The Crime Web: John Glover

John Glover

This is probably the case that started my intense interest in serial killers. I remember the front page news as each victim was found. The public in Mosman, indeed all of Sydney was in a panic as each elderly lady was found battered and posed in lewd positions.

The case was the first of modern serial killers, Sydney would see, and though police would indeed catch their man, one woman would lose her life as police stood outside her door in wait.

John Glover was a loving husband and father, his family had no inclinations that he was the man the entire nation wanted caught, yet some say it is because of his mother-in-law and his own mother that he preyed on elderly women.

On March 1, 1989 at 3.40pm in the leafy upper middle-class suburb of Mosman, Glover would kill for the first time. Camelia Gardens is an apartment block on one of the main roads, Military Road. Most of the residents were the elderly widows though there were also families and children who lived in the apartments. When two young boys left the elevator on the ground floor, they saw a sight that remains with them still. 82 year old Gwendolin Mitchelhill was attempting to crawl to the glass security doors at the front of the building. Blood dripped from the savage wounds across her head. Her stockings had been torn from her legs, her walking stick and handbag were further away, her handbag had been riffled.

The boys quickly sort help, most of the bystanders assumed she had fallen and hit her head. The neat arrangement of her personal items were not seen as significant. The blood on the path was washed away.

The elderly woman was quickly rushed to the emergency ward by Ambulance, one of the medics suddenly had a thought about the woman's bag, how it had been looked through but was placed neatly with her other items. His suspicions nagged at him, so he reported the incident to Mosman police.

Meanwhile doctors worked quickly to prevent further blood building up in Mrs Mitchelhill's brain. Yet on further examination they began to come to the conclusion that she had not simply fallen, her wounds were not consistent with a fall, as well as her head injuries she had two black eyes and several broken ribs. One of the doctors also decided to contact Mosman police.

Mrs Mitchelhill lost her battle for life later that same evening. Mosman police sent the Physical Evidence crew and homicide detectives to investigate what was possibly a murder. A check of the woman's handbag found that it did not contain her purse which she had with her earlier that day.

The post mortem conducted the next day revealed:

"severe bruising to the right eye consistent with a fist, severe bruising to the right shoulder consistent with a blunt object, two wounds to back of the skull consistent with a blunt object, seven broken ribs consistent with a fist."

The cause of death was attributed to her head and chest injures which were consistent with a vicious attack. There was no evidence to suggest sexual tampering.

The Homicide Squad from Chatswood joined the team from Mosman. Someone had attacked and murdered a defenceless old woman, and police wanted to find out quickly who it was.

On May 9, 1989, 84 year old Lady Winfreda Ashton had a busy day. She had an appointment at the Sydney eye hospital, and then popped over to the Mosman RSL, before leaving at around 2.30. She popped in to her local bank, then busied herself at the local supermarket, stopping to talk to some friends on the way. She then started her walk home, she stopped at her mailbox and then headed towards the front entrance foyer of the units where she lived.

Lady Ashton was found dead later that evening when another resident came down to the rubbish room. She was on the floor, face down. Her shoes and walking stick, like Mrs Mitchelhill were placed near by. Her handbag had been opened and her purse was missing.

Her injuries echoed the attack on Mrs Mitchelhill. Her autopsy report read: Large bruise to the head, caused by a blow, bruise to the rear of her hear consistent with her head being forced to the ground. Five left ribs were also fractured. However this time her death was not due to her injuries, this time the killer made sure he had finished the job before leaving. She had been strangled with her pantyhose. The marks had cut so deep into her skin that it left fibres imbedded in her skin. Again no sexual assault was evident.

Police knew that the similarities in the two attacks were alarming. Both women had suffered massive bodily injuries consistent with punching. The two crime scenes were in close proximity (only about 1km apart). Both women had their purse stolen. And the attacks happened at the entrance to the victim's residence. Police decided that the two murders were linked. Now the search was on before the killer struck again.

The worse problem was that robbery did not seem to be the motive, both women had little money with them. The violent attack appeared to be the reason that the killer struck. So investigators sought help in trying to provide a profile of the killer.

Police Consultant Dr Rod Milton a psychiatrist was asked to assist police in constructing a profile of the offender they sought. The information was not released to the public.

On July 9, 1989 Lady Ashton's purse was found in Ashton Park. The woman who found the purse, not realising the significance of it, popped in the mailbox of Lady Ashton as stated on the papers inside.

On October 18 1989 Mrs Doris Cox was found in the front garden of the retirement village where she lived. She was sitting down, calling for help, her face covered in blood, she had several grazes on her face and she lost a few of her teeth. The scene was also washed down before police were notified the next day. The ME who had examined the other two women's body checked Mrs Cox's injuries and came to the conclusion that they were also consistent with being attacked. her grazes were from her face hitting the ground after being hit in the head from behind. Though she survived the brutal attack, Mrs Cox was unable to help police.

The next murder happened within a month. On Thursday November 2, 1989, Mrs Margaret Pahud was found along a pathway by a young girl. Mrs Pahud had been out shopping during the day and had been returning home when she was attacked. The young girl alerted her mother and another neighbour who rushed to the scene. Mrs Pahud was lying face down with her head surrounded by a huge pool of blood. Someone went to a nearby doctors office and asked for help, when the doctors arrives they pronounced the 85 year old woman dead. And again after her body was removed the scene was washed down of blood before police could arrive. Her bag in it entirety was missing.

Again the post mortem revealed striking similarities to the others. Mrs Pahud had suffered heavy blows to the rear of her head causing a fractured skull consistent with being struck with a blunt object and lacerations to face and head. No evidence of sexual assault was found.

The bag did turn up later and was handed to police, only money was missing.

The killer struck again within a day. On November 3, 81 year old Miss Olive Cleveland was attacked from behind as she entered the nursing home where she lived. She was found lying face down across the pathway . This time however the killer added to his signature. He pulled up the woman's dress to expose her legs. Her pantyhose had been removed and where tied tightly around the elderly victim's throat. Again, like the other victims, her head was surrounded by a halo of blood. Her personal items, her bag, shoes and glasses were near her feet. A nasty calling card of the killer. Again in a hindrance to police the blood was washed away so as not to worry the other patients of the nursing home.

The post mortem again resounded the others. Bruising and lacerations around the head and body, death was due to the pantyhose ebbing tied around the neck three times.

Police were beginning to piece together even more clues about their killer. So far he always struck around 3.00 in the afternoon, and there were never any witnesses, though Mrs Pahud was out of the vicinity of the other murders they were all still in a relative close proximity.

As each day passed the police felt a sigh of relief that the killer did not strike, yet that feeling was short-lived and the worst had yet to come.

Mrs Muriel Falconer was still quite spritely for her 93 years of age. At around 5.03 on the day she was murdered she was seen walking back home after popping in to the near-by fruit shop, bank and a few other stores after collecting her 'Meals on Wheels'.

However the next day November 24, Meals on Wheels returned at 11.30am and again at 1.00pm to give Mrs Falconer her food. But she never came to the door. A neighbour who became concerned when she hadn't seen the 93 year old all day decided to go and check to make sure she was alright.

After knocking a few times, she used the spare key to let herself in. The sight that met her sent her running for police. Mrs Falconer was lying face down in the hallway. She had been stripped of her clothes from the waist down, and her dress and petticoat had been pulled up over her head- which did nothing to conceal the large pool of blood stemming from the wounds she had suffered.

Her shoes and shopping were at her feet and her purse was open.

The post-mortem revealed the same afflictions as the others in the string of murders the media dubbed the "Granny Killings". Mrs Falconer had been beaten, her head sustained severe injuries, including fractures in three places. Her face also contained several broken bones. Her pantyhose and belt from her dress were wrapped tightly around her tiny throat.

This time, the killer had murdered inside a victim's home. Therefore the scene was perfectly preserved albeit from the neighbour and a doctor checking for any sign of life of the woman.

The police did have a small break-through on this case. In the hallway the killer had stepped in the victim's blood on his exit and had left some bloody footprints. (These would later be checked against Glover and found to be a match.)

One young man became a suspect, a known psychotic he was seen in the vicinity of a few of the murders and was also picked out by witnessed in photo line-ups. The suspect was never eliminated from police enquiries.

The task force responsible for the case, decided to change tact. They requested from all near-by police stations records of any elderly women being attacked. Several were forwarded to the detectives and a common description of the unknown assailant appeared. The suspect in all recent assaults had been a White Male, aged about 50 years with grey hair.

Two reports also stuck out from the rest. 85 year old Mrs Margaret Todhunter was walking home when a man walked past her then turned an struck her in the back of the head, as she fell to the ground the "grey haired man" grabbed her bag and fled the scene. She survived with only eight stitches required to the wound. Her description of the man was quite thorough. She said he was Male, 50 years, 5'7", grey hair, well-kept, broad shoulders, thick chest, large stomach, and wore a white business shirt and cream trousers.

This description fitted Glover perfectly, it was his first attempt at an attack.

The second report that drew interest was that of 82 year old Mrs Euphemia Carnie on August 25, 1989. When returning to her residence at North Haven Retirement Village was punched in the chest and knocked to the ground. Her attacker took her handbag and drover away in a blue car. She suffered severe bruising to her ribs, chest and back of the head. Her description of her assailant matched that of Mrs Todhunter.

On January 11, 1990 another elderly patient, Mrs Daisy Roberts, at Greenwich Hospital was assaulted. Mrs Roberts said that a grey haired male entered her room and placed his hands under her night-dress and held her breasts, claiming she was losing body heat. He then walked away. When hospital authorities was contacted they informed police of the incident. One nurse said she had earlier spoken to the Four-and-twenty pie salesman who was in an area of the hospital he shouldn't have been. When challenged about the assault on Mrs Roberts, he denied the allegation and quickly left. The man was John Glover.

Police were quick to find Glover to question him about the assault on Mrs Roberts. He was asked to attend Chatswood Detectives office at 5pm pm January 13, 1990. After waiting an hour for him, police decided to call his house. His wife answered and said that her husband had attempted suicide and was now in Royal North Shire Hospital. The suicide note Glover had written included references to "no more grannies" and "Essie started it".

Due to his mental state the officers were not able to interview him that evening, and when they returned they next day he refused to make any admissions on legal advice. He did however admit to being at the Greenwich Hospital on January 11. Glover also allowed the detectives to take a Polaroid photo of him. He was identified by the women as their attacker.

From then on, Glover was the main suspect in the Granny Killings. The police decided to not question Glover anymore, in fear it may scare him off. They kept a vigil at all times, as they furthered their enquiries into his background and history.

The "Essie" referred to in the suicide letter was Veronica Rolls, Glover's mother-in-law. It appears that Mrs Rolls had lived with her daughter and son-in-law for thirteen years until she moved into a nursing home in 1988. She died on January 21, 1989 in the home.

Glover's own mother had also died recently. She passed away on October 11, 1988. The weight of these deaths seemed to have been a catalyst for the Granny murders. It appears that he had hated his mother for leaving his father and re-marrying, and he also had a deep-seeded hatred for his mother-in-law.

Glover's employment with Four-and-twenty pies meant he was responsible for the entire North Shore area. He covered the areas involved in the murders.

But now police needed the hard evidence. Surveillance was set-up and police watched as he would stop time and time again. Police decided to use a new tracking device that was currently being trailed, with permission from Four-and-twenty they had the Quiktrack device fitted to Glover's vehicle.

When police returned to ask further questions about assaults at a few of the nursing homes in connection with Glover, one receptionist interviewed stated that she was in fact John Glover's wife and he had denied all the allegations. She also said she would tell her husband that police were questioning people about him. Detectives knew then that they needed to move a little quicker now, they feared that he may now quieten down until the heat leaves.

But this was not the case. Fours days after their talk with Mrs Glover on March 19, 1990, police tracked Glover all over Mosman and Balmoral. At 10.30am he stopped his car, fixed his hair, put on a tie, gabbed a briefcase and entered a dwelling. Police first assumed that he was meeting with his solicitor, but stayed in wait.

Later in the afternoon, two boys attempted to also enter the property, when they found the gate locked, they went and got a neighbour to help them to no avail. A dog inside the premises was barking. Something was wrong.

Using the dog as a reason to investigate police went to the door to question the occupant about the dog's noise. The door was locked, so they went to the rear of the property and through a glass door could see a hammer and what looked to be blood on the carpet of the front landing.

Police then forced the front entry to investigate. The body of Joan Sinclair was found just inside the door. Near the body was a bloodstained claw-hammer. Mrs Sinclair's head was wrapped in a towel and her lower clothes had been removed. Again her pantyhose were tied around her neck.

Detectives knew they needed to still be careful, Glover must still be in the house. He was found in the bathroom. He was semi-conscious and naked in the bath. Glover was vomiting and moaning, his face was partially submerged in the water. Paramedics were called, who declared Mrs Sinclair dead and then treated Glover for alcohol and drug overdose.

Glover was moved to Royal North Shore Hospital and placed under police guard. Mrs Sinclair's post-mortem report stated she had suffered multiple head wounds from a blunt object - the claw-hammer found at the scene.

Though there were many dissimilarities between the Sinclair murder and the granny murders, there was enough evidence to suggest they were all linked.

In hospital on March 20, 1990, Glover was briefly interviewed about the murders of the six women and the attempted murder of Mrs Cox. Glover admitted to committing each murder and the attempted murder. Later that day Glover was formally charged with the murder of Mrs Sinclair and they made arrangements for further interviews on his discharge from hospital.

On March 28, 1990, Glover appeared at the Glebe Coroners Court where he was formally charged with 14 offences: 6 counts of first degree murder, 1 count of attempted murder, 1 count of robbery with wounding, 1 count of robbery, 4 counts of indecent assault and 1 count of assaulting a female.

On Friday November 29, 1990 Glover was found guilty on all accounts and sentenced to prison for the term of his natural life. Glover showed little emotion as Justice Woods passed sentence.

Bibliography:

The North Shore Murders Taskforce file

Photos of the murder scenes coming soon

Case written by Korey Sifuentes