She was just walking home after a night out with friends but Jill Barclay never made it to her front door.
What happened to the 47-year-old mum-of-two on September 17 last year sent shockwaves throughout the local community and far beyond Aberdeen.
And the grisly discovery of her burning body was just the beginning of the horrific nightmare forced upon her family and friends, who are still coming to terms with the murder.
Only hours before her violent death, Jill had been on a high, seeing Adam Ant in concert at Aberdeen’s Music Hall.
After enjoying drinks with her close companions, Jill was killed less than a mile from reaching the safety and security of her family home.
She had been stalked as she walked alone in the middle of the night along Victoria Street in Dyce, where she’d earlier met her killer in the Spider’s Web pub.
Rhys Bennett, 23, cornered the vulnerable woman opposite the BP petrol station next to the roundabout where Stoneywood Road meets Victoria Street.
He assaulted Jill, raped and murdered her, then set her on fire, before fleeing the scene.
When news of her cruel demise began circulating, tributes started flooding in.
Describing their unimaginable loss, Jill’s loved ones said in a statement that she was “a deeply-loved life partner, mother and daughter”.
Friends added that she had “a heart of gold” and was “true to the core”.
And her employer, the energy firm Petrofac, described their proposals engineer as “much-loved and respected”.
Jill left behind a six-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter at the time of her heartbreaking death, as well as her partner Leon Grant, 49.
Some of those who knew her best have recalled how they thought of Jill as a “kickboxing ninja” because of her loyal visits to Endurance Kickboxing.
In an outpouring of compassion from her community, more than £27,000 was raised for Jill’s family through an online crowdfunding page.
Hundreds of mourners, between 300 and 400 of them, huddled together – many of them in tears – to pay their respects during a candle-lit vigil to remember the former Hazlehead Academy pupil.
The huge crowd had gathered in silence opposite the police cordon, where detectives and forensic investigators were tirelessly piecing together the events leading up to the tragedy.
It triggered a panicked response from Aberdeen’s residents, who wondered how safe they and their loved ones were on the city’s streets.
At the time, columnist Rebecca Buchan wrote in The Press and Journal: “Jill’s murder has shocked our city because you never expect something like that to happen here. But it did.
“While these incidents in our city are rare, rare is still far too often an occurrence.
“And, as a woman living in today’s society, I truly believe we shouldn’t have to go about our lives feeling fearful and vulnerable.”
March to demand safer streets
Hundreds of community safety activists, campaigners from women’s groups and ordinary folk formed a torchlit procession through the Granite City last November.
The Reclaim the Night event saw demonstrators marching through the city centre, demanding safer streets.
It was organised by Aberdeen Women’s Alliance (AWA) to unfold on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
During the course of the major crime probe, detectives investigating Jill Barclay’s slaying also had to contend with misinformation being spread on social media.
A WhatsApp message that was widely shared in the days after her killing appeared to detail the sequence of events leading up to the 47-year-old’s death.
But the message was riddled with inaccuracies and every person who forwarded the false contents of it was guilty of spreading the “upsetting” rumours even further.
It triggered a warning from the police who pleaded with the public to stop sharing the “incorrect information”.
‘I do believe it’s safe for women’
Commenting on the case towards the end of last year, Assistant Chief Constable Emma Bond said: “The murder of Jill Barclay was horrendous.
“Nobody should feel unsafe on our streets, be they female or male. I do believe it’s safe for women in our communities.
“We have very public statements about our commitment to violence against women and girls.”
But the results of a survey by the Press and Journal have revealed the possible scale of the potential challenge facing Police Scotland.
Approximately seven in ten survey participants (70.4%) – 69.4% female, 75.0% male – quoted a lack of visible police presence as a cause of them feeling unsafe.
A staggering 90% of women told the survey they feel that simply being a woman affects their personal safety in Aberdeen.
Also revealed was the worrying number of people who’ve experienced disturbing behaviour, most commonly in the city centre.
Stalking and unwelcome sexual advances
Around four in ten (40.9%) have been followed or stalked, with a similar number of 137 people being on the receiving end of unwelcome touching (40.7%).
And a total of 45.7% of survey participants recalled experiencing unwelcome sexual advances.
Around three-quarters of respondents (74.7%) – 82.7% female, 59.3% male – said they don’t feel safe while out in Aberdeen alone at night and drunken behaviour appeared to be the biggest concern.
The survey, which was carried out by DC Thomson’s in-house Insight team between December 9 2022 and January 3 2023, included responses from 452 residents or regular visitors to Aberdeen – nearly 63% identifying as female and just over 34% male.
Read more here:
Rhys Bennett pleads guilt to murdering and raping Aberdeen mum Jill Barclay.
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