The Glasgow crime story of the murder of Jean Campbell

Dressed in a black puffer jacket to keep out the cold, she led the dog from their first floor flat to the nearby Cranhill Park in Bellrock Street in the north east of Glasgow.

She was captured on CCTV entering the park at 10.30pm on Friday, December 13, 2013.

It was the last time she was seen alive – except by her killer.

Jean's battered body was discovered the following morning around 7.40am by her horrified husband John.

He had just finished a 12-hour nightshift in Glasgow with Network Rail where he worked as a production manager.

John, 55, had gone searching for Jean after returning home to find the lights on, and his wife and dog missing.

Attracted by the frantic barking of six-month-old Kai, John found her lying on muddy ground in a disused children's playpark in Cranhill Park.

Kai was trapped inside the play area because the gate was closed.

John immediately ran out into Bellrock Street and asked a taxi driver to summon an ambulance.

But following the arrival of paramedics she was pronounced dead. Jean, who was 4ft 11in and weighed six stone, had suffered 11 broken ribs, a fractured leg, bruising to her head and neck and a brain injury.

She had been battered to death with Kai's metal dog lead.

After realising Jean was only wearing her pyjama top and coat – her pyjama bottoms and a pair of flip flops were lying nearby – police immediately put the park in lockdown and sealed off the eight entrances and exits, CCTV footage was seized and hundreds of local Cranhill residents were questioned and asked if they had seen anything that night.

More than 80 detectives were drafted onto the case from as far afield as Edinburgh and Dundee.

A major programme of DNA-testing saw more than 1000 samples taken from around 600 houses neighbouring Cranhill Park.

Men, women and all children aged 12 and over were asked to give samples.

The area was home to large numbers of migrant workers, from Poland, Ukraine and Turkey, and they had to be traced and swabbed.

Such was the brutality of the attack, police thought her killer would have suffered injuries to their face or hands.

They may also have had dirt or grass stains on their clothing, which might have made a friend or family member suspicious at the time.

However, no one came forward.

As the days passed into weeks, without an arrest, concerns grew that the killer would strike again. Had Jean fallen victim to the rarest form of murder – an attack by a complete stranger?

One local woman said at the time: “Usually when something happens in Cranhill, you get whispers about it.

"Names of people involved get thrown up pretty quickly, even if it turns out that most of them are wrong.

'But with Jean's murder, there was just nothing. Nobody has any clue who did it.

"Nobody's pointing any fingers.

"That park was used as a shortcut day and night.

"It could be anyone."

CCTV footage from earlier in the evening showed Jean buying a newspaper and dog food from her local shop before walking Kai in the park.

Police then discovered she had actually walked the dog twice that night.

The CCTV showed she first left the flat at 9.47pm, returning home at 10.04pm before going out again less than half an hour later.

Detectives were unable to explain the repeat trip, especially as Jean was in the habit of going to bed at around 11pm.

At the time Detective Chief Inspector Colin Carey, of Police Scotland's major investigation team, said: "We don't know why she took the dog back out again so soon.

"By this time she was wearing her pyjama bottoms under a black three-quarter-length jacket.

"The fact she was dressed the way she was suggests she did not feel in any danger."

Jean had spoken to her husband around 5.50pm, shortly before he left for work. They never spoke again.

The couple had married in 1978 and went on to have a daughter Lianne, now 34, and two sons, David and 33-year-old John Junior.

Four years earlier, they suffered the trauma of losing David, then 24, who had fallen ill.

Kia was however said to be a great comfort and Jean would walk him day and night.

Another friend added: “Jean loved to talk. She would talk to anyone and they were instantly her best friend."

Could her natural friendliness have landed her in trouble?

Regardless police said Jean hadn't given into the killer easily.

"We think Mrs Campbell would have put up a fight and may have injured her attacker," added Mr Carey.

"I really do believe that there is someone out there who is either harbouring the person responsible or knows who is responsible."

Crimestoppers offered £5000 for information leading to an arrest and the case was featured on BBC Crimewatch the following April with actors doing a reconstruction of her last movements.

Then suddenly police got a breakthrough all such murder investigations need.

Local man 21-year-old Paul Ward had been seen near Cranhill Park around the time Jean was believed to have been attacked.

A neighbour had heard screams minutes before Ward arrived at her house to visit her son, but crucially there was no CCTV to show where he came from.

There was also no forensic evidence linking Ward to the assault and he had no sign of cuts or scratches on him.

Police obtained permission to bug Ward's home in the hope that he would say something incriminating. But despite having the house under surveillance for four weeks, he never spoke about the murder.

Nevertheless, police believed they had enough evidence to charge Ward with murder and he appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court in July 2014 where he was remanded in custody to await trial.

However, when the case was called at the High Court in Glasgow in February 2015, Ward was deemed unfit to stand trial for Jean's murder due to a psychotic illness.

Instead a hearing was held before Lord Matthews called an examination of facts, in effect a trial without a jury. The court heard that Jean sometimes shouted at and hit Kia and found the large dog difficult to handle at times.

The prosecution said Ward killed Jean because he was an animal lover and hated the way she treated her dog and claimed he had said: "How would she like it if I did that to her?'"

They also revealed that Jean was hit as many as 15 times with the heavy lead.

While on remand in Barlinnie, Ward was alleged to have told his mother in a taped phone conversation: "What happened to that woman might have been me."

CCTV footage played in court showed Ward walking towards his friend's house at nearby Crowlin Crescent at 11.06pm.

But crucially, there was no footage to show where he had come from. He could have come through the park and encountered Jean, but he could also have taken one of a number of other routes.

In his evidence John told the court he had walked towards Cranhill Park where his wife walked their pet and heard a dog barking.

He said: “Jean was lying for the most part face down. I turned her over. There was some leaves or dirt on her face, and I wiped that clear. Her body was still warm. Her legs were freezing."

In his summing up, Lord Matthews said the case against Ward was weak and none of the evidence presented by the Crown was compelling.

He found that Ward had not killed Jean and ordered that he should be detained at the State Hospital at Carstairs in Lanarkshire to allow him to be examined and given the appropriate medical treatment for his condition.

John was shellshocked as the judge's determination was read out in court and had to be comforted by family members.

Ward was later released from Carstairs and his care transferred to Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow.

He was discharged after further treatment in 2017 and went to live with his mum in the north west of the city.

Under double jeopardy laws, Ward could be brought to court again if new evidence comes to light.

At the time of his release in 2017, Jean's sister Edwina O'Farrell, 61, said the family were disappointed that he hadn't stood trial in front of a jury.

She said: “We were hoping he would have had a proper trial.

"Ward being released from hospital has come as a surprise.

"I was very close to Jean. I miss her, we all miss her."

Detective Chief Inspector Brian Geddes said: “The murder of Jean Campbell remains unresolved, however, as with all unresolved cases, it is subject to review and any new information about her death will be investigated."