The Murder of Rachel McLean

Oxford, April 1991. English student Rachel McLean vanishes from
the house she shares with friends, mid-way through a weekend of
exam revision. Her tutor calls 999. Her boyfriend — a
British-born New Zealander named John Tanner — tells detectives
he last saw her at Oxford station chatting to a mystery stranger.
He gives a detailed description. He fronts a televised appeal. He
plays the grieving boyfriend to perfection. But police soon
discover that the ‘stranger’ is a figment of his imagination.
And, by the time they arrest Tanner, Rachel’s body has been found
under the floorboards of her home. Forensic psychologist Kerry
Daynes traces a case that changed the way Britain looked at
controlling relationships, and asks what Tanner's later New
Zealand conviction — for serious violence against another partner
— reveal about a man who has always insisted he simply 'snapped'
as a result of provocation. Listen now to The Profiler with Kerry
Daynes.


Key psychological themes


This episode explores: coercive control disguised as devotion •
the psychology of the manufactured appeal • jealousy, possession
and staged grief • the 'crime of passion' myth • the pattern of a
serial domestic abuser


Contributors featured in this episode


•     Kerry Daynes — Forensic
psychologist, presenter, and author of Dark Side of the Mind and
What Lies Buried.


•     Catherine Houlihan — Then a young
reporter with the Oxford Mail; covered Rachel's disappearance and
the trial.


•     Colin Sutton — Retired homicide
detective; expert commentator on the original investigation.


•     Rod Chaytor — Veteran crime
correspondent (ex-Daily Mirror); covered the case throughout.


•     John Tanner — In archive footage
of the 1991 press-conference appeal for information.


What you'll learn in this episode


•     Why Rachel's disappearance
immediately struck detectives as ‘out of character’.


•     How Tanner's 'man at the train
station' story unravelled.


•     The polished press-conference
performance that made Colin Sutton uneasy from the very first
viewing.


•     Where Rachel's body was found, and
how the forensics at the house pointed straight to the person she
loved.


•     Why Tanner's later New Zealand
convictions aren't a coda to this case — they're confirmation of
who he always was.


•     Kerry's reframing: why 'crimes of
passion' are more accurately called crimes of possession.


Relevant links and further reading


•     Kerry Daynes — Dark Side of the
Mind (Endeavour, 2019)


•     Kerry Daynes — What Lies Buried
(Endeavour, 2021)


•     Faking It: Tears of a Crime
(Warner Bros. Discovery) — some interviews first featured here.
Watch on discoveryplus.com.


•     BBC News archive — contemporary
coverage of the Rachel McLean investigation and 1991 trial.


•     Support — Refuge • Women's Aid •
Suzy Lamplugh Trust • Victim Support


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Visit theprofiler.co.uk


For an exclusive filmed interview with Kerry Daynes on the cases
behind the series — including on the McLean investigation — visit
theprofiler.co.uk. Sign up to the mailing list for weekly news
and updates from Kerry. 


Credits


•     Presented by Kerry Daynes


•     Produced by Shearwater Media


•     Executive producers: Jeff Anderson
and Steve Anderson


•     Editing and Music by Rob Warner


•     Edit Assistant: Kay Homan


Content note


This episode contains descriptions of the murder of a young woman
by her partner, references to strangulation, and discussion of
serial domestic abuse. Listener discretion is advised. If you
have been affected by the issues raised, support is available
from Refuge (0808 2000 247), Women's Aid, and the Samaritans (116
123).


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