Murder of Rachel McLean
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| Rachel McLean | |
| Born | Rachel Margaret McLean August 1971 Blackpool, England |
|---|---|
| Died | April 14, 1991 (aged 19) Oxford, England |
| Cause of death | Murder |
| Residence | Cowley, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Blackpool Sixth Form College |
| Occupation | Student |
| Parents | Malcolm and Joan McLean |
| Relatives | David McLean (brother); Peter McLean (brother) |
Rachel Margaret McLean (August 1971[citation needed] – April 14, 1991) was a British student at St. Hilda's College in Oxford, England, when she was murdered by her boyfriend, John Tanner, a day after they became engaged. In the aftermath, Tanner weaved a work of fiction in attempt to cover his tracks and fool police.[1]
McLean, who was born in the English town of Blackpool and raised in nearby Carleton, was a second-year student studying English Language at St. Hilda's when Tanner, a 22-year-old British-born New Zealander strangled her[2] and hid her body under the floorboards of her house.[2]
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[edit] Murder
On the evening of April 13, 1991, Tanner was due to arrive in Oxford by train at 6pm. 19-year-old McLean went to meet him at the station, only to discover that the train had been delayed,[2] so she returned to her home. At around 7.30pm, Tanner arrived at the house by taxi.[3]
The following day, April 14, was FA Cup semi-finals day in football, and McLean and Tanner, an avid Nottingham Forest fan, planned to spend a lazy day at home.[3] She studied in the front room while he watched the game on television.
Afterwards, the couple were seen by neighbours outside the house at around 4.30pm,[3] which would prove to be the last time McLean was seen alive.
Later that evening, Tanner strangled his girlfriend, then forced her head face down and tied a ligature around her neck.[2] In subsequent inverviews, Tanner told detectives that he spent several hours looking for a hiding place for the body in the house.[3] He eventually found one, which fooled police searchers enough that it took them seventeen days to locate it.[3]
At the back of a cupboard under the stairs, crammed with household junk, Tanner found an eight-inch-high gap. After emptying the cupboard's contents out, he dragged McLean's body, clothed in silky ski pants and a t-shirt, from the next-door bedroom, along the hall, and into the recess under the floor. He then crawled along under the hallway to hide the body under the floorboards of her bedroom.
[edit] Aftermath
Tanner left the house the next day to return to Nottingham, where he was a classics student at the city's University of Nottingham.[3] He was seen by a passenger on the 5pm bus bound for Oxford railway station.
As he waited for the 6.30pm train to Nottingham, Tanner penned a love letter to McLean, which he later posted to her Argyle Street address. In the letter, he stated how fortunate it was she had been met by a mystery long-haired man who had offered her a lift home from the station when they were going their separate ways.[3]
On April 16, Tanner telephoned Rachel's home but nobody was home. He tried again the following evening, and Victoria Clare, McLean's 20-year-old housemate, answered. Tanner asked to speak to McLean, but Clare said she knew nothing of her whereabouts.[3]
Tanner's letter arrived on April 18, and Tanner called the house again that evening, asking for McLean.[3]
By April 19, five days after she was last seen, McLean's friends began to wonder where she was. She was due to attend a meeting with her tutor that morning to discuss work for the new term and sit a pre-term exam at St. Hilda's in the afternoon. A phone call to McLean's family in Lancashire confirmed that she had been left in Oxford the previous weekend.[3]
[edit] Investigation
College authorities notified police about McLean's apparent disappearance. Initially, the inquiry was low-key, Oxford police receiving dozens of reports of missing students every month. McLean's description — 5ft 6in tall, slim, fresh complexion, shoulder-length ginger-auburn hair and brown eyes — was circulated to local patrols.
On April 21, after the CID took control of the inquiry, an initial search of McLean's house was made by detectives. There was nothing to suggest she had come to any harm at the house; an examination of the floorboards showed they had not been tampered with.[3]
[edit] Inquiry made public
McLean's disappearance was made public knowledge on April 22. Tanner spoke from his home in Lenton, Nottingham, and said how he had given McLean a farewell kiss on platform 2 of Oxford railway station as he boarded his train home. He also explained how he and McLean had been joined by a mystery long-haired man as they sat drinking coffee in the station concourse. He said the stranger seemed to know McLean well and offered her a lift home.[3]
McLean's parents, Joan and Malcolm, took part in a press conference on April 24 and appealed for help in finding their daughter. Meanwhile, searches continued around Argyle Street and nearby scrubland, and police frogmen dragged the River Cherwell.
Police issued a photofit picture of the man whom Tanner claimed to have met at Oxford station, but nobody came forward to place him at the station with McLean and Tanner.
By April 28, police were now convinced that McLean was dead,[3] and ordered search teams to examine sewers and cess pits around the area of Argyle Street.
The following day, Tanner surprised police by agreeing to take part in a press conference and reconstruction of what he claimed were their final movements. During an hour-long re-enactment, with PC Helen Kay playing McLean's role, Tanner posed in the station cafe, strolled along the platform and replayed the final embrace and kiss they shared before he boarded the train. Pressed by reporters, Tanner stated: "I did not kill her. I don't know what happened to her. In my heart of hearts I know she is still alive."[3]
As a result of the reconstruction, two independent witnesses placed Tanner at the station but not McLean.[3]
At the beginning of May, police contacted Oxfordshire County Council for details regarding the layout of houses in Argyle Street, particularly about their basements. They were told that there were no basements in the houses, but an official remembered the houses were underpinned, which meant there were cavities under the floors.[4]
[edit] Discovery
A day later, on May 2, McLean's body was found shortly before 5.30pm. It was covered in pieces of carpet, but due to the low Spring temperatures, there was no decomposition.[4] Within the hour, Tanner was arrested at a pub in Nottingham and initially refused to answer any questions.[4]
[edit] Confession
Confronted with the evidence gathered by the police, Tanner broke down and admitted killing his girlfriend.[4]
Tanner appeared before Oxford magistrates on May 4 and was charged with the murder of Rachel McLean.
On May 12, a memorial service was held at Oxford's University Church of St Mary the Virgin, attended by 400 family and friends,[4] and on May 29, a funeral service was held at Poulton Methodist Church.
[edit] Sentence and release
On December 6, 1991, after a four-day trial at Birmingham Crown Court, John Tanner was given a life sentence for the murder of Rachel McLean.[5] The jury returned a majority verdict of 10 to 2.[5]
Tanner was released from jail in early 2003 and is now living in his native Wanganui, New Zealand.[6] He is a graduate of Wanganui Collegiate School.
[edit] McLean's personal life
At the time, Joan McLean (b. 1949), Rachel's mother, was head of French at Hodgson High School in Poulton. Her husband, Malcolm (b. 1946), was a British Aerospace engineer. Rachel was the oldest of three children, her siblings being brothers David (b. 1973) and Peter (b. 1975).[2]
Prior to gaining a place at St. Hilda's College, McLean attended Blackpool Sixth Form College.
McLean met John Tanner as she celebrated her 19th birthday at her home. Ten months later, on April 13, 1991, they became engaged.
After McLean's murder, it emerged that Tanner felt increasingly threatened by her life away from his in Nottingham, and she found his obsessiveness too restrictive.[1]
[edit] Media
A documentary, entitled "Love You to Death", part of ITV's Real Crime series, was aired in 2004,[1] with Thea Rowland portraying Rachel McLean and Noah Huntley playing John Tanner.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "The murder without a corpse" - The Northern Echo, January 27, 2004
- ^ a b c d e Blackpool Evening Gazette, December 5, 1991
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Blackpool Evening Gazette, December 5, 1991, p.2
- ^ a b c d e Blackpool Evening Gazette, December 5, 1991, p.3
- ^ a b Blackpool Evening Gazette, December 6, 1991, p.1
- ^ Tanner's profile at the Sensible Sentencing Trust
- ^ Love You to Death - IMDb
[edit] External links
- "Murderer returns to life in NZ" - The New Zealand Herald article, August 2, 2003.
- Michael Winner's True Crimes: Rachel McLean at BFI
