It was Wednesday, the 20th of March 1985, and Janet Maddocks, a 35-year-old social worker, had been in London to meet with her husband, Peter. They were separated but remained close friends and, on this particular day, had been to the cinema and a restaurant together. When it was time to return home, Janet waited at Euston Station for the train back to Birmingham and ended up catching the 9.02 pm, not realising the slow train would call at all intermediate stations. If she had waited mere minutes, a faster train was on its way, and she would have been home much quicker. She might have lived.
At 11.10 pm that night, Dennis Overton entered the same carriage Janet had at 9.02 pm, and an awful sight awaited him. The carriage was a blood bath all over the door, windows, seats, and floor. Now, it is essential to note that, at this time, train carriages weren’t like they are now; there were no corridors, and you couldn’t walk from one carriage to another. Once you boarded, you were trapped. Twenty minutes later, Paul Spindler boarded the train at Hampton-in-Arden station and was appalled by the scene. When the train pulled into Birmingham International Station, they reported it to William Wilson, a British Rail Chargehand. William, in turn, reported it to the British Transport Police, who met the train at Birmingham New Street Station.
As soon as the British Transport Police saw the inside of the carriage, they insisted the train was taken out of service. Someone had been seriously hurt, or worse, but who? And where had they gone?
Police Constable Alan Perkins of the Transport Police travelled on the 00.15 am train from Birmingham to London, watching and looking along the tracks in case there were any clues as to what had happened. Sadly, there was. PC Perkins discovered a woman's body lying between the tracks approximately 3 miles from Northampton Castle Station. The body was covered in blood, with her tights and underwear jammed around her ankles. There were no signs of life.
Soon after, PC Jennifer Tooze joined her colleagues, and they alerted the Northampton Police. DR Dela Haye Davies examined the woman's body and established that she was dead, more than likely through a vicious stab wound to the neck. In the area surrounding the body, the police discovered a handbag and a lady’s glove covered in blood, a pen, and a red bead. Later on, it would be established that money was missing from the handbag and two rings were missing from the body. There were no forms of identification on the body, but a photo was found in the bag. This photo was presented to the media, and the public began to put forward a name: Mrs Janet Mary Maddocks.
While the photo was circulated, Janet’s body was taken to Kettering General Hospital; here, she was formally identified by her husband, Peter and her father, Rex Goddard.
A post-mortem was conducted, with some genuinely awful findings. Please skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to read about them. The wounds were unimaginable. A stab wound to the left of her neck had gone straight through the internal jugular being and into the third cervical vertebrae. The knife had hit the spinal cord, causing massive haemorrhaging. There is a small blessing that this would have left Janet paralysed and unable to feel anything, hopefully before the next part of the attack took place. There were numerous stab wounds around Janet’s genitals. There was extensive bruising all over her body, and cuts were found on the back of her hands, possibly where she had tried to defend herself. Some accounts say there was evidence of sexual assault; others say there wasn’t. The official cause of death was recorded as haemorrhage and shock.
Police had been examining the carriage in great detail. Blood stains on the door window and palm impressions on the carriage door support. Possibly, the most significant discovery was a footprint in the blood on the floor. The print was of a size eight shoe, more than likely a high-top trainer. The left footprint was dominant, suggesting that the murderer had a limp. It looked like the full attack had happened on the train before Janet’s body was thrown onto the railway (doors could be easily opened on moving trains in 1985).
The case started to garner media attention, and witnesses began to come forward. One man, in particular, was mentioned a few times to police, a man who was seen acting suspiciously., He was described as young, around 5”6 tall and of medium build. His hair was just past collar length, a mousy brown with blonde streaks. He also had a noticeable limp and walked with the assistance of a stick.
Three witnesses were Elaine Smart, her boyfriend, Colin Morgan, and their friend Scott Bryce, who had encountered the man at Rugby Train Station. All four were sitting in the waiting room when Colin noticed bloodstains on the stranger’s trousers. Scott, who hadn’t seen, started a conversation with the stranger, and when the Glasgow train arrived, they boarded together. The stranger gave Scott £10 and asked him if he could grab some beers and sandwiches from the food car, which Scott did, and they shared. Whilst eating and drinking, Scott noticed blood on the stranger’s left wrist and questioned him, but his concerns were dismissed. The stranger said he had merely fallen out of a window (!) and hurt himself, leaving bloodstains over himself and his clothes. At Glasgow, Scott and the stranger went their separate ways. A man matching the same description had been seen at Milton Keynes station, boarding the carriage Janet would later enter.
After hearing this witness account, the police spoke to Thames Valley police to try and draw some connections; was there anyone on their records that may have a connection between Glasgow and Milton Keynes?
Shockingly, the results revealed a 15-year-old boy, Jack Roy.
Jack Roy, from Shaw Bridge Street, Glasgow, had visited Milton Keynes Police Station on Monday 18th March 1985; he had been arrested previously on suspicion of burglary, but the charge had been delayed. More tragically, his bail had been cancelled, but Jack Roy hadn’t received the letter in time. If he had known his bail had been cancelled, he would never have been travelling on the train the day he murdered Janet.
Jack Roy was now the number one suspect and was wanted to ‘help with enquiries’.
At 7.30 a.m. on Thursday, 21st March, Jack Roy arrived at the house of Joanna Henderson, where his father, Jack Roy Senior, was staying. Joanna immediately noticed that Jack Roy Jr’s clothes were covered in blood and that the boy looked visibly shaken, almost frightened. He was carrying his hi-top trainers in a carrier bag, drenched with blood. He also had a human bite mark on his left thumb. Joanna questioned him immediately, but Jack Roy Jr claimed three men in London had attacked him; they had been trying to get hold of his portable radio. Joanna didn’t believe him and said, ‘You look as if you have committed a murder’.
Jack Roy Sr came downstairs, and Jack Roy Jr repeated his story about being attacked. I am assuming he believed him (after all, why wouldn’t you believe your son?), and he took his clothes to soak them and scrubbed the trainers with a nail brush to try and remove the blood stains.
Later, Joanna noticed blood on Jack Roy Jr.’s feet and, unnerved, asked both father and son to leave. On the 26th of March, they left the house, returning to a flat on Shawbridge Street where Jack Roy Senior lived. On the 28th of March, detectives arrived at Shawbridge Street and saw Jack Roy Jr. They spoke to him. He told them he had been in Milton Keynes, returning to Glasgow via train, before voluntarily accompanying them to Craigie Street Police Station. Before leaving, the police searched his property and removed some clothes, a walking stick, and a bone-handled knife.
Once at the police station, Detective Sergeant Crichton and Detective Constable Traynor asked Jack Roy about the murder of Janet. Jack Roy admitted to being in the same carriage as her and had watched as two men hassled her; he had tried to intervene but had been knocked unconscious. When he awoke, the carriage was empty. After telling this story, Jack Roy started crying, saying that he had lied and that Janet had jumped from the train carriage. It didn’t take long before he admitted to trying to steal Janet’s handbag before stabbing her in the neck, using the bone-handled knife the police had found in the flat. Jack Roy was arrested and escorted to Campbell Square Police Station, Northampton.
The following day, Jack Roy repeated the same story about stabbing her but then said he had thrown her from the train afterwards. He denied that he had stabbed her more than once and pulled down her tights and underwear.
On Friday, 29th March, at 5.25 pm, 15-year-old Jack Roy was charged with the murder of Janet Maddocks.
Jack Roy
Jack Roy was born on the 7th of October 1969 in Glasgow. His mother split from his father when the child was a year old; she remarried, and Roy lived with her and her new husband. Roy’s attendance and behaviour at school were pretty terrible, and he was just ten years old when he started committing crimes, such as theft and disorderly behaviour. Following another robbery in 1982, a care order was placed on him, and he was ordered to stay in The Orchard Assessment Center, Aylesbury. Roy wasn’t happy being confined to the centre, and he ran away, committing ABH and violent robbery before being placed into secure accommodation. Yet again, he escaped and in 1983, he stole and attacked a 67-year-old woman, resulting in him being moved to a secure unit in Little Heath Lodge. In 1984, Roy was sent to Glasgow on the condition he attended Kenmure St Mary’s School.
The now 16-year-old Jack Roy, charged with the murder of Janet Maddocks, appeared in front of Judge Bush at Northampton Crown Court, County Hall, Northampton. He pleaded Not Guilty, but the trial was abandoned after the defence counsel claimed Roy was taking LSD. The retrial occurred between the 14th and 21st of January 1986 at Birmingham Crown Court in front of Judge Otten. Despite, once again, pleading Not Guilty, the jury was unanimous in their Guilty verdict. Roy was sentenced, and Judge Otten declared him to be ‘evil and callous’, stating ‘the first blow reduced her to a rag doll, and she was paralysed and unable to offer any further resistance, and then you lowered her clothing and deliberately attacked her private parts’.
Jack Roy was released from prison on licence in 2005. By November 2006, police and social workers who had visited him strongly recommended he be returned to jail as he would likely pose a real threat to the public, especially women. He was caught and placed back in prison within the week. As far as I can tell, he remains a danger to society and is behind bars.
Since Janet’s tragic death, train carriages have become easily accessible with corridors to prevent anything like this from happening again.
Thanks for reading; take care of yourselves, and I will see you next time.
Hi! I spend a lot of time writing for the website and I basically exist on caffeine and anxiety - if anybody would like to encourage this habit, please feel free to buy me a coffee!
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