Dennis McGrory

2 offences

What the court heard

He was found guilty (retrial) of murder and rape in Islington, north London, on 2 June 1975. Sentencing Remarks of Mr Justice Bryan 1. Dennis McGrory, you have been found guilty of the rape and murder, some 47 years ago in in 1975, of Jackie Montgomery, a 15 year old child, and niece of your former partner Josie Montgomery. I must now sentence you for these abhorrent crimes. 2. Jackie was found lying on the floor in the ground floor living room of 119 Offord Road London at around 02.15am on 2 June 1975. She had been fatally stabbed with a knife through her heart, and through her stomach and liver. There had been an attempt to strangle her with the cord of an iron which was still wrapped around her neck. She had a burn on her leg. There was a scene of disarray. The phone was off the hook, a chair was overturned, there was a lock of pulled hair three feet from her body close to her discarded tights and knickers. Her blood-stained diary (with part of a page ripped out of it bearing the address at which Josie had recently been staying) also lay nearby. Her skirt was pulled up, as was her jumper. She was on her period and a used sanitary towel lay close to her body. She had clearly been murdered, and the circumstances strongly suggested that her murder had been preceded by her rape but, in 1975, the post mortem did not yield the evidence to justify such a charge. 3. You were the prime suspect for Jackie's murder from the start. Her aunt Josie had recently left you due to your violence towards her, and you had even more recently learned that she had started a sexual relationship with another man, and even worse than that, he was a close friend of yours. You were enraged, and desperate to find Josie to inflict violence upon her. You were also willing to inflict violence upon anyone to extract information as to Josie's whereabouts. Jackie was just such a person, and what is more, you had an unreciprocated sexual interest in her. 4. In interview you denied that you had any sexual interest in Jackie, consensual or otherwise, you denied attending 119 Offord Road the previous day, and you denied murdering Jackie. In the light of the circumstantial evidence against you, you were charged with Jackie's murder on 15 July 1975. 5. On 26 January 1976 (when you were 28) you stood trial at the Central Criminal Court before Mr Justice Melford-Stevenson and a jury for the murder of Jackie. At the close of the prosecution case, which was largely based on circumstantial…

Around this case

• Prosecuted by Crown Prosecution Service
• Investigated by Metropolitan Police Service