Glasgow Crime: The horrific murder of a 10-year-old girl in park

Ten-year-old girl Christine Lee had been raped and strangled as she walked the short distance home from her grandmother’s house in Ballantay Road on Monday, February 12, 1990.

Her battered body was found lifeless under bushes in water in a notorious area of parkland known as the Pond by a search path of local people including both her father.

At the time Castlemilk was one of the city’s toughest housing estates, but also a close-knit community.

The killing of a child was rare and a major investigation was launched by Strathclyde Police to bring the man responsible to justice.

There was also the fear that the killer could strike again if he wasn’t caught quickly.

The headmistress of Christine’s school Braeside Primary Mary Francis, told reporters at the time: ‘’We are all numb. She was a pleasant child . . . well behaved.

“I have told her class that it has happened, and I cannot make it unhappen. I am keeping it low-key to keep panic and hysteria down.’’

It emerged that Christine had left her grandmother’s on the Monday to make the eight-minute walk to the home she shared with her mother, also Christine, and four siblings in nearby Machrie Road.

Christine’s parents were divorced but dad William remained in close touch with his children and saw them on a regular basis.

The man leading the murder investigation, Detective Superintendent John Wilson, said police had been told about Christine’s disappearance by her mother around 9.20pm that night. Her body was found around 40 minutes later.

Mr Wilson revealed how Christine ran daily messages for her grandmother after school, and on Monday afternoon she had changed into her play clothes and gone to her grandmother’s house as normal.

She had left there between 4.30pm and 4.50pm to return home.

It was while she was on that fateful journey that her killer struck.

‘’We have no sightings of the child after that,’’ said Detective Superintendent Wilson.

When Christine failed to return home for her evening meal her mother frantic with worry called other relatives to see if she was with them.

Friends and neighbours organised a search which quickly moved to the Pond.

Christine’s father was one of the group who found her body and he helped to carry her to the family home on Machrie Road.

Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was attempted by several people in a bid to bring Christine back to life.

However, the temperatures had dropped in the area that evening and it had also snowed lessening her chances of survival.

Christine was pronounced dead at Glasgow’s Victoria Infirmary – after being taken there by ambulance – and a murder investigation was launched.

Her body was barely 300 yards from her grandmother’s house, but police said the Pond was on a slight deviation from her normal route.

That made the detectives think that she may have been grabbed by her killer and taken there.

Because of the cold, it was not possible for the pathologist to determine the exact time of death.

Detectives then had the grim task of trying to trace Christine’s final movements in the hours between her leaving her gran’s house and the discovery of her body.

The police also revealed they were looking for some kind of weapon, but they did not reveal what it was or the nature of Christine’s injuries.

A few days later Christine’s divorced parents sat together at a news conference at Craigie Street Police Office in Govanhill to plead for public help in tracking down the ‘’beast’’ who killed her.

Mr Lee, 38, and his former wife Christine, 33, both fought back tears – united together in their grief.

They appealed for information, no matter how trivial, in the hope an arrest and conviction would bring ‘peace of mind’’.

Mrs Lee revealed she has not yet been able to bring herself to inform her four other children of their sister’s fate.

The children had instead been told “she has had a wee accident and would not be coming back”.

Mrs Lee also revealed that Christine was a very smart girl and had inexplicably not taken her usual route home.

She had been warned never to talk to strangers, and not to use the Pond as a shortcut.

Christine told how she hoped her daughter might still be alive, even after learning the body had been found in the park area.

She added: “I heard they had found my wee lassie at the corner. I was wanting to run down and see her, but I could not leave the house. I thought maybe she had passed out for a minute or two.

“I cracked up, I didn’t believe it.’’

Mrs Lee added: ‘’My daughter is gone and she will not be back.

“People with any information should come forward to the police and let them know. It would maybe give us a bit of peace.’’

Christine’s father, who described the killer as “very sick”, said: “She will not be back. I would like to say if anybody knows or is sheltering this beast who has done this to my daughter, I would like them to come forward.’’

Detectives said they were disappointed at the lack of sightings of Christine after she left her gran’s.

However, the poor weather conditions would have meant that fewer people were about at that time.

Mr Wilson also appealed to anyone who’d been in the Pond between 4pm and 10pm to come forward.

He described Christine as a loving and gentle girl who loved nothing more than spending time with and helping her grandmother.

She had been found exactly halfway between her gran’s house on Ballantay Road and the family home.

The police investigation used the then-fledgling science of DNA to track down the killer.

They were working on the basis that the man was local as anyone from outside the area would have stood out.

Eventually, a series of DNA tests on Castlemilk men identified a suspect, 19-year-old John Dowling, who lived in the same street as Christine’s gran.

In May, he appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court accused of raping and strangling Christine in the Pond and was remanded in custody.

Four months later he stood trial at the former High Court building Lanarkshire House in Ingram Street – now the Corinthian Bar.

The case was prosecuted by Gordon Jackson QC and Dowling was defended by Donald Findlay QC.

Dowling was described as being a “loner” with “learning difficulties” and would pass by the Pond a few times a day.

It was revealed in court that he had grabbed the 10-year-old off the street before raping and killing her and dumping her lifeless body there.

Dowling was found guilty by a unanimous verdict by the jury sand sentenced to life by the trial judge Lord Maclean.

It was the first murder trial in Scotland to use DNA to convict, but some rather less high-tech evidence also helped put away Dowling.

One of the prosecution team that worked with the police was Frank Mulholland, who went on to become Scotland’s Lord Advocate and is now a High Court judge.

Frank Mulholland (Image: Newsquest)

In an interview in 2016, he recalled his part in the Christine Lee investigation adding: “I personally interviewed all the witnesses that were in the park in a two-hour period of time before Christine’s body was found,

“My question at the end was always, ‘Is there anything more, even if you don’t think it’s important?’ and this one guy said he saw a distressed dog.”

It turned out Dowling owned a dog, so Mr Mulholland invited his witness back for an ID parade of dog photographs.

He added “The man correctly picked out Dowling’s dog and it was a fantastic piece of evidence,”

The successful use of DNA later inspired Mulholland to set up a cold case unit, as Lord Advocate, to review unsolved murders using this technique.

In the 32 years since the death of Christine Lee, there have been big improvements in housing and social conditions in Castlemilk.

However few people have forgotten Christine and the terrible crime that was committed against her.

In the same 2016 interview, Mr Mulholland said: “It was an awful case and made a mark on me – not to mention the devastation it caused to the family.”