Ronald Jebson
 |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page Ronald Jebson contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
|
Ronald Jebson, born Ronald Harper, (August 1938 - 17 April 2015) was a British child molester responsible for the 1970 abduction, rape and murder of 11-year-old Susan Blatchford and 12-year-old Gary Hanlon, and the 1974 abduction, rape and murder of eight-year-old Rosemary Papper, the latter of which was an act of revenge against the victim's parents. The murders of Blatchford and Hanlon remained unsolved for 30 years before Jebson confessed while serving a life sentence for Papper's murder.
Biography edit
Jebson was born in Hertfordshire in 1938 as Ronald Harper. He was born out of wedlock, and was put up for adoption by his mother as an infant due to the social taboo on births out of wedlock. His adoptive parents changed his last name to Jebson.
Jebson's first sexual offence was when he was 15, when he was convicted of exposing himself to a young child. After his release he was arrested several more times for sexual attacks on children, and by 1970 had an extensive criminal record for crimes ranging from petty theft to rape. His most recent conviction was for luring a six-year-old girl, a daughter of acquaintances, into his bathroom and molesting her. He had been released after three years on 2 March 1970, a mere 29 days before the murders of Blatchford and Hanlon.
On 31 March 1970, Jebson was driving home from a job interview in Enfield, North London, when he encountered Susan Blatchford and Gary Hanlon. He lured them into his car and gave them drugs and alcohol before driving to a copse in Epping Forest, where he had constructed a hide from willow branches to molest children. Inside the copse, he began attempting to remove Blatchford's clothes; when she resisted he ripped her clothes off, beat her, raped her and then strangled her to death while kneeling on her ribs. Hanlon, not understanding what was going on, asked Jebson if he could go home. Jebson shouted "You're going nowhere!" before slapping him to the ground and raping him while strangling him. He left both bodies in the copse, where they were found on 17 June. By this time the bodies had decayed enough to destroy most forensic evidence, rendering the coroner unable to identify a cause of death. Investigators believed they were murdered but could not prove it.
Jebson, as a registered sex offender who lived in the area, was interviewed in relation to the deaths. He provided an account of his whereabouts on 31 March, part of which, his interview at the job centre, was corroborated; however, his account of his movements after the interview could not be verified. He was arrested eleven days after the murders for luring an 11-year-old boy into his car and molesting him and was sentenced to five years imprisonment, served at HMP Wandsworth.
Jebson was paroled in 1973 and moved to Hatfield, where he befriended Robert and Maureen Papper. He concealed his convictions for child molestation from them, but Maureen Papper became suspicious because of his behaviour around their six children. When confronted, Jebson angrily left the house, swearing "I'll do something you'll regret. I'll get even!". Shortly after, in June 1974, Jebson abducted the Papper's eight-year-old daughter Rosemary from school and dragged her to a field, where he raped her and strangled her to death while raping her again. He was interviewed the next day and quickly confessed. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 20 years.
In 1996, Jebson, serving his sentence at HMP Wakefield, contacted authorities claiming to have information about the so-called "Babes in the Woods murders". He claimed to be a witness to the murder, alleging that Robert and Maureen Papper had lured Blatchford and Hanlon into his car where Robert Papper had raped and killed them. His claims were investigated and quickly discarded as untrue.
Two years later, on 24 August 1998, Jebson called a nearby police station and admitted that he was in fact the killer. He was interviewed and gave a detailed confession to the murders. The bodies of the victims were exhumed in order to verify Jebson's story. Blood on Susan Blatchford's ribs was determined to be consistent with injuries sustained from Jebson kneeling on her stomach as he described in his confession.
Jebson was formally charged with the murders in 2008. He pleaded guilty, received two additional life sentences and was sent to HMP Frankland to serve his sentences. He died of kidney failure on 17 April 2015, having signed a Do Not Resuscitate order after being admitted to hospital.