A HOMOPHOBIC psychopath faces life behind bars after murdering a war hero with a mallet before mutilating and burning his corpse.
Jack Crawley, who was only 19 at the time, battered Paul Taylor to death in a frenzied bloodbath assault after luring him to a remote lane near Carlisle for sex last October 17.
North Yorkshire PoliceJack Crawley battered Paul Taylor to death in a frenzied bloodbath assault[/caption]
Paul Taylor went missing last October — before his corpse was discovered in May
Mr Taylor had been in contact with Crawley as far back as December 2022
The 56-year-old victim, from Annan, Dumfriesshire, suffered multiple blows to his skull that shattered it into hundreds of pieces before he was torched and dumped at nearby Finglandrigg Wood.
Two months after the slaughter, Crawley, from Carlisle, skipped bail to attack another gay man near York using carbon copy tactics to isolate his victim before smacking his skull with a hammer.
The body of married dad-of-two Mr Taylor – whose sexual interest in men was concealed from his family – was eventually found in a skeletal state in May.
Crawley, partly inspired by gay serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, denied murder and attempted murder at Carlisle Crown Court but was convicted, unanimously, after a harrowing two week trial.
A second man, 20-year-old Marcus Goodfellow, from Carlisle, was acquitted of helping Crawley get rid of Mr Taylor’s Vauxhall Corsa.
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 11 o’clock. You will be brought to court for that purpose.”
Crawley remains remanded in custody.
The court heard that Mr Taylor, a catering manager at Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, had been in contact with Crawley as far back as December 2022 using apps like Grindr and Fabguys.
On the night the Afghanistan and Falklands vet went missing, he’d gone to bed as normal before sneaking out of the family home in Annan and driving across the border for a midnight meet with Crawley.
At the same time, prosecutor David McLachlan KC said the killer had ‘murder on his mind’ and listened to a song called ‘Romantic Homicide’ in the hours before the death.
Mr McLachlan said: “The lyrics to this song include: “In the back of my mind I killed you, and I didn’t even regret it, I can’t believe I said it, but it’s true, I hate you”
Mr Taylor suffered an explosion of violence from the psycho before he was put in the boot of his own Vauxhall Corsa and driven a few miles west to Finglandrigg Wood, a childhood haunt for the killer.
Graphic images of the scene were shown to the jury revealing Mr Taylor’s wrecked skull in 35 separate pieces, with a further 230 pieces also discovered in the immediate area. Some of the skull has never been recovered.
Crawley set a fire with charcoal he had bought earlier but was only able to burn small portions of Mr Taylor’s leg and arm before the smell became too much and he gave up.
He dragged the body into a hollow and covered it with sticks and branches.
The following day, he took the car to Appleby, Cumbria to try and sell it.
But he crashed the motor in nearby Langwathby and had to get a pal to take him back to Carlisle.
On the journey back, Crawley seemed ‘giddy and excited’ and he spoke about Jeffrey Dahmer and ‘a man dying tonight.’
Meanwhile, police on both sides of the border began to look for Mr Taylor after wife Maria reported him missing – while his daughter Bethany texted her father saying ‘Please come home dad.’
Cops feared the worst after the discovered the boot of the Corsa was heavily bloodstained with evidence that more blood had been wiped clean from the driver’s door.
A month later, Crawley was arrested and a search of his home found a ‘murder kit’ with rope, duct tape and cable ties – along with a bottle of poppers hidden under decking with Paul Taylor’s DNA on it.
Despite bail conditions to stay in Carlisle, Crawley got a train to Glasgow on New Year’s Day this year and then went to Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
By January 4, he was seen at a Toolstation in York buying a hammer and had hooked up with another middle-aged gay man on Grindr.
The pair met at a remote spot where Crawley tried to murder the male with the weapon, before the victim was able to overpower him and grab the hammer off him.
Crawley fled again but was eventually arrested by Avon and Somerset Police in Bath, Somerset in February.
In May, he told his legal team where Mr Taylor’s body was and offered to plead to manslaughter – but that was rejected by the Crown.