John Wayne Glover

John Wayne Glover (26 November 1932 – 9 September 2005) was an English-Australian serial killer convicted of the murders of six elderly women (aged from 60 to 93), over a period of 14 months from 1989 to 1990. The victims included Winifreda, Lady Ashton, widow of the English-Australian impressionist painter Sir Will Ashton, in suburbs located in Sydney's North Shore. Given the advanced age of his victims, after Glover was arrested in 1990, the press nicknamed him The Granny Killer.

Following his arrest in 1990, he admitted to the murders and was sentenced to consecutive terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He died after hanging himself in prison on 9 September 2005.

Biography

Background

Originally from a working-class family in Wolverhampton, England, Glover was convicted of many petty crimes dating back to 1947, mostly for stealing clothing and handbags. He left school at 14.

He served in the British Army but was expelled when these crimes were discovered. He emigrated to Australia in 1956 or 1957 with no qualifications.

He had a troubled relationship with older women in his life, especially his mother Freda (who had several husbands and many boyfriends). After 1968, when he married Gay Rolls

Murders

No proof has been found of Glover killing before 1989, when he was 56. At this stage, he had been married for 20 years with children, and his wife had no knowledge of his previous criminal offences.

Glover admitted to the killings when confronted with the police evidence. He denied responsibility for other crimes in which he was a prime suspect, including the bashing murder of 78-year-old artist Florence Broadhurst in her Paddington studio in 1977. A number of years after his conviction, Glover admitted that he never worried about who his victims were, or why he killed them. He said he wanted to stop killing, but could not. After each murder, he apparently went about his normal life.

Pre-murder offence

On 11 January 1989, 84-year-old Margaret Todhunter was walking down Hale Road, Mosman, where she was seen by Glover. After parking his car, he walked up to the victim. He punched Todhunter in the face, and stole the contents of her purse, including $209. Glover went to the Mosman Returned Services League (RSL) club, where he spent Mrs Todhunter's money. Investigating police concluded the crime was a mugging and held little hope of finding the perpetrator.

Gwendolin Mitchelhill

On 1 March 1989, as Glover left the Mosman RSL in Military Road, he saw 82-year-old Gwendolin Mitchelhill walking down the street. Glover returned to his car and put a hammer under his belt. He followed Mitchelhill to the entry foyer of her Military Road apartment building. As she went to open the front door, he hit her with the hammer on the back of her head. He continued to strike her about the head and body, breaking several of her ribs. Glover fled the scene, taking her purse containing $100. Mitchelhill was still alive when she was found by two schoolboys, but died shortly after the police and ambulance arrived.

The police had no eyewitnesses or leads and nothing concrete linked this attack with the previous attack on Margaret Todhunter. No forensic evidence was available, either, as well-intentioned neighbours, believing she had merely fallen, had washed the crime scene. The police assumed that it was another mugging gone wrong.

Lady Winfreda Isabel Ashton (Hoggard)

On 9 May 1989, Glover was walking along Military Road when he saw 84-year-old Lady Ashton, widow of English-Australian impressionist artist Will Ashton, walking towards him. She was on her way home to nearby Raglan Street. Glover put on a pair of gloves and followed her into the foyer of her apartment, where he attacked her with his hammer. He threw her to the ground and dragged her into a rubbish bin alcove, where he repeatedly hit her head on the pavement. Glover recalled that she had almost overpowered him, until he fell on top of her and started to hit her head on the pavement. After he knocked her unconscious, Glover removed her pantyhose and strangled her. He placed Lady Ashton's walking stick and shoes at her feet. He left with her purse containing $100. Glover headed for the Mosman RSL, where he commented to staff that he hoped the sirens outside were not because of another mugging.

The police found Lady Ashton lying face down diagonally across the concrete floor of the small bin alcove. A pool of blood was around her head. The pantyhose was strung so tightly around her neck that it cut through the skin. Her bare legs were crossed and her arms were placed by her sides. She had a thin trickle of blood running out of her mouth. At this point, the police concluded they were facing a serial killer. To date, all three victims were wealthy elderly women, from the same suburb, and all were assaulted or killed in the same manner before being robbed of their handbags.

A post mortem examination was carried out and no sign of semen was found. The ligature mark around her neck measured 9 cm. She had bruises on her nose and temple, on her neck, and both her eyelids. At some stage during the struggle, she bit her lips, causing damage to the inner lining of her mouth. A wound was on her cheek, which was an open cut. A small, semicircular abrasion was a few centimetres away from it. The examiner noted the victim's diamond ring was still present, suggesting that she had not been killed for money.

Further offences

On 6 June 1989, Glover molested 77-year-old Marjorie Moseley at the Wesley Gardens Retirement Home in Belrose. The victim reported to hospital staff and police that a man had put his hand under her nightgown, but that she could not remember what the man looked like.
On 24 June 1989, Glover visited the Caroline Chisholm Nursing Home in Lane Cove, where he lifted the dress of an elderly patient and fondled her buttocks. In a neighbouring room, he slid his hand down the front of another patient's nightdress and stroked her breasts. The woman cried out for help and Glover was briefly questioned by staff at the hospital before leaving.
On 8 August 1989, Glover assaulted the elderly Effie Carnie in a back street of Lindfield, on Sydney's upper North Shore. According to her, the attacker was a young man, possibly a teenager or skateboarder. Cox assisted police with an identikit drawing, but again, the scene had been cleaned by neighbours before investigators arrived.

Margaret Pahud

On 2 November 1989, Glover approached 78-year-old Lane Cove resident Dorothy Beencke while she was walking home in a quiet back street, just off Longueville Road, Lane Cove (about 10 km from Mosman). Glover engaged her in conversation, and offered to carry her groceries home for her. Beencke invited him inside her house for a cup of tea.

Trial

Glover's trial commenced on 19 November 1991 . Glover pleaded not guilty to his crimes on the grounds of diminished responsibility. A psychiatrist said Glover had built up hostility and aggression against his mother since his childhood. This continued against his mother-in-law, who was said to "trigger" him. When she died, he had to take out his aggression on someone else.

The psychiatrist who studied the case added that Glover's was a very unusual case because few serial killers exist, and most of them are mentally ill, and/or have an organic disease of the brain; Glover was assessed as sane at the time of the murders. Dr. John Shand, a psychiatrist testifying at the trial , said Glover had a severe personality disorder.

"Confession" sketch

Days before Glover killed himself, he handed his last outside visitor a sketch of a park. Glover noted two pine trees in the image. In the middle of the right pine tree, the number "nine" could be seen between leaves and branches. The number nine is said to represent either the total number of murders or the number of unsolved murders committed by Glover.

Unsolved murders that may have been committed by Glover include: where he was held in a maximum-security prison cell.

In May 2005 Glover collapsed in his cell and was placed on suicide watch after telling prison officers "I've had enough – I want to kill myself." He was examined by a mental health review team, and monitored by closed circuit television. He was also given medical examinations as a follow-up to the two cancer surgeries he had undergone the year before.