The Murder of Leanne Tiernan
Leanne Tiernan was a high school student who lived in West Yorkshire, UK.
Leanne was last seen alive at 4.50 pm on 26th November 2000 when she and her friend, Sarah, returned to Bramley by bus after shopping in Leeds city centre. The two girls went different ways home and Sarah last saw her walking along a path through an area of wooded wasteland. When Sarah arrived home she phoned Leanne's home and was surprised to find Leanne was not there. At 5.20 pm, Leanne's mother called Leanne's mobile phone, it rang for a while and then cut off, she rang again and it cut off after four rings. At 7 pm, Leanne was reported to the police as a missing person.
A search of the area Leanne was last seen in began, no traces of her were found and a huge search, the largest ever undertaken by West Yorkshire Police, began. More than 1,400 house-to-house enquiries were conducted, DNA was taken from 140 men and twelve search warrants were issued for various addresses. Canals were drained and collections of household waste were paused to allow police to search bins for evidence.
On 20th August 2001, Leanne's body was found by a dog walker just 100 yards away from where another murder victim, Yvonne Fitt, had been discovered buried in 1992. The body had been wrapped in bin bags, string and a floral duvet cover. Plastic cable ties had been used to bind Leanne's hands and used as a ligature to strangle her. Leanne's hair was still tied in a ponytail with the same hairclips and band she had been wearing when she disappeared but it was suggested that after her death, Leanne's body had been kept in a freezer for a few weeks to avoid detection.
John Taylor was a delivery worker who lived on the same housing estate as Leanne, within a mile of where she was last seen alive. He kept several animals and was known to be a poacher but was considered to be 'trustworthy and ordinary' by neighbours. Taylor's name was given to the police by two ex-girlfriends who both said he had driven past the woods with them and boasted about 'poaching' there regularly.
Investigations into Taylor revealed he had a fetish for bondage, with ex-girlfriends testifying he had bound their hands with plastic cable ties then tied them behind their back using a third cable tie. his was exactly the way Leanne had been found. Taylor also frequently visited the wooded area Leanne was found in.
The yellow cable ties found of Leanne's body were found in Taylor's home and the manufacturer reported selling 99% of them to the employer Taylor was employed at. Pollen analysis showed that Leanne had been in Taylor's garden just before she was killed. A hair found on Leanne's body was matched to Taylor's. The twine used to bind Leanne's body was a unique type only manufactured by a small company in Devon and sold to the public for use as rabbit catch nets, the same twine was found at Taylor's home.
Taylor, who lived alone, was arrested and his home and garden subjected to a ten-day examination.
During the interview, Taylor admitted to kidnapping Leanne but said she had died accidentally during a struggle. He claimed to have acted on impulse and when asked why he abducted Leanne responded 'I have no idea.'
Taylor entered a guilty plea for kidnap and on the first day of trial entered a guilty plea for murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment but his sentence was later set as a minimum of 20 years. Taylor was later convicted of two separate rapes, he is thought to have committed more crimes during his time as a delivery driver in which he drove up and down the country. Following these convictions, Taylor's sentence was changed to a minimum of 30 years. He remains a suspect in several unsolved cold cases.
