How Glasgow police solved gruesome killings dubbed 'Jigsaw Murders'

The Jigsaw Murders of 1935 made headlines all over the world and even J Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI in the US, was impressed by the skills shown by city police.

It began with a gruesome discovery at a beauty spot near Moffat in Dumfriesshire.

A woman walking with her mother spotted a severed human hand in a stream, and, in a state of shock, she told her brother who came to the site to investigate.

Crowds gathered at the ravine where bodies were found (Image: Newsquest)

Distressingly, he also found a human head, wrapped in cloth, and other packages with body parts strewn nearby.

Local police immediately called the City of Glasgow force, and Detective Lieutenants William Ewing and Bertie Hammond travelled to Moffat the following day.

News travelled quickly, and the press called the case the Jigsaw Murders, as around 70 body parts were found in 30 packages.

There were two bodies, but fingerprints on one had been removed, so officers realised they may be dealing with someone who had medical knowledge.

Meanwhile, Detective Lieutenant Ewing discovered a newspaper report about a missing maid,  Mary Jane Rogerson, who worked for local doctor Buck Ruxton.

Dr Ruxton, who killed his wife and maid (Image: PA)

The 20-year-old had been reported missing by her parents. Investigations revealed Dr Ruxton’s wife, Isabella, had also not been seen for some time.

Ruxton was popular, and supportive of his local community – but digging deeper uncovered a history of abusive behaviour towards his wife.

Mary Rogerson and Isabella Ruxton (Image: PA)

He was arrested and City of Glasgow police found bloodstains in his house. They removed lampshades and medicine bottles, taking them back to Glasgow to compare fingerprints with those found on one of the bodies.

The specialist fingerprinting laboratory, set up in Glasgow in 1932, confirmed Mary’s identity, and the team was later praised by Hoover for their technique.

Meanwhile, Professor John Glaister of Glasgow University had the groundbreaking idea of superimposing family photographs of Isabella and Mary onto specially reconstructed images of the two dismembered skulls – the first time such a method had ever been attempted in the identification of murder victims.

The pioneering photographs (Image: PA)

The skulls and photos matched.

In another first, Glasgow-based entomologist Alexander Mearns used maggots found in the bodies to help establish how long they had lain in the open.

Eventually, the full story was told. In a jealous rage, Ruxton strangled his wife after she returned from a night out in Blackpool. Mary saw it happen, and so he killed her too.

He then cut up the bodies, wrapped them in newspapers and rags, and dumped them the next day.

The jury took less than an hour to find Ruxton guilty of both murders and he was hanged on May 12, 1936 at Strangeways Prison in Manchester.

The trial judge said the fingerprint evidence of the City of Glasgow Police had “proved the most damning of all.”

The case led to increased investment in forensic services, paving the way for every force in the UK to have fingerprinting and photography labs.

There was a final twist to the tale - despite the verdict, 10,000 people from Ruxton’s home town of Lancaster refused to believe he was guilty and signed a petition to save him.

However, they failed and a few days after his death, a Sunday newspaper published Ruxton's confession.

It read: "I killed Mrs Ruxton in a fit of temper because I thought she had been with a man. I was mad at the time. Mary Jane Rogerson was present at the time. I had to kill her."