Today’s Sad, Sordid Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Joan Harrison was 26 years old but heavy drinking and hard living had made
her old before her time. In 1975 she was working at a homeless shelter in
Preston, England, and staying with her boyfriend, David, who wanted to marry
her. She hoped, in the vague way of the hard-core alcoholic, to be able to
regain custody of her children, who had been placed in the care of others.
On November 20, 1975, Joan Harrison slept off a bender at her workplace and
then headed for David’s apartment, where she asked him for more drinking
money. David refused and she left in a snit, heading to visit her friend
Pauline Storey. Joan was not a habitual prostitute, but she wasn’t one to
turn down a chance to earn a few pounds, so when she was approached by a man
in the street, she readily agreed to go with him to a disused garage, where
they transacted their business, and then her customer turned violent,
beating and kicking her to death.
Joan Harrison’s body was found a few days later, and for many years she was
believed to be a victim of the infamous Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe.
It was only recently that DNA evidence pointed the finger at another man,
Christopher Smith.
Joan’s death led directly to another murder. When Pauline Storey was told
about her friend’s body being discovered, and learned that Joan had been on
the way to visit her, she was understandably upset. She gave the police as
much information as she could, and this in turn upset her own boyfriend,
James Plunkett. In the sad and sordid subculture inhabited by Joan and her
friends, cooperating with the police was not admired. Plunkett was further
angered when Pauline told him she planned to purchase a memorial ad in the
local newspaper; he considered Joan a worthless drunk and didn’t want any
money spent memorializing her. The couple argued, and it ended with the
eight-months-pregnant Pauline stabbing James Plunkett to death. She was
acquitted, however.
Culled From: Deliver Us From Evil by David Yallop
Submitted by: Aimee
An unexpected twist on the “violence begets more violence” theme, no? – Aimee
Here’s sad Joan Harrison:
And here’s wretched Christopher Smith:
Morbid Link Du Jour!
Kim sent me an excellent article about Caleb Wilde of Confessions of a Funeral Directorfame. Well worth a read!
Wretched Recommendation!
Lissa has a book recommendation for us:
“I recommend the book Never Suck a Dead Man’s Hand by former CSI Dana Kollmann. I just finished reading it and I am happy to report that it is, by far, the most graphic and frank book about what is really encountered at crime scene. For instance, the first case she worked independently was that of a man who had blown his own head off with a shotgun. The ceiling fan was on and Dana had to cover herself with anything she could find because of all the randomly flying brain bombs the fan was randomly depositing around the room. Before she left, the responding officers recommended she peek under the couch where a bright blue eyeball stared back at her.”
Sounds delightful, Lissa! I’ll add it to my wish list.
Best line from the article on the funeral director: “I always tie the shoelaces together of the dead. Cause if there is ever a zombie apocalypse, it will be hilarious.”