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Patrick Mullins
April 22, 2024
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A man’s empty boat is found miles away from his home. And when his body surfaces over a week later,
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Leanne Tiernan was a beautiful 16-year old teenager from the large city of Leeds, England, a place only about 170 miles north of Central London. On November 26, 2000, Leanne Tiernan went for a shopping trip in downtown Leeds with her 15-year old friend Sarah Whitehouse. The young teenage girls were last seen together around 4:50 p.m. that afternoon.
Photo Source: Wikipedia
Leanne’s friend Sarah arrives home and calls her friend, but was surprised to find out that her friend hadn’t returned. At approximately 5:20 p.m., Leanne’s mother decided to call her daughter’s cell phone and find out for herself why her daughter hadn’t returned home yet but got no answer.
At 7:00 p.m. that evening, Leanne’s mother decides that something is just not right and calls the local police department to report her young, beautiful daughter missing.
During the investigation and the intense search for 16-year old Leanne Tiernan, police knocked on more than 1,400 houses and 800 more along the route they believe Leanne took on her way home from the shopping trip. Police collected DNA samples from over 140 men in the area and executed 12 search warrants at various locations throughout the city of Leeds.
As the search for missing 16-year old Leanne intensified, the police received several tips and unconfirmed sightings of her as far as the towns Doncaster and Blackpool. All tips and reported sightings led them no closer to her discovery.
Months and months go by in the investigation, without any sign of Leanne. Her family, friends, and the public remain hopeful, until one terrible morning in August 2001. On August 20, 2001, a man named Mark Bisson was walking his two dogs in Lindley Woods when he came across the body of a young teenage girl, who was identified as Leanne Tiernan.
Photo Source: Commons (website)
Police discovered a leather dog collar around Leanne’s neck and the blag bag over her head. Police believed that the dog collar must belong to whoever was responsible for killing Leanne. Detective Constable Wilson, who was assigned to Leanne’s case, contacted every single one of the wholesalers who manufactured that particular leather dog collar and began asking for their records of sales to anyone in the Leeds area. He got a hit. One of the dog collars was sold to a man from Leeds, John Taylor.
Photo Source: Murderpedia
Police investigators began searching for any additional forensic evidence to tie John Taylor to the murder of Leanne Tiernan. There was no shortage of forensic evidence.
The mitochondrial DNA testing of the knotted hair found in the scarf came back as an EXACT, 100% match to John Taylor. Besides the leather dog collar purchase, and John Taylor’s hair on the scarf, the Forensic Science Service also examined the twine that was used to seal the green plastic bags found around Leanne’s body in hopes of discovering valuable forensic evidence. They came back as a match to the same twine found in Taylor’s home.
Let’s get to MY favorite part of the investigation, and what makes this story the first British murder investigation to use dog DNA profiling. When police recovered Leanne’s body from the dumpsite, they were able to collect several, tiny pieces of what appeared to be dog hair from her body and her clothing. The dog hair samples were shipped to a crime lab across the world, in Texas. Forensic experts in Texas tested the dog hair with the hopes of being able to create a partial DNA profile of the dog. To everyone’s surprise, myself included, scientists were actually able to retrieve a DNA profile of the dog!
Photo Source: iParker Forensics (website)
The overwhelming amount of physical and forensic evidence led to the arrest of John Taylor for the murder of Leanne Tiernan on October 16, 2001, nearly one year after the killing.
John Taylor pled guilty to the abduction of Leanne Tiernan in front of a judge in Leeds Crown Court on February 15, 2002. Several months later, on July 8, 2002, which was supposed to the first day of trial in the murder case, John Taylor pled guilty to the murder of Leanne.
John Taylor was sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for Leanne’s murder.
Episode Sources:
Murder of Leanne Tiernan Wiki
Crime and Investigation UK Website
Yorkshire Evening Post UK Website
About Forensics UK Website
Murderpedia
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