A hospital security guard is facing a life prison term for murdering an army veteran and trying to kill another man with a similar weapon.
Married dad-of-two Paul Taylor was reported missing by his wife, Maria, on October 18 last year. She had seen him the previous evening laughing away watching television at their family home in Annan, Dumfriesshire.
Later that night, Mr Taylor left their address for what became a fatal meeting with Jack Crawley, then aged 19, at a secluded spot on the outskirts of Carlisle.
He was an exemplary catering manager at the city’s Cumberland Infirmary, where Crawley also worked, and described as a workaholic.
Carlisle Crown Court heard how Mr Taylor met men for sex and hid his double life from loved ones. He had both bought cannabis and previously engaged in sexual activity with bisexual Crawley, now 20, the pair communicating via gay dating app Grindr.
After Mr Taylor’s disappearance, a high profile missing person appeal and then a murder probe were launched by detectives. On May 1, Crawley disclosed to police that his body would be found at the wildlife watcher’s haven of Finglandrigg Wood, near Carlisle.
Officers found skeletal remains which were devoid of any internal organs and soft tissue. His corpse had been brutally burned and then dragged into a shallow hollow by Crawley, who used branches and sticks to hide them from view.
A pathologist concluded there were at least 10 powerful blows delivered to Mr Taylor’s skull which, a prosecutor said, had been completely smashed in.
So small were some bone fragments that they couldn’t be used in a painstaking reconstruction of that skull which was carried out by forensic experts. Some pieces, including a large section of cranium, were never found.
Further trauma injuries to Mr Taylor’s elbow suggested he may have tried to defend himself from attack. The left lower leg was completely detached from the rest of his body, reported the pathologist, who concluded the terrible injuries could have been caused by a claw hammer.
After Mr Taylor’s death, Crawley made failed attempts to sell his Vauxhall Corsa, which he later crashed and abandoned in the village of Langwathby, near Penrith, on the morning of October 19.
While being transported back to Carlisle, Crawley described a person dying being worse than (serial killer) Jeffrey Dahmer, and getting rid of one more rat.
Following his arrest by police, fright masks, rope, duct tape and cable ties were found in the bedroom of Crawley’s Sheehan Crescent home in Carlisle.
Stashed under decking was a bottle of popper containing Mr Taylor’s DNA, which was also found on his blood-stained car.
Detectives found Crawley had listened to a song called Romantic Homicide five times in the hours before he killed Mr Taylor.
A download of Crawley’s phone showed captured images of bug sweepers and signal blockers while his own device was switched on to incognito mode.
“The prosecution case is that this was a premeditated murder,” prosecutor David McLachlan KC has told a Carlisle Crown Court jury. “Jack Crawley had murder on his mind and carried out his plan by killing Paul Taylor.”
Crawley admitted manslaughter and denied murder, but was convicted, unanimously, by the jury of six men and six women today .
His claims of a carjacking gone wrong and trying to break up Mr Taylor’s body with a mallet after death and burning was blown apart by damning forensic evidence. He denied prosecution suggestions that he had a fascination with serial killers.
After his arrest in November on suspicion of murder and release from custody, Crawley later skipped bail from Carlisle.
He was seen around new year in Penrith, disguised and wearing what one train station worker described as an obviously fake Hagrid-style beard.
He travelled around Scotland before carrying out another attack in darkness on the outskirts of York on January 5. That victim was another homosexual man aged in his 50s. The pair had chatted on gay dating app Grindr for the first time earlier that day, and arranged to meet in York, just hours after Crawley had bought a claw hammer from a city DIY shop.
That second victim told a jury how Crawley struck him three times with a hammer during their intimate encounter. “He didn’t say anything,” he replied when asked about Crawley’s demeanour. “It was all very, very quick. He just basically wanted to hurt me. He was aggressive.”
He was injured but managed to wrestle the weapon from Crawley, who ran off and was later arrested in Bath.
Crawley denied attempting to murder that man but was convicted, unanimously, on that charge by jurors.
As the verdicts were announced, Crawley showed no emotion in the court dock.
Mr Justice Goose told jurors he agreed with their verdicts, and said he would sentence Crawley later this week. “You have now been convicted of the counts as the jury have found, and you are to be sentenced on Wednesday at 11am. You will be brought to court for that purpose.”
Crawley remains remanded in custody.
- A second man on trial, 20-year-old Marcus Goodfellow, of Greystone Road, Carlisle, was acquitted of helping Crawley dispose of the Corsa.
Mr Taylor’s family said their pain had been indescribable since his disappearance.
