- John Walker Turnbull
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John Walker Turnbull (18 May 1958 – 27 September 1999), was a Lance Corporal in the British 4th Royal Tank Regiment. He was the husband of the late Marion Jane Turnbull and the father of Aaron John Turnbull. He committed suicide after murdering his wife and the man she was having an affair with.
He was born in Durham, England, to British parents Jack and Jenny Turnbull. He was an apprentice welder alongside his father in his early teens. In his late teen years, he joined the British Army, and served for nine years. He left the British Army after his posting in Osnabrück, moving back to Kent with his wife and son, where he worked as a heavy goods vehicle driver. In 1996 he was involved in a severe road accident, in which a large truck attempting to avoid hitting an animal in the road collided with Turnbull's vehicle. He barely survived the impact but was pulled from under the truck resting on top of his vehicle by a passing road user. After a period in hospital and surgery in which Titanium plates were attached to fractured and broken bones, he underwent physiotherapy to regain partial use of a wrist, arm, leg and ankle that were badly damaged. Further surgery was performed in which the original plates were removed and replaced with permanent ones. During this time Turnbull became an avid supporter of the 'Shooters Rights Campaign' which sought to prevent the British ban on handguns, which eventually took effect in 1997 after the 1996 Dunblane massacre.
After a period of recuperation, in 1998 Turnbull became the Head of Security at Valence School for disabled children, where he worked until 20 September 1999. It was known that he left his job after discovering a love affair between his wife and a Mr. David Battle. On 26 September 1999 he arranged to meet with them both in the family home in Kemsing, Kent where he killed both Mrs. Turnbull and Mr. Battle with a shotgun. His son was staying with his Grandparents at the time. Turnbull later died on 27 September 1999 from a self-inflicted gun shot wound to the head on a hill near his home in Durham.
References
- "Love triangle leaves three dead", BBC News UK, September 28, 1999, retrieved January 1, 2006
- "Man kills two before shooting himself", Guardian Unlimited, September 29, 1999, retrieved January 1, 2006
Categories:- 1958 births
- 1999 deaths
- Murder in 1999
- Royal Tank Regiment soldiers
- Criminals who committed suicide
- British military personnel who committed suicide
- Suicides by firearm in England
- People from Durham, County Durham
- English murderers
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