19/02/2024
In April 1991 our Vice President went missing.
I was a first-year history undergraduate at St Hilda’s College, Oxford University. The college VP was a second-year English student; she’d come back early from her Easter break to study for the term ahead. Her housemates were unaware that her boyfriend had killed her in anger (she declined his proposal of marriage) and concealed her body in their house. They had believed his anxiety at her absence; answered his phonecalls as he pretended to be asking if she had returned; been puzzled by police suspicion about him as he seemed as distressed as they were.
His attempts to cover his tracks and lay false trails were unsuccessful and, when her body was found, he confessed. He served his time… was released in due course and has since been imprisoned again for assault on a new partner.
Today, I returned to St Hilda’s to teach a personal safety workshop to female undergraduates as part of our work for VPAM UK (Violence Prevention and Management). It can sometimes be difficult to communicate the reality that, for most women, the danger is not the hooded predator in the alleyway … it is the one you love; the one already inside your personal space; the one already inside your head. In this case, the story of Rachel McLean was a stark lesson in this reality and we spent our time working on identifying potentially dangerous behaviours and individuals and learning how to manage boundaries and support peers who may be at risk of coercive/controlling relationships. There was no kicking or punching; no palm strikes or even eye gouges. Instead, we looked at potential safe interventions or distractions when friends are arguing; ways to manage authority figures who are making you uncomfortable and mitigations for unsafe student social behaviour.
Really good to meet some of the current students and to discuss such important topics with them.
Rachel Margaret McLean (1971–1991) was a British student at St. Hilda's College in Oxford, England, when she was murdered by her boyfriend, John Tanner, a day after she had refused his marriage proposal. In the aftermath, Tanner concocted ruses in an attempt to allay suspicion, and elaborated a se...
