It was the closest Newcastle has been to a reign of terror. The elderly, especially, were petrified when five people were stabbed in 10 days. Eventually it became a murder hunt. The year was 1971 when a teenage couple, walking happily through Newcastle's Town Moor, spotted the body of a man lying in the grass. Within minutes the hunt was on for the killer or killers of 64-year-old Thomas Arthur Bairstow. Five days earlier Ada Carr, a 62-year-old of Barrack Road, was attacked by a young man with blond hair who tried to steal her handbag. She thought she had been punched, but later found she had been stabbed. The brave lady had shouted abuse at the lad and also called for help. The attacker ran off. The following night a retired ballroom dancing instructor, John Whiteside, 65, was near his home in Fenham at about 9.30pm when he heard people running behind him. He turned on being "thumped" in the back and found himself facing two young men, one with blond hair. "What's going on here?" he shouted. The youths looked surprised and ran off. The "thump" turned out to be a severe stab wound which led to him being admitted to the intensive care unit at Newcastle General Hospital. It was four days later when Thomas Bairstow was found lying dead on the Town Moor. He was a clerk at Reyrolles in Hebburn and had been returning home from a pub. He had had a couple of pints and staggered slightly. This was noticed by two young men sitting on a bench at the crossroads in the middle of the moor. They were the last men he was to see. Fourteen stab wounds were found on his arms and body, one of them severing an artery. As police arrived at the murder scene and floodlights were set up, officer with torches searched the immediate area and the next day more than 100 policemen, some using dogs, began a comprehensive search. Detectives were interviewing all known violent criminals and mental health hospitals were checked. A door-to-door team was set up separate from the murder room. Five days later, Percy Waters, 78, was stabbed while returning to his home in Heaton, but survived. "About 10 yards from my home I sensed someone was behind me. I turned and found two young men, one of them with his arm raised. "I moved my head and felt a blow on the neck. I started shouting and they ran off. I was bleeding severely." He staggered to a neighbour's house and his injury was found not to be serious. Less than two hours later, Rose Woods, a 59-year-old from Gosforth was walking home when she was approached by two young men. Immediately after they passed she felt a blow on the back of her neck. The men snatched her handbag and purse and ran off. Miss Woods was left with three stab wounds. At 12.15am the same night, two police constables saw two men walking down Church Road in Gosforth. They matched the description of the youths being sought and the officers took them in. It turned out that they were nurses, Kenneth Ernest Adamson, 21, and Edward Ferguson, 19. Both lived in Fenham. There was still wet blood on Ferguson's jacket. The two youths made statements admitting the murder and other attacks. The youths had told how Thomas Bairstow had put up a terrific battle for his life. "He was punching and kicking," said Ferguson. "So I stabbed him again." The shared the two pounds they took from his wallet and used the money to buy fish and chips and a bottle of pop. They said all the knife attacks were carried out for money and they were shocked when the victims fought back. They were under the impression when people were stabbed they would just fall down. Three or four years previously a hospital order had been made out against Adamson on the grounds of a psychopathic disorder. Adamson had previously been convicted in Newcastle, in 1967, for garage-breaking and sending threatening letters with intent to kill. Ferguson had been convicted of house-breaking. Ferguson was jailed for life at and Adamson was sentenced later at the High Court in London to indefinite detention in Broadmoor Hospital. | 
Tyne Bridge Publishing
