Hi all, after having browsed this site for a few days after seeing it mentioned on other pages, I have just completed my registration.
There are so many things I wanted to comment on. This post will be long and all over the place.
I became deeply disturbed by this case around the second day, when I caught up on the news and saw Jill's beautiful vibrant smile and imagined her lovely Irish accent. Like everyone, I hoped that whatever happened she would return home. Watching her uncle speak on camera brought out tears that I was holding back til now. Such gentle people.
When the police started talking about a "homicide" investigation and "grave concerns", I sadly assumed they knew more than they let on and were preparing the public for the worst. Even so, I hoped it was all over quickly for her and she didn't suffer. I refused to let the thought of the Anita Cobby case enter my mind. I still can't comprehend how horrendous things can happen to the most beautiful of people. My mind just cannot process it.
In regards to the investigation, I believe there could be a lot of CCTV footage, given that police said they needed to sort through it all and be careful about what was released to the public.
IF this suspect has been involved in other incidents, it's possible LE may have been concerned even before the CCTV - perhaps they feared the behaviour was "escalating".
IMO the police released the footage to get enough witnesses to make an arrest. I believe they knew who they wanted early on, and just needed witnesses. Also, I think the police van set-up was not to allay fears, but for the police to be highly visible and accessible to potential witnesses. Obviously everyone on the street would have been talking about it, recalling seeing things in the past, and the police wanted to be in the thick of it.
If any young woman is reading this, some good advice that I once saw from LE on a TV article years ago: If you are attacked or held at gunpoint in a public place, never let yourself be taken to a second location. Make a scene. Do whatever you have to even if you fear you will be shot in front of everyone. Poor Jill seemed savvy and probably tried to do this, but we still don't know what went so horribly wrong. If she sensed danger I wish she had run out into the traffic that was constantly passing by (easy to say in hindsight). The most chilling part of the CCTV video is that she looks back just before following BH - and nobody passes the screen after them. I fear he waited for a gap in pedestrian traffic
One thing I've learned from this is to always report suspicious behaviour to the police. I almost had a rant on FB about the women who never reported BH incidents to police, when I suddenly remembered that I had been guilty of the same thing years ago, being menaced by creeps in another city and running away, only to not even THINK of reporting it.
Well done to LE for getting to the bottom of this so quickly. It's a horrendous outcome but at least the family has closure. I think of the poor Morcombes who battled for years and years to find out about their precious boy.
And well done to Tom for holding himself together so well in his public statement today. What an incredible man.