The body of an art student who disappeared more than 40 years ago could be exhumed in the hope of linking her death to the Scottish serial killer Peter Tobin.
Jessie Earl was 22 when she disappeared in 1980. Her naked remains were found nine years later at Beachy Head, East Sussex, with her wrists bound with her own bra.
A post-mortem examination found the cause of death to be unascertainable and an inquest held in 1989 recorded an open verdict.
Jessie’s parents, Valerie and John, now both in their nineties, campaigned for a new inquest after describing the original police investigation as woefully inadequate.
A new inquest was ordered in December last year after Thomas Teague, chief coroner of England and Wales, said there is “a compelling case for a finding of unlawful killing”.
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Tobin, 75, is one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers and is serving a whole-life sentence for the murders of three other young women. The father of three has also been suggested as a suspect in the disappearance of Louise Kay, 18, who was last seen at Beachy Head in June 1988. He was living nearby in Brighton when Jessie disappeared from her lodgings in Eastbourne. She had described to her mother meeting a middle-aged Scottish man on the Downs at Beachy Head.
A pre-inquest hearing yesterday was told DNA has already been taken from Jessie’s parents and police forensic experts are searching databases for a match to any crime scene.
Sussex police have also been asked to do a thorough search of their archives and provide an audit trail of evidence collected before the first inquest.
The bra used to bind Jessie Earl’s hands was destroyed following the first inquest in 1989, the force said.
The Earl family’s legal team is hoping their DNA can be matched to a possession taken from another victim of the same killer.
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Chris Williams, representing the family, said: “Some serial killers retain trophies and this is to see if any of her DNA shows up on any other trophies. It would be useful if it could identify the identity of a potential killer in this case.”
Joanne Kane, for Sussex police, said: “A new family DNA profile has been taken already. It has been loaded on to the missing person database and forensic scientists are comparing samples to any crime scene data.”
The family are willing to have her body exhumed so a sample can be taken from her bone marrow if the DNA search finds any possible matches.
They appeared by video from their home in southeast London at the start of a new inquest process in Eastbourne.
James Healy-Pratt, assistant coroner, told the family that they had waited long enough for the second inquiry into Jessie’s death. “I recognise the extraordinarily long legal and emotional journey your family has had to endure,” he said. “I intend to complete this inquest within 60 days.”
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Speaking after the hearing, Jessie’s brother James Earl, 66, said that the family were aware of the possible link to Tobin. “The police seem quite sure that it’s not him. I’m maintaining an open mind,” he said.
New hunt for remains in decade-old murder
Police are set to comb a remote area of Argyll in the hunt for the remains of a woman who was tortured and killed more than ten years ago.
Lynda Spence, 27, was murdered in 2011 and, although her killers were convicted, her remains have never been found. Yesterday police said that they were assessing a remote area of ground near Dunoon before potential search work would be undertaken.
Detective Superintendent Suzanne Chow, of the major investigation team, said: “This detailed work involves Police Scotland detectives, local policing officers and specialist search teams, supported by forensic scientists and experts from across the United Kingdom. The operation is expected to take some considerable time due to the nature of the ground and remote location.”
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She urged anybody who knows more about the whereabouts of Spence’s remains to contact officers.
“Lynda’s family have been informed of this development and officers are supporting them during this difficult time,” Chow added.
“We will keep them updated as the work continues. There will be a significant police presence in the area as this operation continues.”
In 2013 Colin Coats and Philip Wade were found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow of abducting, torturing and murdering the accountant. Prosecutors have been unable to say exactly when or how she was murdered, but Coats boasted to a cellmate that he smothered her, cut off her head and burnt her remains in a furnace.
During the trial the court was told that Spence and Coats were involved in a land deal at Stansted airport, organised by her, in which Coats claimed to have invested all of his money. She then persuaded a Glasgow printer to produce fake Danish government bonds, which were supposedly worth millions when in fact they were worth nothing at all.
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On April 14, 2011 she was lured from her Glasgow flat and driven to a property in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire.
She was taped to a chair and tortured for two weeks, and almost daily Coats and Wade would visit her. Inside the flat there was a torture kit made up of garden loppers, bandages and surgical tape, which was used on her in a bid to extract financial information. She was burnt with an iron, hit with a golf club, her toes were crushed, her thumb was cut off and one of her fingers was severed.
Coats was jailed for a minimum of 33 years while Wade was ordered to spend at least 30 years behind bars.