Glenis Carruthers (Unsolved Murder)

At 10.20 pm, Glenis Carruthers left her friend's 21st birthday party for reasons that have never been fully explained. It was Saturday, January 19th 1974, and the 20-year-old P.E. student had travelled from Bedford to Clifton, a leafy area in Bristol, the previous day.  Forty minutes after leaving the party, Glenis's body was found just yards from the entrance of Bristol Zoo. She had been strangled, and a man, yet to be identified, was seen walking away from the scene.  

Sources for the episode can be found here

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Glenis Carruthers

Shortly before 11 pm on January 19th, 1974, Alf Elliott was walking his two Doberman Pinschers close to the main entrance of Bristol Zoo, situated in the Clifton area of the city. 50 year old Alf lived just around the corner, and as it so happens, worked as a senior overseer at Bristol Zoo. His job was to look after the big cats, reptiles and camels. 

It was very dark as he made his way along the side of Clifton Down or the A4176. There was currently an industrial dispute between striking miners and the conservative government. The Department of Environment had requested that local councils reduce their energy usage, including cutting back on street lighting by 50%. The street lights in this part of the city were all turned off. 

Alf had just passed the junction of Northcote Road when all of a sudden one of the dogs veered off towards a strip of grass next to a small slip road between the Avenue and Northcote Road. The spot later became part of the zoo carpark. Through the gloom Alf could make out the excited dog was heading towards two figures lying on the grass. As he got a little closer Alf could see they were a man and woman. 

He assumed they were a courting couple and quickly called his dog to heel. The well trained Doberman came swiftly back to his owner and Alf continued on his walk. He thought it odd that the couple would choose that patch of grass, as the Clifton Downs, a large stretch of public downland, was just a stone’s throw away on the other side of the road.

About ten minutes later Alf turned around and returned the same way he had come. He noticed the couple were still in the same spot on the grass. As Alf approached the spot the man suddenly stood up and began walking away. The woman remained motionless on the ground. Something looked off to Alf and he called out to the man, “Hey, What’s your game?” The man, who Alf estimated to be between 20 and 25, certainly no older than 30, stared briefly in his direction, before turning and continuing to walk away. Alf repeated his call but the man ignored him and disappeared into the night.  

Alf went to see if the woman was alright but could instantly see that she needed medical attention; in fact she looked dead. He did not touch the woman but went and found a telephone box and called the police. 

About 30 minutes later a 20 year old nurse named Lucy was driving home with a friend from a 21st birthday party, which had been held at a house in Worcester Crescent, Clifton. This is half a mile from where Alf found the young woman lying on the ground. Lucy was crossing the Clifton Suspension Bridge in order to get to her house in Burwells Road, Leigh Woods, when she was stopped at a police road block. The officer informed her that a young girl had just been found murdered and they were trying to find out her identity. The officer then described the deceased woman and mentioned she had short dark hair and was wearing a red skirt and multicolored blouse. Lucy recognised the description straight away. It sounded like someone who had gone missing from the party she had just attended. At 10.20pm a young woman had left the house on Worcester Crescent and had not returned. Her name was Glenis Carruthers.

Glenis Carruthers did not live in Bristol. The 20 year old was in her third and final year training to be a physical education teacher at Bedford College. Bedford is a town almost 2 hours north of the centre of London and almost 3 hours east of Bristol. The previous day, Friday January 18th, Glenis had travelled to Bristol by car with her flatmate Sandra, who was also a student PE teacher. Sandra was turning 21 and her birthday party was being held at her parents’ house on Worcester Crescent, in the affluent and leafy area of Clifton, Bristol.

Another of Glenis's flatmates, Helen, later said that Glenis had been really looking forward to the party. She had met Sandra's parents, William and Sheila, before and had visited their house and felt comfortable there.  Glenis had bought the new multicolored blouse to wear to her friend's special occasion. What should have been a wonderful weekend of celebration instead saw the death of a young woman who should have had her whole life ahead of her.

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Glenis's father William Carruthers was originally from Scotland and worked as a consultant engineer for a heating firm. Glenis's mother died when Glenis was just five years old. William remarried and Glenis lived with her four brothers and stepmother Helena in the village of Little Chalfont, south-east Buckinghamshire.

As a little girl Glenis was in the Brownies and Guides. As an older teen she became a Ranger. Her ex-Ranger leader and close friend Kathleen said Glenis was “a lovely and loyal girl”. Glenis attended church from a young age and as she got older was involved in leading Sunday school and youth clubs at the local methodist church. 

Glenis was a keen and talented sportsperson. She played hockey for Chalfont and was a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable football supporter. She followed the game on television and through newspapers. With this in mind it was no surprise that Glenis decided to train as a Physical Education teacher. At 18 she earned a place to study at Bedford College, which lies about an hour north of her family home. At the time of her death Glenis was living in a shared student house on Lansdown Road in Bedford. She had at least two flatmates, Sandra and Helen. A friend of Glenis said she was a quiet, religious girl with no boyfriends. Another said she was difficult to get to know but when you succeeded she was very kind.

Glenis had last seen her family on New Year's Day and then returned to her shared student flat on Lansdown Road in Bedford. Her studies formally restarted after the Christmas break on January 14th. The family had heard from her that she was traveling to Bristol for the party. They never imagined she would not return.

At a press conference following the murder William Carruthers spoke proudly about his daughter. He said she was full of life and high-spirited. She had a lot of friends but any notion of boyfriends had been put on hold. Glenis was very committed to her fledgling teaching career. She was hoping to get her first full-time teaching job in September. Her dreams were extinguished on the night of January 19th, 1974.

The murder investigation was led by Detective Chief Superintendent Dennis Lewis of Bristol CID. Detective Chief Inspector Jack Everett played a significant role in the case. South West Regional Crime Squad Deputy Co-ordinator DCS Fredrick Cross was also part of the investigative team. A special murder room was set up at New Bridewell HQ in the centre of Bristol and was staffed 24 hours a day. DCS Dennis Lewis led a briefing session there every morning. It was a tough case and the investigative team had their work cut out for them.

Glenis had been strangled to death, but there was only one small mark or bruise on the throat and none of the bones in the neck had been broken. Pathologist Dr Derek Johnson, a consultant at Ham Green Hospital, said there was no evidence of a violent struggle but confirmed Glenis had died by manual strangulation. DCS Dennis Lewis said death had happened very quickly, possibly in a matter of seconds. Glenis's attacker had likely used only one hand to strangle her. As it did not appear she had time to fight back it was thought he had approached her from behind.

The pathology report indicated no evidence of sexual assault. Nevertheless, those leading the investigation were sure the murder had happened as the result of a sexual assault gone wrong. William Carruthers, Glenis's father, agreed with this theory. He believed that his daughter was murdered because she resisted being raped. DCI Jack Everett suspected the culprit had not intended to murder that evening but things had escalated quickly out of his control. The evidence suggested the person was unknown to Glenis and had probably been lurking in the area waiting for a woman to sexually assault. In the days following the murder, stories emerged from many local women that they had been approached by strange men around Clifton. Advice was given to girls and young women to avoid the Downs and surrounding areas completely. 

The crime scene did not provide a lot of clues. In agreement with the pathologist Dr Johnson, most reports say there were no signs of a violent struggle. It is worth noting that The Western Daily Press January 21st 1974 reported that there were signs of a struggle, but does not expand on this.

Glenis's clothing had not been disarranged, though her sandals were found beside her. It was believed these were not removed by the killer. Glenis had a habit of taking her sandals off and walking bare foot, so it was assumed she had been doing this that evening. 

A square foot of turf said to contain a footprint was removed from the scene, though nothing more was ever said about this. I do not know if the footprint was ruled out or if it simply went unidentified. By far the most significant clue found at the scene was not made public for many months. It was part of a brown pair of tortoiseshell glasses. It was a piece of the frame, possibly the arm or bridge. Every optician in Bristol, South Gloucester and North Somerset was visited by police but the lead never went anywhere. 

One of the first questions facing DCS Dennis Lewis and his team was why did Glenis leave the party?

Her friend Sandra said Glenis appeared to be enjoying herself. She may have had some punch to drink but from what I have read Glenis did not drink to excess and was known to be “clean living”. The police said that while some people had a few drinks, it was a "respectable party”. For some reason at 10.20pm Glenis decided to leave.

There has been much speculation as to why. It was suggested that she left because she was bored as she was the only young woman there who did not have a partner. This was really pushed in newspaper reporting which made Glenis out to be a third wheel or “wallflower”. There is no real evidence for this but the theory has persisted and decades later DCS Dennis Lewis (then retired) still pondered this explanation for Glenis leaving the party.

A November 2016 article from Bristol Live quotes Sandra’s godmother Jay who was at the party. She does not think Glenis left the party because she felt left out. Glenis knew many of the people there and everyone was mixing well and laughing together. 

Another reason put forward as to why Glenis left the party was that she was feeling hot and wanted some fresh air. A further possibility is that she wanted to make a phone call. Indeed her friend Sandra, whose birthday party it was, told the inquest into her friend's death that before Glenis left she told her she wanted to make a phone call and may also have mentioned taking a walk. Glenis could have intended to call a religious organisation that she was involved with.

Both Glenis and Sandra were involved with a religious organisation called Fisher Folk. Fisher Folk came out of the Christian charismatic movement of the 1970s. They were originally from Texas but had begun to establish an organisational network in the UK. Glenis had first come into contact with Fisher Folk through her local Methodist church.

Fisher Folk would tour the country doing pop concerts for young people, and in 1973 they came to Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham. Glenis was in the crowd that night and it proved a significant moment for her. Glenis was inspired by what she heard and saw and wanted to join the movement.

 From then on Glenis would often go and visit a Fisher Folk community in Coventry. When the organisation announced they were going to be planting a new community in Berkshire, Glenis was very excited. After an official blessing from the Bishop of Oxford, Fisher Folk launched a ministry based at an old convent at Yeldall near Wargrave on the outskirts of Reading. 

Glenis was not an official member of the community in Wargrave but hoped to move there when she finished college. The Bucks Examiner January 24, 1974 stated that she hoped to get a job close by when she finished her studies. Glenis visited the place with her parents during Christmas 1973, and William and Helena gave their blessing for her to join Fisher Folk. Speaking to the Bristol Evening Post after his daughter’s death William said Glenis had been doing a lot of thinking about life and had explored other religions but had found that Christianity was the best fit for her. 

One of the things Glenis liked to do was telephone her friends at Fisher Folk and let them know what she was doing, especially if she was happy. This apparently had been something they encouraged her to do. It was speculated that Glenis had left the party to find a telephone box in order to call Fisher Folk. There was a telephone box within a matter of yards of the murder scene. It can be seen in crime scene photos. The Fisher Folk had no record of taking a phone call from Glenis on the night of Saturday 19th.                  A community member, John Farra, confirmed this in The Western Daily Press (January 24th 1974). He added that Glenis had been in touch with the community earlier in the week. If it was her intention to call that night, she was intercepted and murdered before reaching the telephone box.

There were two possible routes Glenis may have taken after leaving the party. Both would have started by exiting Worcester Crescent and turning left onto College Road. It's likely she walked down here on the other side of the road to the large, private school Clifton College. After this there are a couple of possibilities. 

Glenis may have continued until she reached Clifton Down (the A4176) and then turned right, walking past the main entrance to the zoo. Glenis's body was found a little bit further on.

Alternatively Glenis may have turned right from College Road down Guthrie Rd. She then would have had to turn left up Northcote Road or even the Avenue. You can have a look on google maps for a better understanding. Bristol Zoo has very recently moved location but the old zoo and garden is still clearly visible. Police suspected the latter route to be correct.

DCS Lewis led a team of 60 detectives to establish Glenis's movements in the 40 minute gap between her leaving the party and being found dead ½ mile away. It was estimated either route from Worcester Crescent to the location where her body was found would have taken just 15 minutes on foot. It was vital that it was discovered where Glenis had been and who had been with her during this window. 

It was a Saturday night when the murder happened and a lot of people had been in the vicinity at the time. The area was a popular spot for courting couples as it was quiet and cars could be parked there without much attention. 140 police officers set about making door to door enquiries. Their task was made difficult as many of the properties were bedsits and their occupants moved in and out regularly. Many people simply didn't know their neighbours.

A plea was made on the evening of January 23rd for people in the area that night to come forward so they could be eliminated from the investigation and share with police anything they may have seen or heard. By mid-morning the following day 30 people had contacted the police but none of them had seen anything of note. 

Everyone at the 21st birthday party Glenis had attended needed to be spoken with. Estimates vary concerning how many people were at the party that night. It is most often claimed there were forty people in attendance but I have read one report that puts the figure at seventy. 

There was a hotel close to the murder scene and staff and guests were quizzed extensively. As mentioned, Clifton College was on the route Glenis would have taken that night. The college had 600 boarders across 10 separate houses. Staff and older pupils were questioned about their movements over the weekend. 

Around the time of the murder a concert had finished at Bristol Cathedral which saw 600 people spill out into the streets. This is a couple of miles from the murder scene but police suspected someone may have seen something on their drive or walk back across the city.

People were asked to think whether they had seen Glenis making her way along the streets of Clifton that evening. A description of Glenis was given out to the press and media

Glenis was 20 years old, 5ft 9 and with a strong build and brown hair. An initial photograph circulated depicted Glenis with long hair. This was withdrawn and replaced with a photofit showing Glenis with short cropped hair. She had recently had a hair cut and now wore it in a very different style. The new image was put together by a photographer and artist based at the Evening Post.

On the night she was killed Glenis was wearing a light grey belted jacket from Marks and Spencer over a multi-coloured blouse and long, cotton, rust-red coloured pinafore skirt. She had with her (most likely carrying in her hand) a pair of brown leather sandals with one strap across the instep and another for the big toe.

At least three people are said to have come forward who believed they had seen Glenis that night. It is unclear if they were able to provide any valuable insight.

Police also wanted to see if anyone recognised the man zookeeper Alf Elliot had seen walking away from Glenis's body. As mentioned, due to the lack of street lighting it was very dark that night. Alf did not get a good look at the man's face but this is the description he gave.

He was between 20 and 30, 5ft 10 and wore a ¾ length donkey jacket or duffle coat. He may have been wearing a denim type cap which could have been attached to the coat. Alf noted the man had a great deal of hair which reached his collar. 

By January 25th investigators had spoken with 2600 people. Police did have some people come forward who were in the area that night but in general they were underwhelmed with the response. Many people, for whatever reason, had decided to keep their heads down and not get involved. 

From the witnesses police had managed to speak with, they issued several requests for the following persons to make themselves known. I have collected this information from various contemporary sources, the details were not released all at one time.

Shortly after 10pm, a young couple were reported to have been seen walking slowly along Clifton Down, near the junction of The Avenue and in the direction of the zoo. The man was 18-22, 5ft 9, slim and wearing a dark knee length coat. The woman was around the same age but a little shorter. 

Police were also looking for a young man seen by two people attempting to hitchhike at the junction of Clifton Down and College Road between 10.30-10.40pm. 

Then there was a man in a tracksuit who was seen jogging at the junction of Clifton Down and College road between 10.45 and 11pm. Apparently it was common to see people jogging there on weekdays but rarely late at night on the weekends.

A couple were seen walking hand in hand past the zoo and into College Road at 11pm. The man was in his 40s possibly wearing a light brown coat and the woman was around 30 and wearing light coloured clothing. 

Two men were seen running from the Downs opposite the zoo onto Clifton Down Road at 11.05pm.

At 11.30pm a young woman of approximately 18 was seen by two boys in Worcester Crescent walking towards College Road. She had long dark hair over her shoulders, and was dressed in a light belted coat and dark boots. 

A taxi driver was sought who was seen parked in his cab on The Avenue near the junction with Clifton Down. 

Clifton Down was a busy bus route and police made a plea for any passengers on the Number 1 bus which left college road at 10.42pm to come forward.

Additionally, police were looking to speak with passengers from  the Number 83 bus which left Christchurch, Clifton at 11.04pm and stopped outside the Zoo at 11.08pm. Police specifically wanted to hear from a 60 year old man who was on the bus. He was not said to be a suspect but may have seen something important. He was known to frequent shops and cafes in the area and had a small black or brown dog. He was 5ft 9, cleanshaven and was wearing a long, grey, plaid overcoat on top of several jackets. He was carrying a bundle of clothing and bedding. From his description it sounds like this man was homeless. He alighted the bus in the Christchurch area.

Another individual who boarded the no. 83 bus from a grass verge very close to the murder site, was of particular interest. I believe this man was thought to be the suspect. He was 20 years old, 5ft 9 with a medium build. He had sloping shoulders and wavy, black, collar-length hair. The man had a long narrow face and sallow complexion. He was wearing a navy blue, belted raincoat, a light shirt without a tie and dark trousers. 

This man was seen alighting at the Muller Road Depot where the bus finished its route. A witness then saw the man attempting to hitchhike. A taxi stopped for the man but he drew back when he realised it was a taxi.

I cannot be certain how many of these people were eventually traced. I know that the tracksuited jogger was eventually found and was able to provide some information. There were some potential witnesses who were in the area at the time that were never found. Police publicly criticised these people and were frustrated that the ones they did find had to be winkled out.

Investigators were able to speak with some passengers from the No 83 bus but the narrow faced man with collar length hair was never identified. 

The inquest into the death of Glenis Carruthers was opened on January 21st 1974. After being adjourned for police to carry out their work it resumed and concluded after a two hour hearing on October 11th 1974. 

Coroner John Seymour Williams told the all-male jury that “a more fiendish happening you have probably not heard in detail before”. The coroner went on to say that it could not be determined whether the killer was driven to commit the crime by abnormal sexual desires or if he was, in the coroner’s words, “mad”.

During proceedings Glenis's father William instructed his lawyer to ask the following question to DCS Jack Everett. “Was anything revealed during your inquiries which suggested that the deceased was other than a decent law-abiding citizen?” DCS Everett answered, “She was perfectly respectable.”

I think this question was motivated by the stigma wrongly attributed to victims and survivors of sexual assault. I feel William wanted there to be formal recognition that his daughter had done nothing wrong. It's incredibly sad the grieving father felt it necessary to protect his daughter from slurs and accusations.

William Carruthers took the opportunity to argue that if the street lights had been on his daughter would be alive. An unlit street light stood just ten yards from where the body was found. This was an issue William had pressed publicly since the very beginning of the investigation. No legal action was taken by the family but a year later the Department of Energy, which now had responsibility, anounced that street lighting would no longer be cut indiscriminately.

Over the course of the previous nine months at least 800 statements had been taken and hundreds of calls had been made to the murder hunt HQ in Bridewell. Altogether a sizable 16,000 people from across the UK had been spoken with. The killer may well have been amongst them. The jury’s verdict was that Glenis had been murdered by person or persons unknown. 

On the first anniversary of the murder, police went out onto the streets of Clifton. 50 officers, including dog handlers, roamed the area questioning people they came across. They were working on a hunch the killer may return to the scene of the crime, or perhaps for some reason he was always in Clifton at that time of year. Police interviewed 78 people that were out and about in the vicinity. 40 had been in the area the previous year so their details and alibis were double checked, but nothing came of this move.

DCI Jack Everett reckoned he only had a few more years left on the force and he wanted to solve the case before he retired. He made a plea to the murderer to give himself up. Everett believed the killer's conscience would have plagued him and his behaviour would have changed over the previous 12 months. Someone in his life must have noticed a change. Everett assured the culprit that he would never be safe because the police would not stop looking for him. 

The two biggest clues in the case remained the plastic piece of spectacles and the sighting of the man with the thin sallow face and collar length dark hair getting on and off the number 83 bus. With seemingly no link between killer and victim these clues had not produced any strong leads.

In 1976 it was revealed that Glenis's file was shared with detectives investigating the murder of Susan Donoghue. The 44 year old nurse was found murdered on August 5th that year in her basement flat in Stoke Bishop, Bristol. This is very close to where Glenis's murder had happened. Unlike in Glenis's case there was evidence Susan had been sexually assaulted. She had then been bludgeoned to death. No connection was made between the cases. 

A man named Ron Evans was arrested in 1979 for a series of vicious sexual assaults that occurred in Bristol between 1977 and 1979. Dubbed the “Clifton Raptist”, Evans had terrorised the Clifton, Redland and Westbury Park areas of the city, attacking women as they walked home late at night. 

Evans could not have been the killer of Glenis Carruthers. When Glenis was murdered in January 1974 Evans was in prison for the 1964 murder of 21 year old Kathleen Heathcote in Nottingham. Evans was released in 1975 after serving only 11 years. He then moved to Bristol where he began reoffending. Evans has been in prison for most of the last 50 years. He was released in 2018 but was jailed in 2023 for four years after being found guilty of another sexual assault.

Things went quiet for many years until January 1983 when a 32-year-old woman came forward to claim her ex-husband had confessed to Glenis's murder. He was 34 year old Malcolm Sherman and he had just been convicted for the 1982 murder of 53 year old Marian Hansford in Devon. Sherman was a well known sex offender with a record of 76 sex offences to his name. He allegedly made the confession to his then wife when he was in prison for another sexual offence. He was released from prison shortly after the conversation and sexually assaulted and murdered Marian Hansford just weeks later. 

The Carruthers family only heard about the alleged confession when a journalist informed them on their doorstep. The police had not been in contact with them, which I suspect shows how much weight they were giving to Sherman's story.

After police talked with Sherman’s ex-wife they interviewed Sherman himself in prison. They talked to him about Glenis's murder and the 1976 murder of Susan Donoghue which I mentioned earlier. Afterwards police said they did not expect charges to result from the interviews, and indeed, they did not. I suspect he was not able to provide details about the crimes that would have proved he was telling the truth.

On the 10th anniversary of the murder The Bristol Evening Post ran a feature on the case. Lead Detective Dennis Lewis had left CID and was now an investigative officer with the Foreign Office. He shared his thoughts on the case, building on the theory that the murderer had not intended to kill that night. He suggested the killer may not even know he committed the crime. The supposition being that the perpetrator was drunk. I’m not sure how much this was a genuine belief or a tactic to encourage the culprit to come forward and give themselves up.

Glenis’s case was one of 17 unsolved that were re-examined by the Avon and Somerset police in 1997. Lamentably a breakthrough was not forthcoming.

Exactly 36 years after the murder in 2010, the Avon and Somerset Police announced they were reinvestigating the case. Using the latest developments in forensic DNA techniques they were hoping to finally solve Glenis’s murder. Items from the crime scene, including clothing, were sent to be re-examined. DCI Mike Carter, who was leading the reinvestigation, said his hope was that a DNA profile could be found and run through the national database. 

To coincide with this announcement, one of Glenis’s brothers, Gordon Carruthers, spoke publicly about how the family have suffered over the years because of what happened to his sister. He appealed for anyone who knew what had happened to do the right thing and come forward. The family wanted justice for Glenis so her memory could rest in peace. 

It doesn't appear that the DNA testing was successful and I can't see that any findings from this reinvestigation were released. That being said, less than a year later the Avon and Somerset Police were forced to take a look at the case again, when another murder happened with striking similarities to Glenis's.

On December 17th 2010, 25 year old Joanna Yeates went missing from her flat in Clifton, Bristol. Her body was found on Christmas Day in the nearby village of Failand. Joanna was a similar age and it transpired had been attacked at a similar time of night as Glenis. Like Glenis she had been strangled but there was no evidence of sexual assault. Other similarities were that Joanna was found fully clothed, there was no sign of a struggle, and both women had their shoes removed.

There was a lot of speculation in the media about whether the cases could be connected. Glenis's step-mother Helena Carruthers spoke to the press saying Glenis and Joanna could be victims of the same killer. The police were cautious and officially said that Joanna’s murder was not being linked to any other murder in the Avon and Somerset area. This thinking was proved correct.

On January 20th 2011 Joanna’s neighbour, 32 year old Dutch architectural engineer, Vincent Tabak, was arrested for her murder. He was found guilty of the crime in October of that year and sentenced to life in prison. Strong DNA evidence helped to convict him. The cases of Joanna Yeates and Glenis Carruthers were not related.

The murder of Glenis Carruthers was one of the last investigations the old Bristol Constabulary undertook. In April 1974 the Avon and Somerset force came into being and a new era began for policing in the city and surrounding areas. Although structures may have changed, memories of Glenis have not been forgotten.

The person responsible has gotten away with this crime for far too long. 

I hope there will be another effort in the near future to re-examine evidence from the crime scene. 

If you have any information about the 1974 murder of Glenis Carruthers you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.