Donna Healey (Suspicious Death)

In March 1988, on the eve of her 18th birthday, Donna Healey left her family home in Bradford for the last time. She was never seen alive by her loved ones again. More than 15 years later, a DNA breakthrough would reveal Donna's fate and raise serious questions about the treatment of missing vulnerable young people.

Sources for the episode can be found here 

Transcript

Donna Healey 

Falloden nursing home once stood in Allerton Park, Chapel Allerton, a sought-after inner city suburb of Leeds, in west Yorkshire. During January 1991 the building and overgrown grounds were in the midst of extensive renovations. On the afternoon of January 14th a builder dropped off some timber at the site near a wall along the perimeter of the gardens. The following day, Tuesday 15th January, the builder returned to carry out the work but received an awful shock when he found a dead body lying on top of the timber. 

The partially-clothed corpse was in an almost mummified state and was thought to be the body of a man. It was theorised that the person could have died more than a year before, but the cause of death could not be determined. Nevertheless, it was undoubtedly a suspicious death and circumstances suggested possible foul play. Pathology reports revealed that the body had been stored in an airtight environment before being dumped on top of the builder’s timber. A freezer may have been used.

Missing persons lists were trawled through but turned up no solid leads. Two clay reconstructions of the face of the deceased person were created and the case was highlighted on the popular BBC TV programme, Crimewatch. To no avail. The mummified body was a mystery and remained unidentified for over 12 years.

A breakthrough in the case came in December 2003 when Bradford detective Chris Binns announced that the body was that of Donna Louise Healey who had not been seen since 1988. The initial conclusion that the remains belonged to a man were incorrect. 

The formal identification had been carried out using DNA analysis. Police had taken a saliva swab from Donna's mother and brother in October 2003, and had also taken other items from the family home that may have still contained Donna’s DNA. 

I'm not exactly sure what made police initially tie Donna Healey to the remains but according to the Bradford based newspaper the Telegraph and Argus (October 23rd 2003) various factors suggested the body was that of Donna. DNA confirmed their suspicions. 

Donna had not been seen by her family since the eve of her 18th birthday in March 1988. She left her home on Roxby Street in Little Horton, Bradford, after a family disagreement and disappeared. Growing up Donna had a good relationship with her mum and stepfather but began experiencing problems in her life when she fell in with the wrong people. She became rebellious and started staying out late at night clubs. Family relations became strained and eventually one day Donna packed her bags and left, never to return.

Police believe that after leaving home Donna moved away from Bradford and went to live in Leeds. Here she engaged in sex work. The Bradford Telegraph and Argus reported in December 2004 that Donna had operated as a sex worker in the Harehills area of the city. Investigators said the last time Donna was reported to be seen alive was when she appeared on a prostitution charge at Leeds Magistrate court in March 1988. I am unsure if this was just before or shortly after she left her Bradford home for the last time. Police believe she was killed shortly after this.

After the identification of Donna’s remains an appeal was made to women who were working as sex workers in Leeds in 1988. Anyone who may have known Donna was asked to come forward. It was theorised that her death was probably linked to her line of work. The problem was that West Yorkshire police were playing catch up, as so many years had passed since Donna went missing. It was very difficult to locate people who knew and remembered Donna from that time. 

4.31 The public were reminded by investigators of historical and cultural news stories that happened during the month of January 1991 to aid memory recollection. Such events were Prince Charles being caught up in an avalanche in Switzerland and cricketer Ian Botham being fined for offensive behavior on a plane. Popular songs at the time were “I should be so lucky” by Kylie Minogue and “Don’t turn around” by Aswad. 4.57

There were many questions surrounding why it had taken so long for Donna's remains to be identified. It became obvious there had been confusion over when Donna had been officially listed as a Missing Person.

Shortly before the identification of Donna's remains, the family publicly criticised police for what they said was a failure to act 15 years ago. West Yorkshire police claimed that when the remains were found at Allerton park in 1991 they were not linked to Donna because she was not reported missing to them until 1997.  

According to a 2019 Mirror newspaper interview with Donna's mother she reported Donna missing to police in 1988, a few months after she had left home. I should say here that I'm not using Donna's mothers name as in more recent times she has not wanted her name printed. Donna’s step-sister was quoted by the Bradford-based newspaper Telegraph and Argus in 2003 as saying the family notified the police twice soon after her disappearance. The first time was 4-5 months after Donna left home and the second a year later, but the police had not seemed interested. It was not the first time Donna had left home and as she had turned 18 she could do what she liked. In the interview Donna’s step-sister agreed that the police were in a difficult position as Donna was legally an adult and could come and go as she pleased.

I have found newspaper articles that mention Donna as a missing person before 1997.

In February 1994 the depraved crimes of Fred and Rose West first came to the public's attention. Following the horrors discovered at Cromwell Street, Gloucester, many missing persons cases from across the UK were reexamined. In November 1995 the Telegraph and Argus ran an interview with Donna’s mother, then aged 45, who feared that her daughter could have fallen victim to the Wests. She pleaded with her daughter to get in touch and said that the past had been forgotten. In the article it is stated that Donna is now in the Missing Persons register. I cannot offer an explanation for the confusion but in hindsight it is clear that Donna was badly let down by the system.

Almost a year after the identification an inquest into Donna's death was held in Leeds. Due to the state of the remains a cause of death could not be determined and so it was tricky for the death to be officially classed as a murder. That being said, all the evidence that was available pointed to a suspicious death. 

DI Chris Binns of Bradford South CID shared how the investigation sought to employ the services of scientists in Germany in an attempt to find out the exact means by which Donna's body had been stored. It had definitely been a dry and cool place somewhere inside a building. Years later an article in Leeds Live (January 15th 2019) states as fact that tests undertaken by police revealed the body was stored in a freezer, but as far as I can see investigators have never officially said this. 

It was revealed at the inquest that undisclosed items found at the scene were undergoing a forensic review. Donna's clothing, as well as particles of dirt and grass found on the body, continued to be tested. It was confirmed that a toxicity report showed Donna's remains had no traces of morphine or any other drug in her system.  

Potential links with other crimes were being looked into. Donna's case was one of many being examined by researchers from the National Crime Facility who were comparing similar murders that involved the storage of a body. The implication being that Donna may have been the victim of a serial killer. At the time of the inquest this work was ongoing, and many years later the angle would resurface. 

Around the time of the inquest Donna’s case featured on BBC Crimewatch and police received 20 calls in response. Even with all this hard work and effort, ultimately the case did not see any resolution.

Following the inquest Donna’s remains were laid to rest, and after 16 years the family were finally able to say their goodbyes. The case remained unsolved but Donna was not forgotten.

Almost a decade later, in 2013, the investigation was relaunched, which witnessed Donna's mother making an emotional plea to the public for help. It was felt that there were people still out there sitting on important information which could see the case finally solved. According to Detective Chief Inspector John Morgan the answer to Donna’s death lay in the Allerton Park area, where the remains were found. 

Psychological profiling experts had reviewed the case and said indications were that the location where the body was left had not been chosen at random. Whoever had left the body at the grounds of the nursing home had a connection to the place and likely lived or worked nearby. 

Donna's body had been stored by the killer for several years. What had made them choose that moment to dispose of the remains? The public were urged to think back to January 1991, as police hypothesised that a significant event in the killer's life, or a change in personal circumstances, may have occurred at that time. This event, perhaps a house move, or the start or indeed end of a relationship, could have triggered the moving of the body after such a long period of time. Another possibility was that the means of storage had been compromised, like a chest freezer breaking down.

11.14

Again, it was made plain there was still thought to be a connection between sex work and Donna’s death. Police thought it possible that a client of Donna's could be responsible and emphasised that the disposal site for the body was less than a 10 minute car drive from the Harehills area, where Donna worked. 

The next major development in the case happened in January 2019 when several news sources, including the Mirror, claimed that police were investigating the possibility that Donna could be a victim of convicted murderer John Taylor.

John Taylor is someone I mentioned in the episode I did on the 1992 unsolved murder of Yvonne Fitt. Yvonne was 33 when she was found stabbed to death in Lindley Wood in the Yorkshire Dales.  Yvonne had been working as a sex worker in Manningham in Bradford and Harehills in Leeds. 

In 2019, former detective Chris Clark claimed that John Taylor should be considered a suspect in Yvonne's murder, as well as several other murders of girls and young women in the north of the UK, including Donna Healey. John Taylor has never been charged in connection with Donna’s death. As far as I can see he has never responded to accusations that he may be involved in other killings.

The following is a summary of John Taylor’s known crimes and explains why he is viewed by some as a potential suspect in Donna’s case.

On November 26th  2000, 16 year old schoolgirl Leanne Tiernan and her friend Sarah spent the afternoon Christmas shopping in Leeds city centre. The pair caught the bus back to Bramley in the west of the city before alighting and continuing their journey on foot. At 4.50pm they arrived at Sarah’s house and Leanne continued the last mile stretch of footpath to her house alone. The route took her through an isolated wooded area called Houghley Gill. Leanne didn't make it home and was never seen alive again.

Leanne’s mum Sharon tried ringing her mobile at 5.20pm but the phone merely rang for some time before cutting off. She attempted to call again but the phone was switched off after four rings. At 7.00pm Sharon contacted the police and reported her daughter missing. 

The largest missing persons investigation ever seen in West Yorkshire got underway, led by Detective Superintendent Chris Gregg. Waste collections were stopped so individual houses could have their bins inspected and teams of police divers combed through weed infested pools and rivers. Almost 3 miles of canal was drained and 800 houses plus 1500 gardens that ran from the bus stop to Leanne’s home were checked. There was a lot of rough open space and woodland in the vicinity but no stone was left unturned in the quest for clues.  

A reconstruction was organised by police, with Leanne's older sister Michelle walking the route taken by her younger sibling on the evening she vanished. A few sightings of Leanne in various locations around Yorkshire were reported, but nothing concrete ever materialised, and family and the police were left suspecting the worst. 

One person did contact police and reported hearing a scream on the evening Leanne went missing, and an e-fit of a man seen walking a small dog in the area was released. The man had not been seen there before but was noticed by several people in the days leading up to Leanne’s disappearance. He had not been seen since.

The next nine months proved an agonising period for Leanne's parents as they continued to make appeals in the media for information leading to the safe return of their daughter. The couple, who were divorced, were very much united in fighting for their daughter. Unfortunately their worst fears were realised in August 2001.

On  the 18th of that month a dog walker was strolling through Lindley Woods near Otley, 13 miles from Bramley, Leeds, where Leanne was last seen, when they came across a dead body wrapped in a floral patterned duvet. It was very close to a well-used car park and only about 100m from where Yvonne Fitt’s body had been discovered eight years before.

The body was identified as Leanne Tiernan. Her hands had been bound using cable ties and a knitted scarf had been tied around her neck. The body had then been wrapped in green plastic bags. Ten layers to be precise. It was then tied with twine before being placed inside the duvet. A black refuse bag had been placed over the head and was fastened in place with a dog collar. There was no obvious evidence that a sexual assault had occured, but it was suspected that there was a sexual motive to this crime. 

The decomposition of the body did not suggest that it had been in the woods, exposed to the elements for very long. It was estimated it had been there for only a few weeks. 

So where had Leanne been over the previous nine months? Had she been kept prisoner or had her body been stored somewhere that would slow down the process of decomposition? 

The postmortem concluded that Lianne's body had been kept in cold storage before being left in the woods. Quite possibly a large chest-type freezer that can be found in a lot of homes. Knowledge of this fact gave the police hope that DNA evidence may have been preserved on the body. Unfortunately no DNA of the killer could be found on Leanne's body.

This was a blow to police but DS Gregg and his team moved back to basic policing methods. They began collecting names of people who were known to frequent Lindley Woods. They knew that the site had not been chosen by accident and the killer very likely had an intimate knowledge of the area. 

Next, the police set about trying to gain more information about some of the items found with Leanne's body. They were able to trace the manufacturers of the dog collar to a mail order company in Liverpool, who in turn were able to supply the police with the name of a person who had brought a similar item living in Bramley, Leeds, only half a mile from Leanne’s house. The man had also  appeared on the list of people who visited Lindley Woods. He was a poacher who was known to hunt small animals there. He was the only person on both lists and his name was John Taylor. The 44 year old had no criminal record, but he became the number one suspect in the murder of Leanne Tiernan.

John Taylor was born and raised in Leeds. As a young boy he developed an interest in the outdoors and hunting in particular. This swiftly developed into a desire to abuse small animals. This disturbing habit progressed as an adult and he had been witnessed stabbing to death a fox, as well as torturing rabbits. The dark side of John Taylor was hidden from view; his neighbours knew him to be a regular bloke who they counted as trustworthy. Taylor had been married and had two children but was now divorced and lived alone.

John Taylor lived in Cockshott Drive, Bramley. When police searched his house they uncovered some incriminating evidence. They discovered the same type of green bags and twine that were used to wrap Leanne's body. The twine was of a special kind used to make netting to hunt and catch rabbits. The type of cable ties used by the killer to bind Leanne were almost exclusively used by Royal Mail. It just so happened that Taylor worked as a delivery driver for Parcel Force, a company which is part of the Royal Mail trading group.

While suspect DNA was not found on Leanne's body, other forensic evidence was available. A dog hair was found on Leanne's sweatshirt and police attempted to create a DNA profile of the dog it belonged to. Forensic experts employed in Texas were able to develop a profile. It was the first case in Britain where animal DNA was used to try to solve a crime. John Taylor was known to own a dog but by the time he was arrested the dog was missing and he claimed that it had died recently. 

Small pink carpet fibres were found on Leanne’s sweatshirt which matched those found on a nail in the floorboards at Taylor's house. He had removed the carpet, but these few strands were enough for a comparison to be made. Taylor was arrested on 16 October 2001 and two pieces of compelling forensic evidence soon followed that sealed his fate.

Under floorboards at Taylor’s house, traces of blood were found that were positively identified as belonging to Leanne. This put the 16 year old in Taylor’s house and suffering from an injury.   

Further confirmation of Taylor’s guilt came when a human hair was detected in the knitted scarf that had been wrapped around Leanne’s neck. Standard DNA testing could not create a profile from the hair root so a more advanced technique was used. Mitochondrial testing was carried out and a profile was compiled from the miniscule amounts of DNA in the hair shaft. It belonged to John Taylor. 

Excavations of Taylor’s garden unearthed the bodies of several small animals, including four dogs, one of which had a crushed skull. A meat cleaver is believed to have been the weapon used. After hearing news reports that police were looking for a man seen walking a dog in the vicinity of Houghley Gill before Leanne's disappearance, it is theorised that Taylor killed his dog to distance himself from the crime.

At first Taylor admitted he had abducted Leanne but said her death had been an accident. He claimed she had fallen off the bed and hit her head. He had then attempted to move her using the scarf around her neck to pull her. This, he said, is when she must have died. Needless to say no one was buying that explanation and he eventually pleaded guilty to Leanne's abduction and murder.

Taylor ran a pet food business to supplement his income and had three large freezers in his home. A witness who would visit Taylor's house regularly said a large upright freezer disappeared one day without any explanation. It seems the only reason Leanne’s was discovered was because the freezer he used to store her body in had broken down and he therefore needed to dispose of the body. Taylor was reluctant to dispose of the body; for him it was a trophy to constantly remind him of his crime. 

In July 2002 he was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 20 years. The judge said Taylor’s crime had been cold and calculating and described him as a sexual sadist. Sharon Hawkhead, Leanne’s mother, said that although it was good that her daughter's killer had been jailed, for the family the agony would continue. Referencing the possibility that John Taylor could one day be paroled out on the streets again, she said that life should mean life.

After the guilty verdict, a former partner of Taylor’s spoke of Taylor’s desire to tie women up and said he had expressed to her that he wanted to have sex with her 15 year old daughter. This was three months after Leanne had gone missing. Taylor would correspond with women all over the country asking for sex. He would often travel long distances across the UK for this purpose.

A year later, Taylor was linked via his DNA to two sexual assaults from the late 1980s. On the 18th October 1988 he assaulted and raped a 32 year old woman on wasteland in Houghley Gill, the same location where he had attacked Leanne Tiernan. Taylor had attacked the woman with a knife. He had protected his identity by wearing a mask over his face. A year later he broke into the house of a 21 year old woman. He bound and blindfolded her before abusing and raping her whilst her baby was asleep in the next room. In 2003, Taylor was given an additional life sentence for these offences and his parole was extended to thirty years. Fifteen years later in 2018 Tayloir pleaded guilty to a range of offences including rape and assault on several women and a 7 year old girl dating from 1977 to 1996.

The fact that Donna Healey's body had been stored for a long period of time probably in a freezer, obviously bears similarities to the case of Leanne Tiernan. This coupled with the fact that John Taylor was known to use sex workers and lived five miles away from where Donna’s body was dumped in 1991 means retired detective Chris Clark believes he has to be considered a suspect. 

As well as the cases of Donna Healey and Yvonne Fitt, Chris Clark also believes John Taylor should be looked into for the following crimes.  Lindsay Rimer was 13 when she went missing in 1992 after leaving her home in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire on an errand to buy cornflakes. Her body was found 6 months later in a canal. She had been strangled. Just to note, an arrest was made in this case in October 2025. The person is currently released on bail.

In 1995 the body of 20 year old Deborah Wood was discovered at Leeds Railway station. Attempts had been made to burn the body but tests showed it had been kept in cold storage for ten days before being dumped. This location was less than two miles from John Taylor's home.

Anne Ballantyne was a 20 year old woman whose body was found floating in the Union canal in Edinburgh, Scotland. Taylor was known to visit a brothel in Glasgow that was very close to where Anne lived.  

In January 2019 Detective Superintendent John Griffiths of the Homicide and Major Enquiry team from West Yorkshire police, confirmed that Donna Healey's case was undergoing a new review. A number of potential lines of enquiry were said to be being examined. He would not name any individual who was or had been a part of their enquiries and confirmed Donna Healey's death remained unexplained. 

John Taylor is now 69 years old and remains behind bars for the murder of Leanne Tiernan and the additional sex attacks of which he was convicted. I believe he is being held at Wakefield maximum security prison in West Yorkshire. He has not been charged with any additional murders. 

The suspicious death of Donna Healey remains an open case. If you have any information that could help solve it and provide answers for the family you can contact crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.