She had a family (parents, two siblings) and a wide circle of friends. She lived alone, in a small top-floor flat in one of the older houses on the outskirts of Clifton.
Note: some potential here? An obsessive Twitter troll taking matters too far? Discovering a taste for stalking and killing fat women?
Jessie dressed for attention. She dyed her hair jet-black, was always well made-up and wore stylish, attention-grabbing clothes. Big and beautiful seems to have been her mantra.
The stealing away of Jessie Tout
Around the middle of the morning on Saturday, 6 July 2013, Jessie texted three of her friends to say that she had a ‘big’ lunch date. Reluctant to give too much information, she did admit that this man was a stranger, that it was, in effect, a blind date. She assured them that both she, and he, were being entirely sensible. They were meeting in a city-centre park and then walking to a restaurant close by. She would be surrounded by people at all times and completely safe. This was all at his suggestion, she added and, also, that although she hadn’t met him before, they’d been in touch for several months.
As far as Jessie’s friends were aware, she’d gone to meet the man as planned, and the date had gone well. Her best friend received three further texts during Saturday afternoon.
3.15 p.m.: Just finished lunch. Amazeballs. Off to beach. Going really well.
5.47 p.m.: I think I’m in love!
7.18 p.m.: And he can cook!!!
That is the last we hear of Jessie.
Enter DC Pete Weston, stage left
Jessie wasn’t properly missed until Monday, when her mother, Linda Tout, phoned Jessie at work to learn that she hadn’t shown up. Using her own key, Linda let herself into Jessie’s flat, to find no sign of her. She and her husband both went in person to report their daughter’s disappearance. The detective who took their statement was Detective Constable Peter Weston.
Something about this new case set DC Weston’s spider-sense a-tingling. It’s unclear when he made the connection between Jessie and Zoe, but we do know that his attempts to convince his bosses of a connection between the two cases went unheard for quite some time.
There was no sign of a struggle at Jessie’s flat. In fact, no sign that anyone had been in it since she’d left it on Saturday lunchtime. Her computer was removed to the station and investigated. What detectives found on it proved crucial to the investigation. It was on Jessie’s computer that the police met Harry Wilson.
Who is Harry?
Jessie’s contact with the man called Harry began with a private message on Facebook in which he congratulated her on her latest blog. As a doctor, he wrote, he’d long felt the health risks of being a certain percentage overweight were being seriously exaggerated. If people eat a good diet, exercise moderately and don’t take recreational drugs including alcohol, he wrote, they can be as healthy as anyone. Current preferences for ultra-slim women were no more than societal taste and an excuse for pack-mentality bullying.
Exactly what Jessie wanted to hear!
Harry seemed determined to be helpful and supportive. He attached a link to a piece of research. The tone of his message was respectful, professional and non-intrusive. The language he used, the technical terms he included, suggested that he was indeed what he claimed to be – a medical doctor. On the other hand, anyone with half a brain and the time to do a bit of research could probably have written the same thing.
Jessie replied to him. Of course she did. She was a young woman, uncomfortable in her own skin, whatever she might have claimed to the contrary, and here was an intelligent man telling her she was right, praising her point of view and her writing skills.
The conversation continued on the private message facility of Facebook. It was carried in full by one of the weekend broadsheets after Wolfe’s trial and what follows is a short extract:
Jessie: What frustrates me particularly is the idea that there must always be a reason behind weight gain. The woman must be suffering low self-esteem, is unsure of her place in the world. Eating is always seen as compensatory, a defence mechanism. Have you ever had people make assumptions about you, purely on the basis of how you look?
(She is trying to find out what he looks like. His Facebook profile picture shows only an extremely cute Husky puppy.)
Harry: I had weight issues growing up. My mum was an amazing cook and mealtimes were always a big thing in our house. At secondary school I started playing rugby and that turned most of the excess pounds to muscle. I do remember, though, how quickly the pack that is a group of teenage boys can turn on anyone who deviates from the norm. Good luck with the Bristol Post pitch. Let me know if you have any success.