Murder of Helen Gorrie

Last updated
Murder of Helen Gorrie
Merchistoun Hall in early January - geograph.org.uk - 2256129.jpg
Merchistoun Hall in Horndean. Gorrie was found dead in the grounds of the hall.
Date31 July 1992 or the early hours of 1 August 1992 [1]
TimeBetween 11:30 and 12:30 am, likely around 12:30 am [1]
LocationMerchistoun Hall (Horndean Community Centre), Portsmouth Road, Horndean, Hampshire [1]
Coordinates 50°54′39″N1°00′20″W / 50.9109°N 1.0055°W / 50.9109; -1.0055

On 1 August, 1992, Helen Gorrie, a 15-year-old British schoolgirl was found half-naked and strangled in the grounds of Merchistoun Hall in Horndean, Hampshire, after going out one night to meet a 21-year-old man named John Corcoran.

Contents

She had met him the night before as he cruised around the area in his vehicle, and he had asked her to meet up with him that night. The murder of Gorrie made headline news at the time and featured on Crimewatch . Corcoran was suspected of strangling Gorrie after she refused his sexual advances, and in 1999 he was convicted of her murder, as well as being charged with the rape of a 14-year-old girl in 1990.

In 2003, Corcoran was released on appeal, on the grounds that the judge's final summing up had been deficient. The police revealed that there were no grounds to re-open the investigation and that they were not looking for anybody else, although the case remains officially unsolved.

Murder

Helen Gorrie
Helen Gorrie, victim of unsolved murder in Horndean, Hampshire, in 1992.png
School photo of Gorrie, c. 1992
Born1976 or 1977
Died31 July or 1 August 1992 (age 15)
Merchistoun Hall, Horndean, Hampshire
Cause of death Murder by strangulation
OccupationSchoolgirl at Purbrook Place School
Known forVictim of high-profile child murder and her case becoming a controversial miscarriage of justice

Gorrie was described as a sociable girl with lots of friends who liked being out and about. [1] She lived on an estate in Horndean, Hampshire, with her mum Sheila and stepbrother Jamie, and attended Purbrook Park School. [1] [2] Her mother said that she was well-liked and did not have "an enemy in the world". [1] On the night she died, Friday 31 July 1992, she spent the later part of the evening at home with her brother. [1] At 11:30 pm, Helen said she was going to bed, before coming back downstairs shortly after and leaving the house, telling her brother that she would only be a few minutes and wouldn't be long. [1] [3] As she had been getting ready for bed she had gone out with her all-in-one nightdress beneath her clothing. [3] It wasn't unusual for Helen to go out that late, as a lot of her friends lived nearby and sometimes they called for her, or she might occasionally see a friend she knew out of an upstairs window and gone out to meet them. [1] She was normally home by about 1:00 am. [4]

The following morning, Gorrie was found dead in the grounds of Merchistoun Hall, the Horndean Community Centre, only 10 minutes' walk from her house. [1] She was found left in plain view on a footpath 100 yards behind the hall by wedding guests using the facility. [4] [2] She had been strangled with her own clothing and police believed she may have died around 12:30 am. [1] [3] She was half-naked, indicating the murder was sexually motivated, although there was no evidence of sexual assault. [3] [5] Police said the fact that her clothing had been interfered with indicated the motive may have been sexual, and said she had been murdered on the spot she was found. [2]

Investigation

Gorrie's murder made headline news nationally. [1] At an emotional news conference, Gorrie's mother broke down as she described how her daughter was "a lovable girl with a zest for life". [4]

Several witnesses came forward to report seeing a girl matching Gorrie's description near to Merchistoun Hall that evening. [1] Two independent witnesses had reported seeing a girl who looked to be Gorrie waiting at a bus stop by the Portsmouth Road, at the junction with Catherington Lane, and getting into a car that may have been a Ford Escort which had come up from Catherington Lane. [1]

At around midnight, a woman driving along Portsmouth Road saw a man come out of the bushes on the side of the road, and he appeared to not want to have his face seen by the driver. [1] At 12:30 am, a man driving down the same stretch of road saw two men standing several yards apart, but the driver got the impression that they were together. [1] He said that one of the men looked suspicious and seemed to be worried that someone had spotted them. [1] Police believe it may have been around this time that Helen was killed. [1]

Gorrie's case was featured on the influential Crimewatch programme three months after her murder in October, where it was also revealed that an unidentified man who had gone in to the One Stop supermarket on Catherington Lane on 3 August telling the cashier that he had seen Gorrie on the road at around 12:30 am that night (the time police believed she may have been killed). [1] When the cashier asked if he had told the police this information, he began acting strangely and left quickly, saying he hadn't, with the cashier commenting "all he really wanted to do was to get away from me". [1]

John Corcoran

A few days after Gorrie's murder, unemployed 21-year-old John Anthony Mark Corcoran [6] of Warren Park, Havant, was questioned about the murder. [3] [7] His "business card" had been found in Helen's bedroom, and he had scratches on his arm. [3] Helen had met Corcoran the night before she died as he cruised the streets of Horndean in his battered Ford Escort car. [3] He was known to cruise around the area in his vehicle looking for young girls to hand business cards to and to seek sex from. [8] It was discovered that Gorrie had written in her diary before she had left on the night she died, saying:

"John 'phoned me up, the one I met last night. He wants me to go for a drive with him and his friends." [3]

On the night Gorrie went out, Corcoran had again been driving aimlessly around Horndean with his friends. [3] His friends said that he left them for 40 minutes, saying he had to meet someone. [3] He was said to "prey on young girls" and police believed he had tried to force himself on Gorrie, and when she resisted he strangled and smothered her with her own clothing. [3]

Although he had already been a suspect in Gorrie's murder and been spoken to by police, Helen's sister would later recount how Corcoran had attempted to flirt with her and ask her on a date while having an affair with one of her friends, with the sister saying: "I couldn't believe it when he tried it on with me. I was disgusted". [8] She added that it was known he was interested in "kinky sex". [8]

Trial

Corcoran, of Plumley Walk in Havant, [9] was tried and found guilty of Gorrie's murder in December 1999. [3] He was also charged with the rape of a 14-year-old girl in 1990. [6] It was heard that the scratches on his arm had come from Helen as she fought him for her life, as supported by the fact that two of her false fingernails were found at the scene. [3] A witness who had previously given Corcoran an alibi had come forward to tell police that he had lied. [8] In the early stages of the trial it had been reported that DNA evidence which linked Corcoran to the murder scene would be part of the prosecution case, [10] and a year previously it had been reported that investigators had identified DNA from material from under Gorrie's broken nails or from her clothing, [5] but this evidence was not used at the trial.

Sentencing, the judge told him:

"There is no doubt in my mind that you have a very strong streak of arrogance in your character. On the night in question in 1992 you were determined to have sex with that 15-year-old girl whether she liked it or not. She rebuffed and resisted you and you strangled her." [3] [11]

Corcoran was sentenced to life imprisonment. [3] Lead detective Colin Smith reacted by saying: "Helen was a popular, lively but vulnerable adolescent who was killed by a nasty and vicious man who preyed on young girls." [3]

Conviction overturned

In January 2003, Corcoran had his conviction for the murder overturned on appeal. [12] The grounds were that the judge had misdirected the jury in his summing up. [12] After he was released Corcoran moved back to his home in Plumley Walk, Warren Park, Havant. [13] After his release, the police said they had no plans to re-open the investigation and that they were not looking for anybody else. [14] [15]

Later publicity

In 2018, on journalist Mark Williams-Thomas's documentary show The Investigator: A British Crime Story , Gorrie's case was included on a list of cases that he felt could not be ruled out as possible victims of serial killer Peter Tobin. [16] However, a large police investigation named Operation Anagram examined the possibility of Tobin having claimed more victims and ended in 2011, having found no evidence to connect him to any further cases. [17]

Gorrie's murder featured as the primary case on the 15 October 1992 episode of Crimewatch on BBC One. [18]

On 26 October 1996, the Gorrie case was featured on a Murder Unsolved programme shown on Sky One. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bible John</span> Serial killer in Glasgow, Scotland

Bible John is an unidentified serial killer who is believed to have murdered three young women between 1968 and 1969 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Horndean is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, 8 miles (13 km) north of Portsmouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Milly Dowler</span> 2002 murder of English schoolgirl

On 21 March 2002, Amanda Jane "Milly" Dowler, a 13-year-old English schoolgirl, was reported missing by her parents after failing to return home from school and not being seen since walking along Station Avenue in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, that afternoon. Following an extensive search, her remains were discovered in Yateley Heath Woods in Yateley, Hampshire, on 18 September.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Danielle Jones</span> English murder case where no body was found

The murder of Danielle Jones was an English child murder case involving a 15-year-old schoolgirl who disappeared from East Tilbury, Essex, England. There was a large and exhaustive search to find Jones' body and it was considered one of the biggest cases Essex Police had to deal with at the time. Despite the police's best efforts, her body was never found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murders of Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon</span> British murder victims

The murders of Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon, two young women from London, England, occurred in separate, sexually motivated attacks by the same unidentified individual during 1975. Stratford was a bunny girl and Weedon was a schoolgirl who was killed almost six months later, on the other side of London. After Weedon's cold case was re-opened in 2004, new DNA techniques revealed that she and Stratford had been murdered by the same person. Stratford's case was re-opened in 2007, but neither case has been solved. A £40,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the killer remains on offer.

Trevor Joseph Hardy, also known as the Beast of Manchester, was a convicted English serial killer who murdered three teenage girls in the Manchester area between December 1974 and March 1976. In 1977, he was found guilty on three charges of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment, remaining in prison until his death 35 years later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World's End Murders</span> Crime in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1977

The World's End Murders is the colloquial name given to the murder of two girls, Christine Eadie, 17, and Helen Scott, 17, in Edinburgh, in October 1977. The case is so named because both victims were last seen alive leaving The World's End pub in Edinburgh's Old Town. The only person to stand trial accused of the murders, Angus Robertson Sinclair, was acquitted in 2007 in controversial circumstances. Following the amendment of the law of double jeopardy, which would have prevented his retrial, Sinclair was retried in October 2014 and convicted of both murders on 14 November 2014. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 37 years, the longest sentence by a Scottish court, meaning he would have been 106 years old when he was eligible for a potential release on parole. He died at HM Prison Glenochil aged 73 on 11 March 2019. Coincidentally, he died on the same day the BBC's Crimewatch Roadshow programme profiled the murders.

Colette Aram was a 16-year-old British trainee hairdresser who was abducted, raped and strangled as she walked from her home to her boyfriend's house in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, on 30 October 1983. The murder was the first case to be featured on the BBC television series Crimewatch when it began in June 1984. However, despite receiving over 400 calls as a result of the programme, Nottinghamshire Police were unable to catch the killer, and it was not until 2008 and following advances in forensic technology that police were able to develop a DNA profile of the suspect. Paul Stewart Hutchinson was finally charged with the murder in April 2009. He initially pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea to guilty on 21 December 2009 and was sentenced to life imprisonment on 25 January 2010. Following his sentencing, Crimewatch ran a recap of the murder and investigation on BBC TV on 27 January 2010 exposing several inaccuracies reported in the press about his background, notably a lie about being a psychology graduate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Tobin</span> Scottish serial killer (1946–2022)

Peter Britton Tobin was a Scottish convicted serial killer and sex offender who served a whole life order at HM Prison Edinburgh for three murders committed between 1991 and 2006. Police also investigated Tobin over the deaths and disappearances of other young women and girls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Leanne Tiernan</span> High-profile murder case in the United Kingdom

The murder of Leanne Tiernan was a high-profile English child murder involving a 16-year-old schoolgirl who was abducted less than one mile from her home on 26 November 2000 while returning from a Christmas shopping trip in Leeds, West Yorkshire, and subsequently murdered. The missing person inquiry which followed was one of the largest in the history of West Yorkshire Police, involving the search of around 1,750 buildings, underwater searches of thirty-two drainage wells, the draining of a two-mile section of a canal and the halting of household waste collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babes in the Wood murders (Brighton)</span> Murder of two girls near Brighton in 1986

The Babes in the Wood Murders were the murders of two nine-year-old girls, Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway, on 9 October 1986, by a 20-year-old local roofer, Russell Bishop in Wild Park, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, Sussex, England. Bishop was tried and acquitted in 1987. The case remained open until 10 December 2018, when Bishop was found guilty of the murders in a second trial. The investigation into the two girls' murders is the largest and longest-running inquiry ever conducted by Sussex Police.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Mark Tildesley</span> Murder of an English schoolboy, appeared on the first episode of "Crimewatch UK".

Mark Anthony Tildesley was a seven-year-old English child who disappeared on 1 June 1984 whilst visiting a funfair in Wokingham, Berkshire. A widespread search of the Wokingham area, involving both police officers and British Army soldiers, did not locate him. Thames Valley Police initially suspected that his body was buried near Wellington Road in Wokingham, near the funfair from which he was abducted, but they now believe that he was probably buried in a shallow grave on abandoned farmland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Helen Bailey</span> 1975 British child murder case

The death of Helen Bailey is a British child murder case dating from 1975 in which an eight-year-old girl's death was originally classified by a coroner as being due to undetermined causes and potentially sourcing from an "accident or [a] practical joke gone wrong" despite the fact the child was found in a secluded area and that her jugular vein had been severed. The original verdict into Bailey's death was overturned and replaced with one of unlawful killing in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Kappen</span> Welsh serial killer (1941–1990)

Joseph William Kappen, also known as the Saturday Night Strangler, was a Welsh serial killer who committed the rape and murder of three teenage girls in Llandarcy and Tonmawr, near his home town of Port Talbot, in 1973. Kappen is also suspected of committing a fourth murder in February 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Patsy Morris</span> 1980 child murder in London, England

On 16 June 1980, Patricia "Patsy" Morris, a 14-year-old schoolgirl from Feltham, London, was murdered by strangulation. She disappeared after leaving her school during her lunch break, and was found dead in undergrowth on Hounslow Heath near her home two days later. Despite repeated appeals for information by police, her murder remains unsolved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murders of Jacqueline Ansell-Lamb and Barbara Mayo</span> British murder victims

Jacqueline Susan Ansell-Lamb and Barbara Janet Mayo were two young women who were murdered in separate incidents in 1970. Both women were last seen hitch-hiking along motorways in England, and both were sexually assaulted before being strangled to death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murders of Kate Bushell and Lyn Bryant</span> 1990s murders in England

The murders ofKate BushellandLinda "Lyn" Bryant, a 14-year-old schoolgirl and a 41-year-old woman, respectively, occurred in separate incidents in the West Country, England. The events occurred in 15 November 1997 and 20 October 1998 respectively. The similar circumstances of the murders led investigators to conclude that there is a high possibility the murders are linked, with both killed with knives while walking dogs along isolated lanes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of George Murdoch</span> Notorious Scottish unsolved murder

George Murdoch was an Aberdeen taxi driver who, on 29 September 1983, was the victim of a notorious and brutal unsolved murder dubbed the 'Cheese Wire Murder'. Having picked up a passenger in his 20s or 30s on Aberdeen's Queen's Road, Murdoch was taken to Pitfodels Station Road on the city outskirts and attacked in brutal circumstances with a cheese wire. Two teenagers witnessed the man being strangled to death in the street and alerted the police, but help was unable to arrive in time. The killer stole Murdoch's fare money and wallet, but the victim only had £21 on him and it is not known whether robbery was the motive. The murder is one of Aberdeen and Scotland's most notorious unsolved crimes and was said at the time to have "shocked the nation". In September 2022, police appealed for information on a man seen in Aberdeen's Wilson's Sports Bar in 2015, saying he was in his 60s or 70s and wearing an Iron Maiden T-shirt. Police say they believed he has information which could help solve the case and ask him to come forward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Lisa Hession</span> 1984 unsolved murder of a British teenager

The murder of Lisa Jane Hession is a notorious British unsolved murder which involved a sexually-motivated attack on a 14-year-old schoolgirl in Leigh, Greater Manchester, while she walked home from a party shortly before Christmas. On the evening 8 December 1984, Lisa Hession was found strangled to death in an alleyway only 200 yards from her home, with the murder occurring after a spate of sex attacks on women and girls in the area. Despite a reconstruction and appeal on Crimewatch in 2005 and the subsequent isolation of a partial profile of the killer's DNA, the murderer has not been apprehended.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Julie Pacey</span> 1994 mysterious UK unsolved murder

The murder of Julie Pacey was a mysterious, and still unsolved, murder of a mother in her own home in Grantham, England on Monday 26 September 1994. 38-year-old 'vivacious mum' Pacey was found strangled to death with a cord in her first-floor bathroom by her 14-year-old daughter on her return home from school. A mysterious figure who became known as the 'Overalls Man', and who remains the prime suspect, was seen by numerous witnesses in the vicinity of Pacey's home in the days around the murder, and this red-faced man had suspiciously turned up at Pacey's home when she was alone three days previously, supposedly asking for directions. Although she had been sexually assaulted, investigators still do not know why she was apparently targeted in what appeared to be a pre-planned attack. The case has twice featured on Crimewatch, on which Pacey's murder was described as a "truly dreadful case".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 "15/10/1992". Crimewatch . Season 9. Episode 8. BBC One.
  2. 1 2 3 "Probe into murder victim's last moves". Dundee Courier. 3 August 1992. p. 8.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Schoolgirl's killer jailed for life". BBC News. 10 December 1999. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 "Murdered girl, 15, had 'zest for life'". The Independent. 3 August 1992. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  5. 1 2 "How DNA is helping to keep two inquiries alive". The Independent. 10 May 1998. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Man charged with murder". The Herald. 15 October 1998. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  7. ↑ "Murder jury hears dead girl's diary". BBC News. 19 November 1999. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Pilditch, David (11 December 1999). "You didn't just murder Helen, you murdered me". Daily Mirror. p. 17.
  9. ↑ "Man accused of killing girl". Birmingham Daily Post. 15 October 1998. p. 7.
  10. ↑ "Man on trial for schoolgirl murder". BBC News. 15 November 1999. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  11. ↑ "Life for schoolgirl killer". Aberdeen Evening Express. 10 December 1999. p. 6.
  12. 1 2 "Conviction for murder of girl overturned". BBC News. 15 January 2003. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  13. ↑ "Man cleared of murder promises to help new investigation". Petersfield Post. 22 January 2003.
  14. ↑ "Police unlikely to reopen Gorrie murder case". The News (Portsmouth). 26 January 2003.
  15. ↑ "Mystery haunts family as murder accused is freed". The News (Portsmouth). 15 January 2003.
  16. ↑ The Investigator: A British Crime Story. Season 2. Episode 1. ITV.
  17. ↑ "Peter Tobin police probe Operation Anagram 'wound down'". BBC News. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  18. ↑ "21:35 - Crimewatch UK, BBC One: Thursday 15th October 1992, 21:35 on BBC One London". BBC Programme Index. BBC. 15 October 1992. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  19. ↑ "Sky One". South Wales Echo. 22 October 1996. p. 21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.