknown. In September nineteen seventy four, Detective Chief Superintendent David Frew launched a fresh appeal. A year after her murder, asking anyone to cast their minds back to the year previous and to come forward

with any information they might have. He said he would never forget about Jacqueline's case and was bothered himself that it had not been solved in the year that had gone by. Unfortunately, this is the way that Jacqueline's case has stayed since nineteen seventy three. It remains unsolved fifty two years later. Since that time, her family says as though Jacqueline's murder has been completely forgotten about and contact

with the police has been pretty much nonexistent. Her sister Susan said in twenty twenty four, it's almost as if her case has been wiped from the face of the earth. There's no mention of it as a cold case or anything. My mum's last wish before she died was that they would solve it as a cold case. We don't know if there's any DNA or anything. We just don't know what the police have, but I'm shocks if it's actually

still open. There was some contact made with the family in the nineties and this did give some insight into their possible lines of inquiry. The family have confirmed that

they were told about Robert Black. Robert Black has been discussed as a possible perpetrator on the podcast before and He is a convicted serial killer and pedophile who was convicted in nineteen ninety four of the murder and rape of three girls between the ages of five and eleven between nineteen eighty one and nineteen eighty six, as well as the kidnapping of a fourth and sexual assault of a fifth. His victims were Caroline Hogg, Susan Maxwell, and

Sarah Harper. In twenty eleven, he was also convicted of the murder of Jennifer Cardy, based on similarity to the other crimes that he'd committed and proof that he'd been in the area of Northern Ireland at the time that she was abducted and killed. Robert Black was a very dangerous and prolific criminal, and one of the things that made him more of a potential threat was his job as a delivery driver, transporting posters and billboards across the

UK and Island and even some parts of Europe. He was a good employee, according to those he worked for, as he would take on long distance driving jobs and was willing to travel to many different places for work. It would emerge that his job enabled him to scope out many different places and abduct children from the street. He had black curtains installed in the back of his van and would carry around different pairs of glasses and outfits with him in order to disguise what he was doing.

Police were very concerned that he was involved in many unsolved crimes across the country involving child victims. In nineteen ninety four, a meeting between six different police forces was convened to try and establish if any of them could be attributed to Black. This could have been why Jacqueline's family were contacted about her cases possible linked to him.

Jacqueline's sister, Susan said, the police contacted us about Robert Black after they found some friendship bracelets, but I don't think my mother knew if they were hers or not. Robert Black was the only name mentioned to us, but we don't know if it was him. Jacqueline's younger sister, Annette, said, they showed me a bracelet which they found with black stuff, and they thought it might be Jacqueline. It had different colored beads. She had a similar one, but I'm more

sure it was hers. The police showed it to me, but they didn't say it was Black. I only know as they left a file on the table with Robert Black's name on it. However, they mentioned Black's name to my mum and Susan. I don't know whether she was killed by Black. He did like younger girls, and Jacqueline looked older than her age, but we just don't know

what happened. It could have been Black. This link to Robert Black is reportedly the only name that has ever been mentioned to the family as a possible suspect in Jacqueline's murder. She would certainly have been older than many of Black's other victims. However, it's clear that the full scope of Black's crimes have not been established, and therefore it cannot be said if this is a potential line

of inquiry or not. Black has been linked to the murders of Jeannette Te and April fab which I've covered on the podcast before. I may give you some insight into the investigation that was carried out on him. Robert

Black died in prison in twenty sixteen. Jacqueline's family have been looking for answers since nineteen seventy three, and it's clear that although it is officially part of the coal case team, not much have been done since the nineteen seventies to try and find out who Jacqueline's murder was. There has also been little communication with Jacqueline's family to discuss any progress or anything at all that's been done

in the case. This is always so sad to hear, and I'm sure causes them even more devastation and trauma. Jacqueline's family deserves answers and her killer deserves to be caught. Whether the perpetrator was Robert Black and he has since been convicted and passed away, or it was someone completely unknown to police. They have escaped justice for over half

a century and Jacqueline's family deserved to know. If you know anything about the murder of Jacqueline John's in nineteen seventy three, then please contact the police on one oh one. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you'd like to support the podcast further, then you can on Patreon and contribute to exclusive polls to get extra bonus episodes every month. You can also get access to new episodes

early in ad free. You can use a link in the show notes to visit Patreon and see what we offer. You can also support us by reviewing the podcast wherever you listen, including Spotify, and also just share the episodes. You can subscribe on YouTube and follow us on social media. As always, I'm Caprice and this has been unseen b