Julie
Jones grave (? to 27th June 1998)
In the summer 1998 a man
walking his dog in Ancoats in Manchester found the
nude, battered and decomposing body of Julie Jones. She had been murdered and
the killer has not been found. Here I am by her grave.
Julie had grown up in Abergele
in Wales and had been a smart, athletic and well-liked student. When she was a
teenager her parents separated and she moved to Bury in Greater Manchester with
her mum. She eventually gave birth to two sons - Dale in 1985 and Josh in 1995.
Without direction she was absorbed into the world of cheap easily accessible
drugs. At 32 she was living in Ancoats in Manchester
with her sons and a housemate. Living on the fringes of society and becoming
addicted to the drugs she was desperate for fast money. She started selling her
body from the streets of central Manchester.
On Saturday 27th June 1998 she made
her way to the city centre as usual. She was known by other prostitutes who
witnessed her getting into the cars of many customers that night. She was last
seen getting into someone’s car on Minshull Street.
At some point that night or in the dark hours of the next morning she was
murdered.
The killer wrapped her up in a roll of carpet and
dumped her under some bushes by an old derelict market hall in what was
Smithfield Market in the northern quarter (now a trendy restaurant area.) The
next day Julie did not return home and her housemate began to get worried. She
reported her friend as missing but another week passed before a man walking his
dog made the gruesome discovery. Police reported she had been beaten and kicked
so severely that her ribs and internal organs were crushed. Firstly they
thought she had been hit by a car or fallen from a great height.
The murder has been difficult to solve as Julie
saw quite a few customers on the night she disappeared. The police’s Cold Case
team are still investigating this murder and have collected DNA evidence that
would now convict the killer. There still remains a £50,000 reward for
information leading to the conviction of her killer.
Here I am by Julie's grave on a warm sunny day.
I’m sure her sons - who will now be in their thirties and forties - must visit
a lot. They were brought up by Julie’s mum Teresa and all three must wanted
answers and justice. None came and Teresa died (outliving both her daughters)
without knowing who killed her daughter. They're all united together here.
Another woeful, unresolved tale. I did a salute and left.
Julie was last seen on Minshull Street in
central Manchester...
