Page 47 of The Angel Maker

The beliefs of Deus Scripsit—“written by God”—involved contested readings of the Bible and more esoteric aspects of theology. These revolved around the notion that God is eternal (i.e., situated outside of time itself) and therefore sees the past, present, and future of our world simultaneously. Since every moment already exists before God, it follows that whatever we do is preordained and inescapable. Moreover, to attempt to do otherwise should be viewed as a terrible sin. The sect was notable for its extreme puritanical leanings and strict physical punishments.

The family of three left the community in June 1915 for reasons that remain unclear and moved several miles away to a cottageclose to the village of Dree, where it is believed they continued to practice the religion in which Jack was raised.

Contemporary accounts of Jack’s early life describe an odd, neglected child. He would often be seen walking alone during the night, wearing ragged clothes and talking to himself. During his brief time at a local school, there were incidents where Jack entered what appeared to be a fugue state, during which he spoke to someone or something not present. Following these incidents, he would be seen writing furiously in the notebook that rarely left his side. Teachers expressed concerns over both his behavior and marks on his body that appeared consistent with beatings and whippings, at which point Jack was removed from classes and homeschooled. No further interventions by authorities were made.

As a grown man, Lock showed little aptitude for pursuing a particular career. He was unemployed for several years, although he had notable success as a gambler. During this period, he also became notorious for the sermons he would deliver on the streets of Dree. No record of the speeches survives, although secondhand accounts suggest they were performed with a degree of fervor and conviction that listeners found disturbing.

ELAINE BELL

Lock married Elaine Bell on July 16, 1932, following a whirlwind romance. According to Bell’s acquaintances, Lock courted her with a confidence that belied his standing, claiming the two were destined to be together. Bell was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, and the union was frowned upon by her family, who viewed Lock as being an eccentric of poor character and low social status, although they continued to support the couple financially.

KNOWN VICTIMS

The first known victim of Jack Lock was Winnie Bowers, age eight, who disappeared from her street on April 13, 1949. The girl’s older brother gave an account of a man he had seen speaking to his sister, whose description was later matched to that of Jack Lock.

Three further abductions followed, this time without witnesses. The remains of Winnie Bowers, Joan Lessing (age seven, abducted June 15, 1951), Maureen Godling (age eight, abducted May 11, 1953), and Jean Kilner (age nine, abducted October 19, 1954) were discovered buried on the Lock property.

ARREST

The attempted abduction of Ann Harrison, age ten, occurred on March 6, 1956. On this occasion, Jack Lock’s attempt to kidnap a child was interrupted, culminating in him fleeing and being chased down by a mob. Lock was savagely beaten by the crowd before being taken into custody. Upon arrival at Lock’s house, officers discovered the body of Elaine Bell in the kitchen, and then the remains of the previous victims.

According to contemporary accounts, two boys were found alive in the property. While there was no official record of their births, they were believed to be the sons of Jack and Elaine. The children were rehomed, and due to the nature of their upbringing, their subsequent adoption records were ordered to be sealed.

Katie leaned back in her chair, considering what she’d read so far.

Dree was an area just north of the city. Given the number of victims, she was surprised not to have heard of Jack Lock before now. She would have expected him to be well-known locally, even if spoken of in hushed tones and whispers. Then again, it was possible these crimes had beencommitted too long ago to have resonance in the modern day. Or perhaps the explanation was even simpler than that—that some people were so terrible that they needed to be forgotten. That for the community to hang on to Jack Lock’s memory would leave it bruised and traumatized, locked in a state of horror from which it was impossible to move on.

Which raised the question: Why had Chris been interested in him?

While her little brother was a stranger to her in many ways, one thing Chris had always been was sensitive, and she couldn’t imagine that changing. That sense of fragility and vulnerability was baked into his DNA, and this was exactly the kind of real-life material she thought he would recoil from.

So what was the interest here?

Wasthere even any connection at all?

But she was only about halfway down the article. She turned her attention back to the screen and scrolled down, reading further.

TRIAL, CONVICTION, AND DEATH

Jack Lock laughed openly during his trial, in a display that attracted disbelief and derision from the men and women assembled in the courtroom.

Lock claimed that it had been revealed to him he would commit the murders, and that he had been compelled to carry them out, as to do otherwise would have been to refute the orders of God.

“My life was set in stone before my birth,” he told the court. “As was yours. The difference between us is that I have been purified and my path has been revealed to me.”

A number of pieces of writing were discovered at Lock’s manor house that gave a full account of each child’s murder, including descriptions of their abductions and graphic details of their deaths. Lock’s contention in court was that he had written these passages in advance, when the future had been revealed to him.

The prosecution offered the more obvious explanation, which was accepted by the court. The accounts had been written after the murders had been committed and were now being used by Lock to justify his vile crimes.

Lock was found guilty of the murders on May 8, 1956, and sentenced to death. At the conclusion of the trial, the judge in charge of proceedings was visibly upset, and ordered the postmortems on the children to be sealed due to “the unrivaled depravity” of what had been done to them.

Lock laughed again during his sentencing—“so hard that his body shook”—and appeared indifferent to the judgment of the court.

“God has tested my faith,” he called out. “Through his tongue, he revealed my path—all of our paths—including the monstrous things he intended for me to do. He expected me to falter and fail. But my faith is strong. I knew I had to carry out his plans. To disobey him would have been a blasphemy far worse.”

On the morning of September 28, 1956, Jack Lock was found unresponsive in his cell. He was pronounced dead later that day. He had slashed his wrist with the nib of a fountain pen. Despite a comprehensive investigation, it remained a mystery how the item came to be in his possession.

POSTHUMOUS LEGACY

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