Jack Crawley: Security guard who murdered army veteran and tried to kill man he met on Grindr is jailed
A security guard who murdered an army veteran and tried to kill a man he met on the dating app Grindr has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 37 years.
Paul Taylor, 56, disappeared while driving from Scotland to England in October last year, with his remains later found in woodland near Carlisle, Cumbria, in May.
Jack Crawley, 20, was this week found guilty of murdering Mr Taylor.
Paul Taylor’s body was found months after his disappearance. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Crawley was also convicted of attempting to murder a second man with a hammer after they met through Grindr.
He was out on bail for the killing of Mr Taylor when he attacked the man in York, North Yorkshire, in January.
Crawley, from Carlisle, was sentenced on Wednesday to at least 37 years in prison for the murder. He was also handed a 15-year sentence for the attempted murder, which will run concurrently.
Mr Taylor, from Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, was last seen on 17 October 2023.
His blue Vauxhall Corsa was driven south to Carlisle that evening and was days later found abandoned in Langwathby in northern Cumbria.
Mr Taylor’s Vauxhall Corsa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Cumbria Constabulary launched a murder inquiry but did not find Mr Taylor’s body until May when Crawley, who had been arrested two months earlier, told police where to find him in the Finglandrigg Wood area west of Carlisle.
According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), attempts had been made to burn Mr Taylor’s body.
Senior crown prosecutor Katie Marsden said the CPS, Cumbria Constabulary and North Yorkshire Police joined forces – piecing together the forensic evidence, CCTV footage and phone location data to build a strong case against Crawley.
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During the trial at Carlisle Crown Court, Crawley had admitted manslaughter but denied murder. He claimed Mr Taylor’s death was the result of a car theft gone wrong.
A post-mortem examination showed Mr Taylor had been struck on the head at least 10 times. The victim also had two injuries on his left arm.
Mr Taylor had suffered multiple injuries. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
The CPS said: “A specific cause of death could not be determined due to the passage of time but is likely to have been caused by blows to the head.”
According to court reports during the trial, jurors heard how Crawley and Mr Taylor had met previously for sex, unbeknownst to the victim’s family and wife.
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During his police interview in relation to the attempted murder in York, Crawley claimed he was acting in self-defence when he hit the man with a hammer.
Following Crawley’s conviction, Mr Taylor’s family said their “lives and world were completely torn apart” by the murder.
In a statement released through Cumbria Constabulary, they described Mr Taylor as a “gentle and loving” husband and dad.
They added: “For many years Paul worked to protect his country giving up time being a husband and father. Now was the time for us to be that family unit and we grieve the loss of that and of our future.
“Losing Paul in these circumstances and the torment and hurt this has caused has been horrendous and indescribable.
“Paul will be dearly missed and he will remain in our thoughts forever.”
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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