Who is murderer John Taylor and where is he now?

FORENSIC evidence led police to John Taylor – a seemingly unassuming man with very little history of committing crime.

Their investigations would lead them into apprehending Taylor, who was hiding a sadistic double-life.

Who is John Taylor?

John Taylor was born in Leeds and lived in the Bramley area.

He worked as a parcel delivery driver and was divorced, living alone in a terraced house.

He was known in the area as “the pet man” having kept a number of dogs and ferrets, also selling pet food to locals.

Neighbours described him as an “ordinary man” and said that they felt he was somebody they could trust.

Taylor was said to have enjoyed hunting from an early age, and was known to locals as a poacher.

On numerous occasions Taylor was spotted hunting rabbits, pheasants and foxes near his home.

Taylor was once seen repeatedly stabbing a fox but nobody suspected the side to him that was to come to light in the search for missing schoolgirl Leanne Tiernan.

Did John Taylor murder Leanne Tiernan?

Tiernan, who was sixteen at the time, had been shopping with a friend for Christmas presents in November 2000, when they headed home.

She got off the bus in the suburb of Bramley, close to her friend’s home, where the two parted company.

Leanne then headed home, a journey she was never to complete.

West Yorkshire police undertook one of the biggest manhunts in their history, searching over 10,000 homes, 142 commercial properties, and draining a canal.

However, it did not bring them any closer to the whereabouts of the young girl.

Eight months later, near Otley on the border of West and North Yorkshire, Leanne’s body was found wrapped inside nine plastic bin bags tied up with twine.

Forensic analysis of the body led the police to Taylor.

The court case that followed was to uncover that Taylor attacked Leanne on a poorly lit woodland path, taking her to his home and killing her.

It transpired that he had stored her in a freezer for months before disposing of the body.

Where is John Taylor now?

Taylor was convicted of the abduction and murder of Leanne and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2002.

He was sent to HM Prison Wakefield, in West Yorkshire.

Following his arrest, police began a review of unsolved sexual attacks in the area.

Less than a year after his conviction, police convicted Taylor of a further two rapes from the 1980s, carrying another life sentence.

He was also found guilty of possessing an array of offensive weapons, further assaults, unlawful wounding and kidnap.

DNA testing linked him to the unsolved crimes and uncovered the full extent of his calculating, depraved nature.

Judge Robin Mairs said that Taylor had been responsible for a “20-year campaign of rape and sexual assaults against women and children, fuelled by a sadistic desire to inflict pain for sexual gratification”.

Taylor’s case was reviewed in December 2006, with Justice Openshaw setting a minimum term at thirty years before the killer can be considered for parole.