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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