Jacqui Poole Murder Case

[SteveGrenard]

Keen’s Challenge

Chris French greatly exaggerates the amount of scholarship required for an impartial assessment of the Dorr-Lethe case, but I won’t press the point because all he has to do his explain away a much simpler case which I have been investigating with Guy Playfair: an Irishwoman is badgered by the voices of a recently murdered woman she’s never heard of. She provides the police with 125 specific statements about the deceased, the murder scene, and the personality, appearance, route taken, method of entry and name of the murderer. Apart from a few unverifiable statements, all but one proved correct.

We have examined all the original documentary evidence. Apart from a very few statements, all must have had a paranormal origin. The only issue is where the information came from – the dead woman or the minds of the policeman who discovered the body, the murderer himself and the woman’s family. The dead woman was Jacqui Poole, and the murderer, Pokie Ruark, was given a life sentence at the Old Bailey in August, 2001.

Any non-paranormal explanation?

Montague Keen
London

 

[SteveGrenard]

Youens Responds to Keen

Youens takes up Keen’s challenge (Letter in The Skeptic-UK, 16.2)

The case highlighted by Montageue Keen in the last paragraph of his letter (see The Skeptic 16.1) is a very interesting one, and superficially a paranormal explanation may seem the only credible choice. However, I believe an alternative account is possible. I’ll begin with a summary of the case.

The body of Jacqueline Poole, aged 25, was discovered on Sunday, 13 February 1983 at her flat in Ruislip. She had been murdered two days earlier on Friday 11th. According to newspaper reports at the time, she had been beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled in the lounge of her flat. There was no sign of forced entry and police thought it possible she may have known her murderer. More than 10 items of jewelry were missing , which the police were hoping would turn up and provide valuable clues. A later report said police believed the murder was premeditated.

One of the investigating officers, has written in The Police Magazine:

(http:www.polfed.org/magazine/12_2001/12_2001_ghost.htm)

about an interview he had with 22 year old medium Christine Holohan. According to Bartters, the medium provided a great deal of startlingly accurate information. She had been contacted by a dead spirit calling herself “Jackie Hunt” (Mrs. Poole’s unpublished maiden name). She gave accurate details abut the murder scene including “the victim’s position, clothing and injuries. Batters admits Holohan was not 100% accurate, but out of 130 points more than 120 “now seem to have been proved absolutely correct.” She gave information detailing the age and month of birth of the murderer, along with skin and hair colouring, number of tattoos and details of his previous convictions. However, even more remarkably the medium, via automatic writing, wrote down the name “pokie.” Eighteen years later
on Friday 24 August 2001 DNA technology finally helped convict the murderer, Anthony “Pokie” Ruark.

But there are other facts that could point to another, non-paranormal explanation.

The medium, Christine Holohan, lived within 10 minutes of the murder scene and she was of a similar age to the victim. Holohan has never repeated this success either before or after Mrs. Poole’s murder.

The information she gave to the police provided no new information. Ruark was in fact already suspected by the police. The one piece of information that could have been of enormous help to the police was the location of the jewelry and in this respect the medium was of no help. She was also incorrect when giving the time of the murder. At this point I can only guess at a possible explanation but I believe there is one that has more credibility than spirit communication from beyond the grave.

Suppose someone strongly suspected or perhaps even knew that Ruark was the murderer and wanted to get this information to the police without being traced back (possibly worried about retribution?). They could have passed this information on to a local medium who could then obligingly tell the police. But why not just send an anonymous letter? Well, perhaps Ruark was aware of that someone else knew the truth and would immediately put two and two together, but this way the police would not be likely to make public their source.

Was there someone who suspected Ruark and wanted to push the police in the right direction? Yes there was. According to The Times 25 August 2001: “Detective Chief Inspector Norman McKinlay was already investigating the murder, in which suspicion over Ruark was renewed by a call from a member of the public in 1999” (my emphasis).

This of course may not be the true explanation and we may well never know --- unless someone comes forward. Other explanations are also possible. The medium and victim were of similar ages, and may have had mutual friends, or Holohan may simply have overheard someone talking about what had happened. However, I believe my first hypothesis is most likely.

Finally we should not forget that ultimately it was a combination of a diligent investigation by the police together with recent advances in forensic science that ultimately got a conviction and not a ghost!

Tony Youens
Derbyshire

 

[SteveGrenard]

Keen's (first) Response to Youens

Reply by M. Keen (dated: Apr 24, 2003)

A brave but doomed attempt by Tony Youens. His confessedly superficial examination contrasts with the detailed inquiries which Guy Playfair and I made when interviewing both detectives and the medium and examining the original records.

Christine Holohan lived well over two miles away, not ten minutes walk. Her
sole inaccuracy was a reference to Saturday instead of Friday as the night of the
murder. Whether the experience has ever been repeated is irrelevant to the issue
of paranormality, but in fact, according to Batters as well as Holohan herself, it
has been.

Ruark had already given the police a persuasive alibi. He was no longer a suspect
when Holohan was interviewed. As for the supposed inability of the medium to
provide a clue to what happened to the stolen jewels after the murder: in fact a written
clue, considered meaningless at the time, was provided: details will have to await
publication of our full report.

The idea that Holohan had received her information from someone not wishing to
Iinform the police directly is another good idea blown away by the fact that she
would have had to receive the information from five separate sources who were either
unknown to one another or mutually hostile, and included the murderer himself!
the police would hardly have been ignored of such an elaborate web had it existed.

The case was reopened in 2000 because another person, not Ruark, has been
accused of the murder. Advances in DNA technology enabled Ruark’s discarded
pullover, rescued by Detective Batters, 18 years earlier, to pin the crime. It was
Holohan’s uniquely detailed evidence, plus a spontaneous psychometric “reading” which
produced three strikingly accurate pieces of personal information about one of the
detectives, that so impressed Batters and prompted him to ransack Ruark’s dustbin
and retrieve the fatal garment. Without it the case would have collapsed.

Holohan produced a large number of statements, the accuracy and relevancy of which
cannot be attributed to any normal function. Premature judgment based on inadequate
first-hand knowledge and selective evidence is unwise.

Montague Keen

 

[Ed]

Steve, I'd call the Irish washerwoman a suspect. That aside, is there a verbatim transcript of the statements?

It seems, so far, that we have anecdotes. Where are those police reports? Are they not confidential? How was Keene able to get to them? If he could can not we, as well?

 

[SteveGrenard]

E-Mail from Youens to SG

I'd like to take this opportunity to clarify a few things.

The sequence of events regarding letters and replies goes like this. M. Keen issued a challenge for sceptics to give a non-paranormal explanation regarding the Jacqui Poole murder case. Chris French invited me to respond as he knew I had looked into it. Keen has now replied to my letter which will presumably be published in the next issue. Having had a preview of Keen's reply I am in the process of replying once more. Chris French will then allow Keen to come back with the final word.

"Stumpy" is indeed a serving UK police officer. As far as I know there is no big deal over his identity which will soon be apparent. After (but not prompted by) my first letter he contacted me and we have worked together on the investigation ever since.

As it turned out our reply was rather lengthy for a letter so what we propose to do is publish our material on the Internet and then I will give a somewhat briefer reply to Keen's response in The Skeptic. One reason for taking this approach is because Keen and Playfair are publishing their findings following peer review. In addition to Tony Batters kindly allowing me to see his notes we (i.e. 'Stumpy' and me) have, between us, spoken to DCI Norman McKinlay and ex-Superintendent Tony Lundy and I have to say IMHO the supernatural explanation is looking decidely weak.

All the best,

Tony
<http://www.tonyyouens.com>


cc: Chris French and M Keen

 

[SteveGrenard]

Steve, I'd call the Irish washerwoman a suspect. That aside, is there a verbatim transcript of the statements?

It seems, so far, that we have anecdotes. Where are those police reports? Are they not confidential? How was Keene able to get to them? If he could can not we, as well?

Playfair, Keen and now Youens have talked with and presumably have viewed the documentation you mention above. This will be given in more detail in Playfair and Keen's paper. However, Ed, Tony Youens and our friend Officer Stumpy are looking at these documents from the skeptical viewpoint so I am afraid for now you will have to rely on their playbacks. Obviously pages and pages of handwirtten notes in police notebooks cannot be offered in original form to a mass audience here at JREF's forum.

I understand your reaction. How could the medium have alleged to have given so much information without being involved? I thought of this as well, if not as the actual perpetrator but perhaps someone who came to the scene, perhaps at the invitation of the Ruark, later. However since she shopped Ruark to the police, I would wonder why he wouldn't implicate her in return. Even now. Actually this points up an interesting side issue which is why mediums who deal in this area are in a precarious position and the few who go public are probably phonies
or yes, involved somehow giving them intimate details. Barring a normal explanation still others may not come forward because they are rightfully paranoid they will somehow be implicated.


I would think Holohan would've thought herself as playing a dangerous game if she were involved and use the medium's ruse to give her information.

 

[Stumpy]

Hi Steve

I think it is important to establish "the facts" before we get into this.

Can you clarify (via M.KEEN) what "original records" have been examined (typed or handwritten) and when these records were made? Is Keen referring to the original case papers compiled during the investigation?

Can we agree that the statement ".....that so impressed Batters and prompted him to ransack Ruark’s dustbin
and retrieve the fatal garment" is erroneous? Do we agree that Batters did not recover any items of clothing during the enquiry?

best wishes

Stumpy

 

[SteveGrenard]

Stumpy:

Tony Youens says above that Batters allowed you and him to see his notes. Presumably these would be the same notes.
In which case you saw them. In fact, obviously, I have not.

Steve

edited to add:

I cannot agree to anything regarding recovery of the pullover. You would have to ask Batters that question.

 

[Lord Kenneth]

A Google search on Jacqui Poole turned up nothing relevent.

 

[CFLarsen]

Steve,

So, you have nothing to back this up? Zip? Zilch? Nada?

Did you honestly think that anyone would buy your tale?

Same old ◊◊◊◊ from you...

 

[Cleopatra]

I take for granted that the "original documentation" includes a detailed investigation of whether the medium was with anyway connected with the victim and her environment.

But of course since there is nothing available we cannot check that.

 

[Ed]

Dunno. I think that if a copper in the US went around sharing his notes there would be hell to pay. Again, one cops notes are only a part of an entire investigation. I wonder if this can really go anywhere.

 

[CFLarsen]

It's the usual crapola from Steve and his cronies. Rumors, allegations, anecdotes, hyped-up claims...it never amounts to anything else than self-aggrandizement.

 

[SteveGrenard]

Lord Kenneth:

A Google search on Jacqui Poole turned up nothing relevent.

I agree there is very little out there on the internet beyond the links given in the above posts, plus of course, the following backgrounders which are pasted from Yahoo's UK site. Although not exactly "nothing" they shed little additional light on the case other than we already know from the above links and correspondence between Keen and Youens:

Telegraph | News
... is very gratifying to be able to help Jacqueline's family to ... After seeing the only murder case he failed to solve ... he said he was pleased for Mrs Poole's family ...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/08/25/ndna25.xml more results from this site

BBC News | UK | How science caught up with killer
... Jacqueline Poole was strangled. ... Mrs Poole's husband Malcolm later remarried and moved away from London. But he is said to be delighted that her murder has been ...
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1459056.stm more results from this site

Psychic News New Age Tiscali
... Through her Jacqueline Poole was able to point the finger ... to convict Anthony Ruark of murder, as tiny ... Recollecting her involvement in this case Christina said ...
www.tiscali.co.uk/lifestyle/newage/features/murder.html

THE FORENSIC SCIENCE SERVICE
... the Metropolitan Police find the killer of Jacqueline Poole, who was ... Dr Jonathan Whitaker had revisited evidence from the murder using more ... This case shows the ...
www.forensic.gov.uk/forensic/news/press_releases/2001/24-08-01.htm

Observer | Gone but not forgotten
... responsible for putting away Anthony Ruark for the murder of his lover, Jacqueline Poole, 18 years earlier. McKinlay started reinvestigating the case on his ...
observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4606535-102280,00.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If nothing else they verify the existence of the case which seems that those not familiar with it wish to dispute.

 

[Cleopatra]

The case might be verified but look what the first link--Telegraph News-- that you provided say :

A MAN who got away with murder for 18 years was jailed for life at the Old Bailey yesterday, thanks to advances in DNA technology.

( bold face mine)

You provided evidence that an old case was solved thanks to Science and not because a medium provided the Police with important info.

 

[Lucianarchy]

The story starts when Christina was about 12 or 13. “I was looking into cups and seeing things and thinking it was all quite normal and that everyone could see what I could.


“I soon discovered while on holiday in the Isle of Man that I was indeed different and that I had a gift, granted only to a few. I saw death in the cup of a 16-year-old girl who within two hours was notified of her mother’s death.


Eighteen years ago in 1983, Christina was living in a quiet place in England, called Ruislip Gardens, with her sister, Mary. She was working as a medium/psychic when the news broke of the murder of Jacquie Poole.


Jacquie (25) had been raped and strangled. Christina, like everyone in the area, was shocked at the tragic death of Jacquie. Christina never knew Jacquie notwithstanding the fact that she lived only ten minutes by bus away from where Jacquie lived and worked.


Within days of the murder Christine explained: “I became aware of a spirit trying to come through and as I was trying to earn a living I used my guide to hold back the spirit but she was very insistent and agitated “I was asleep one night and felt the blankets being pulled violently and when I awoke it was to find that my blanket was on fire, I had left the gas fire lighting, a dangerous thing to do.


“There was no one in the room only me so I knew that someone had saved me. I asked was Jacquie present and the light flickered and I agreed to allow her make contact.”


What followed for Christina was the most horrific journey she had ever taken. Jacquie showed me “her last moments on earth, every detail was shown as if in freeze frame shots, like watching a film, nothing was left to the imagination. Jacquie pleaded with me to bring her murderer to justice”.
http://archives.tcm.ie/carlownationalist/2001/09/17/story109.asp

 

[SteveGrenard]

The case might be verified but look what the first link--Telegraph News-- that you provided say :

( bold face mine)

You provided evidence that an old case was solved thanks to Science and not because a medium provided the Police with important info.

If you read the correspondence of Keen as well as Youens' response you will see that no one disputes the fact that Ruark was brought to justice and convicted on the basis of DNA technology and not the medium's word for it. This is a case where the murderer was not caught and convicted for 18 years until such technology became available in spite of a medium's report to the police describing the details of the murder and the name of the perpetrator. The police dutifully recorded the medium's report but could not and did not act on it in either charging or trying to convict the perpetrator. Yes, it took the DNA evidence (not available originally) to do that.

 

[Cleopatra]

I wonder why the papers that refer to Tony Lunby and his house in Spain mention nothing about the above...

 

[SteveGrenard]

Lundy is retired from the police and lives in Spain.

 

[CFLarsen]

Steve,

Why do you post these claims of purported paranormal assistance in criminal cases, when your own links disproves you?

Telegraph | News
... is very gratifying to be able to help Jacqueline's family to ... After seeing the only murder case he failed to solve ... he said he was pleased for Mrs Poole's family ...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/08/25/ndna25.xml more results from this site

"A MAN who got away with murder for 18 years was jailed for life at the Old Bailey yesterday, thanks to advances in DNA technology."

Not a peep about any psychic.

BBC News | UK | How science caught up with killer
... Jacqueline Poole was strangled. ... Mrs Poole's husband Malcolm later remarried and moved away from London. But he is said to be delighted that her murder has been ...
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1459056.stm more results from this site

Not a peep about any psychic.

Psychic News New Age Tiscali
... Through her Jacqueline Poole was able to point the finger ... to convict Anthony Ruark of murder, as tiny ... Recollecting her involvement in this case Christina said ...
www.tiscali.co.uk/lifestyle/newage/features/murder.html

Detective Constable Tony Batters, who interviewed Christine and was the first officer at the scene of the crime, stated: Over a period of an hour and a half to two hours she went into a series of trances and she gave us information. The one common denominator was that it was all known only to the victim.

'I thought she was reading my mind because she described the scene exactly as I'd found it. She gave a completed reconstruction of how the victim was lying, what she was wearing and what her injuries were.

She gave us information about jewellery that was stolen and unusual things such as the victim wearing two of a number of rings. There was an extraordinary amount of detail. She was adamant she was only receiving information from the victim.

In fact out of the 150 specific details she provided, the only discrepancy was that she gave the wrong date for the crime, an easy mistake to make at the best of times.

If the psychic only told things that were known to the victim, how come the psychic didn't know the time of death?

If the psychic could give a complete reconstruction, how come the psychic weren't a primary suspect?

If all this was so precise, how come it was never used in court?

But, as always, stories like these have an explanation:

"Feature taken from Psychic News"

Ah.

THE FORENSIC SCIENCE SERVICE
... the Metropolitan Police find the killer of Jacqueline Poole, who was ... Dr Jonathan Whitaker had revisited evidence from the murder using more ... This case shows the ...
www.forensic.gov.uk/forensic/news/press_releases/2001/24-08-01.htm

The Forensic Science Service played a crucial part in helping the Metropolitan Police find the killer of Jacqueline Poole, who was raped and murdered in her own home in London in 1983.

Not a peep about any psychic.

Observer | Gone but not forgotten
... responsible for putting away Anthony Ruark for the murder of his lover, Jacqueline Poole, 18 years earlier. McKinlay started reinvestigating the case on his ...
observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4606535-102280,00.html

Not a peep about any psychic.

If nothing else they verify the existence of the case which seems that those not familiar with it wish to dispute.

Huh? There is not a shred of evidence in these links that a psychic has helped solve any crime, Steve. What is your point, then?

The police dutifully recorded the medium's report but could not and did not act on it in either charging or trying to convict the perpetrator. Yes, it took the DNA evidence (not available originally) to do that.

So, they didn't believe her, even though she gave information that only the victim could have known? Do you understand the implications of that, Steve? Gross negligence on behalf of the police.

Keen’s Challenge
....
Any non-paranormal explanation?
....
Montague Keen
London

Errr....yes, Monty: SCIENCE!!