At the time, everyone assumed that she must have committed suicide, though it was against her religion. They were also surprised that a caring mother would let her young son find her body, but they rationalised that she must have been suffering from depression and that this had affected her judgement. Everyone felt pity for the bereaved man and boy.
FURTHER VIOLENCE
But Andrew Hunter was essentially a control freak – and now that he was getting close to marrying Lynda, he showed his true colours and began to treat her badly. He even hit her in front of witnesses when she suggested that he needn’t attend Christine’s funeral. On a later occasion, he struck her in the face with an umbrella, and, during yet another argument, twisted her arm so brutally that she had to go to hospital. In February 1985 the violence escalated and she went to the police.
Still, the couple continued their love-hate relationship, though, unknown to her, he had a brief affair with another young woman, also a social worker, as he had a voracious appetite for sex.
Yet he too was troubled during this time and sought psychiatric treatment for depression. It’s clear that Lynda was also distressed as she began to rely on sleeping tablets and accidentally overdosed one night, after which she was hospitalised for a week.
Sadly, she listened to her heart rather than her head and decided to marry Andrew Hunter. On 1 November 1986, she walked up the aisle with him and vowed ‘till death us do part.’
A man who loved to be the centre of attention, he carried his Bible and wore full Highland dress. They honeymooned in Israel before returning to their Carnoustie home (near Dundee) where, Andrew Hunter boasted to acquaintances, they had sex every single day.
But by early 1987, he needed further sexual adventures and resumed his gay affair with the man he’d met in the sauna 10 years earlier. He also resumed his frequent sex sessions with prostitutes.
LYNDA’S MURDER
In August 1987, Lynda found out that she was pregnant. She was delighted to be carrying her first child, but Andrew Hunter was secretly appalled at the news. He already had a son, who Lynda had become stepmother to, and definitely didn’t want another. To make matters worse, Lynda began to suffer from morning sickness and felt equally off-colour throughout the day so no longer wanted sex.
On 13 August, the couple argued yet again and Lynda said that she wanted to go to her parents’ house, some 30 miles away, until she felt better. Andrew offered to drive her – and her 14-year-old terrier Shep – there in her car.
As they drove, it’s likely that Andrew Hunter mulled over his options. Even if Lynda stayed with her parents permanently, he’d have to support their child until it was 18, maintenance money that he’d rather spend on other women and, indeed, men. He’d also have to spent time with the new baby, or face the disapproval of his fellow Salvationists, time he’d rather spend with prostitutes.
Parking in Melville Woods, he reached for Shep’s lead and looped it around his pregnant wife’s throat, tightening it until she strangled to death. After carrying her body deeper into the woods, he hurried back to the car.
Hunter knew that Lynda went everywhere with her dog, so he could hardly bring the terrier home with him. After driving a few miles he parked and removed Shep’s collar before letting the dog out of the car. Driving on to Carnoustie, he parked the Vauxhall Cavalier several miles from the house then took the bus to Dundee, where he handed in an essay which formed part of his social work course.
When Lynda’s sister arrived to visit her in the afternoon, he said that they’d had a minor argument and that she’d gone to visit her parents. He seemed entirely at ease with the situation, even taking the other woman for a round of crazy golf. That night, he went to a work-related party until 11pm, when a colleague dropped him off outside his home.
ESTABLISHING AN ALIBI
By midnight, Hunter had left his house again and walked to the part of Carnoustie where he’d hidden his wife’s car. Donning a blonde wig so that he resembled her, he drove across the Forth Bridge, though he had to stop briefly to change a tyre. After driving for 300 miles, he parked the car on a double yellow line in Manchester and made his way home by train. He figured that police would find the car and assume that Lynda had left him and perhaps been car jacked. To establish an alibi, he bought his son a pair of trainers in Dundee that lunchtime, knowing that the receipt would give the date and time.
That night, at 7pm, he reported his wife’s disappearance to the police. They soon discovered her vehicle and were baffled as to why a pregnant woman with a career would suddenly leave Scotland for England. They questioned the deserted husband several times, commenting on how disinterested he seemed in his wife’s – and unborn child’s – disappearance, but the social worker glibly replied that he had trained himself never to show emotion. Detectives were sure that Lynda Hunter was dead, but, in the absence of a body, found it difficult to take their enquiries further, especially as Andrew apparently had an alibi, having been at his colleague’s party till 11pm and shopping in Dundee at 1.06pm the following day.
Convinced that he was in the clear, Hunter resumed having sex with his favourite call girls, even sleeping with one of his vulnerable clients, a heroin-addicted prostitute aged 22.
CRIMEWATCH
Fortunately the police were able to feature Lynda’s disappearance in a televised Crimewatch reconstruction and callers phoned in to say that they’d seen a distressed-looking Lynda in her car near Fernie Castle. The man driving the car matched Andrew Hunter’s description. Even more tellingly, a dog matching Shep’s description had been found wandering about in the St Michael’s area and had been put down as a stray.
Police now mounted a search of St Michael’s Woods and Andrew Hunter joined in, safe in the knowledge that he’d dumped Lynda’s corpse in Melville Woods, several miles away.
But time was running out for the social worker from hell. On 11 February 1988, a man walking his dog found Lynda’s badly-decomposed corpse, the lead which had been used to strangle her still knotted tightly around her neck.
Detectives went to tell Hunter the news, only to find him with his favourite 22-year-old prostitute. A day later, the girl was dead. A friend said that she’d probably taken a deliberate overdose of heroin as, months before, Andrew had been complaining about Lynda and the girl had said lightly ‘why don’t you just bump her off?’ then had felt guilty when the older woman went missing. But others wondered if Hunter had been afraid of what she’d tell detectives, and given her the fatal dose.
THE NET CLOSES IN
Aware that Hunter was looking increasingly good for Lynda’s murder, detectives were able to discredit his alibi, having found that it was possible to drive through the night to Manchester, return by train and still have 20 minutes to spare before going shopping for shoes.
On 1 April 1988, he was arrested and that summer went on trial at Dundee’s Bell Street court. The defence said that he was a caring social worker who had lost his first wife to suicide and his second to murder. The prosecution countered that he was a coldblooded killer who cared only for himself.
Witnesses testified that Andrew had been violent towards Lynda on several occasions and she’d told a friend that he refused to stay home with her now that she was pregnant and sometimes felt too ill to have sex.
Ironically, Shep’s collar played an important part in the trial as Lynda made sure that he never left home without it, yet it was found behind his basket, Andrew Hunter having thrown in there when he got home after abandoning the unfortunate dog. It meant that Hunter had been with his wife on her final car journey, a journey which had resulted in her death.
The jury took less than two hours to find the 37-year-old guilty and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. A subsequent appeal by the glib sociopath failed. For the next five years, Andrew Hunter served out his sentence in Perth Prison before dying there of a heart attack on 19 July 1993, aged 42.
CHAPTER TWENTY
MERCIFUL RELEASE
Most of
the biological fathers in the previous chapters have killed their children out of madness or badness. But occasionally a father murders his offspring to prevent them suffering further. Most of these parents also kill themselves.
SONNIE GIGG
Sonnie and June Gigg dedicated their lives to their severely disabled fourth son, Lincoln, who had been born deaf, dumb and diabetic as June had suffered from German measles during the pregnancy. Lincoln had the mental age of a three-year-old but the strength of an adult male. Though he went to a community centre near his home in Bristol during the day, the popular couple had no other respite care.
They would bathe, dress and feed Lincoln every morning and give him his insulin injection. During the night, they took turns keeping him company as he would walk around the house, unable to sleep. They also had to keep constant vigilance to make sure that he didn’t eat anything which would make his diabetes worse. Sonnie sometimes took Lincoln to the pub with him, but the younger man would often try to grab other people’s beer and would behave in an over-boisterous manner. The couple struggled to control their son as he was very strong.
Sonnie, a civil engineer, took early retirement due to ill health at the age of 60 and he and June continued to nurse Lincoln. Though he couldn’t express his feelings, they believed that he enjoyed spending time with his young nephew and nieces who were regular visitors.
In October 2007, June went into hospital for an operation. Though she at first appeared to be recuperating, the 70-year-old died suddenly. Sonnie, also 70, was understandably distraught. He and June were approaching their 50th wedding anniversary and had looked forward to many more years together. Equally overwhelming was the prospect of caring for Lincoln alone. (The couple’s other adult children and friends were happy to help, but Lincoln had always preferred being with his mum and dad. Now there would only be one person to sit up with the multiply-disabled man night after night.)
The future looked bleak to Sonnie Gigg and, the evening after his wife’s death, he put 39-year-old Lincoln and their two Yorkshire terriers in the car and deliberately drove it into the water at Sharpness Docks in Gloucester, drowning both of them and the two dogs. Friends and family later paid tribute to the Giggs through the local paper and on an internet tribute site.
ANDREW WRAGG
Andrew and Mary Wragg married in 1992. It was his first marriage and her second. They were a good-looking couple (she was a former teenage model) but the relationship was stormy from the start. He was 25 when they met but had already travelled the world as a merchant seaman and had an exemplary record. His parents and siblings were all equally successful. Mary had had a more difficult start in life but had rallied after being adopted by a caring couple.
In 1993, when she was seven months pregnant, the foetus was diagnosed with Hunter Syndrome. When the baby was born, the couple called him Jacob. Unfortunately he suffered from the early-onset type of the syndrome, which meant that he wouldn’t live beyond his teens. (Sufferers of late onset variety can live for 20–60 years, albeit with increasing medical problems, as a chemical build-up causes multiple organ failure and tissue damage.) By now, Andrew had joined the army and was working in the SAS Signals to some acclaim.
Later, when Mary was seven months pregnant again, they discovered that this foetus also had Hunter Syndrome so medics advised that she have a late abortion. This involved stopping the foetus’s heart in utero, after which Mary gave birth to it. This was an incredibly traumatic event and she would later say that she never fully recovered from it. Andrew was also deeply distraught and was given a compassionate discharge from the armed forces.
He set up a video business but this failed, leading to financial problems. Meanwhile, Mary had two miscarriages though the couple had a healthy son in 1998 whom they called George.
As Jacob’s disease progressed, he sometimes had breathing problems and almost died of pneumonia when he was six.
A FAILING MARRIAGE
In 2000, the Wraggs separated for the first time but reconciled within a year. They split up a second time and again reconciled. On one occasion, police were called to the house and Andrew was cautioned for kicking the front door of the house where Mary was living with the children. He alleged that she’d slammed the door on him.
Meanwhile, Jacob’s condition was worsening and, when Andrew was away doing security work, Mary was his main carer. It was a herculean task, especially as she was suffering from a kidney disorder and often felt unwell.
Whilst visiting Jacob in hospital, the Wraggs also saw various other child patients who were suffering and Andrew told another parent that, if Jacob ended up in unbearable pain, he would put a pillow over his head. Mary in turn told medics that, if Jacob’s condition worsened, they should not attempt to resuscitate him.
NO HOPE
By the time that Jacob was 10 years old, he was deaf and mute and could only stagger a few steps by standing on his toes. He was largely confined to a wheelchair. His hands had curled permanently into a claw-like shape, he was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe and his only way of communicating was by giving hugs.
On 19 July 2004, Andrew returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, during which he had witnessed various atrocities. He was shocked to see how much Jacob had deteriorated. His son’s illness was terminal and it was likely that he would soon become doubly incontinent. His joint contracture would also escalate and he would deteriorate mentally.
On 24 July, he looked into his son’s eyes and believed that Jacob wanted him to take action. (His mindset at this moment would be described during the trial as delusional.) After drinking heavily, the former SAS man told Mary to get their other son, George, out of bed and take him to her mother’s. She put the child, in his pyjamas, into the back of her car and drove to a lay-by, where she sat drinking wine from a bottle. Meanwhile, Andrew put a pillow over his sleeping son’s head. He would later allege that he phoned Mary in tears and said ‘I’ve done it.’
When Mary returned to the Worthing bungalow, Andrew was lying next to Jacob and cuddling him. She said ‘I hope you didn’t hurt him’ and he said that he hadn’t. He later added ‘He’s with Henry now, he’s asleep.’ (Henry was the name that they’d given to their dead baby.) They toasted the idea that Jacob was at peace.
Afterwards, Andrew dialled 999 and said ‘I’ve terminated my son’s life… so arrest me.’ An ambulance arrived and took Jacob, who was still breathing, to hospital but he died shortly afterwards.
ARREST
When police arrived, Andrew begged them not to judge him too harshly, saying that it had been a mercy killing. Interviewed, Mary admitted that, at times, she’d hated Jacob and wished that it was all over. She had the feelings of exhaustion and desperation that many full-time carers share and had been so fraught at one stage that she’d threatened to leave the boy on the steps of a residential care home if she wasn’t given more help.
Police found that Andrew Wragg was three times over the drink-driving limit and that Mary Wragg had amphetamines in her system. Cocaine was also found in the house. Both were arrested, but Mary was later released without charge.
COURT
During Andrew Wragg’s trial in February 2005, the jury was hopelessly deadlocked. A second trial took place in December that year at Lewes Crown Court. The prosecution alleged that Andrew Wragg had murdered Jacob for selfish reasons, because he no longer wanted to care for him. But the defence noted that he’d been a loving father, and witnesses backed this up.
By the time that the case went to trial, Mary had turned on Andrew and she told the court that he was a heavy drinker who avoided discussions about his son’s future. Andrew admitted this but denied that he was embarrassed by Jacob. He said that his son was facing a painful and undignified end. Several witnesses echoed this theme, saying that Jacob was so traumatised by his illness that he looked like a zombie and had become little more than a shell. In contrast, Mary alleged that he had been happy and comparatively healthy on the day that he died. But
a pathologist noted that Jacob’s respiration was so poor that he could have died from a chest infection at any time. Indeed, they would not have known that the boy had been suffocated if his father hadn’t confessed to it.
Andrew Wragg took the stand and said that Mary had known that he was about to put Jacob out of his misery, but Mary denied this. The judge believed Andrew Wragg’s version of events, noting that it otherwise made no sense for her to take their son George out for a drive in his pyjamas in the middle of the night. (Mary had said that she and Andrew planned to have noisy sex so she wanted seven-year-old George to stay at her mother’s house.)
On 12 December, the jury found the 38-year-old not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. They recognised that he’d been shell-shocked after returning from Baghdad and that this, plus his marital problems and the tragedy of his son’s terminal illness, had led to a state of diminished responsibility.
The judge said that there was nothing to be gained from taking his liberty and gave him a two year suspended sentence. Mary, now divorced from Andrew, said that she was incensed at the verdict. But Wragg’s father, Bob, a retired policeman, asked that the family be allowed to grieve for the loss of Jacob whom they had all loved.
DR ANTHONY PAUL
Seeing his family unravel due to chronic ill-health, this American physician killed both them and himself.
Parents Who Kill--Shocking True Stories of the World's Most Evil Parents Page 24
