Ingleby Bank woods — where two bodies were found hidden

Looking down on Hagg’s Gate from the crest of Cushat Hill.

Hagg’s Gate and Cushat Hill, names no one uses nowadays. Ingleby Bank, on the other hand, is a name that has roaming issues. The O.S. map claims it’s the slope of that ridge on the other side of the vale of Greenhow. But it’s a name which, I suspect, probably also gets used for the woods just below me on Clay Bank, where there is a popular car park.

Ingleby Bank, whichever it is, sets the stage for a double murder or, at the very least, where two bodies were found hidden in the woods. Both deaths occurring back in 1987. I have it in my mind though that at least one of these poor souls was found in the woods below Hagg’s Gate.

Barry Oldham, 28, was last seen alive in a bustling Newcastle gay nightclub, with four other men, late one night in May 1987¹‘New clue in gay murder hunt ’ | Newcastle Journal | Friday 22 May 1987 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002240/19870522/021/0003> [accessed 11 November 2023]. His partially dismembered corpse, semi-naked, was discovered the next day, dumped in the woods at Ingleby Bank. Oldham, a salesman and an Aberdeen resident since Christmas, had taken a bus southward in search of work.

Later that year, 38-year-old William Beggs was convicted for the murder of Oldham and slashing two other men on separate occasions. Fast forward to 1989, the Court of Appeal scrapped the murder conviction, claiming it was unfair to lump the murder and slashing charges together. The slashing convictions stuck, though.

Beggs, bred in Northern Ireland, who, as a 19-year-old, had been a student at Teesside Polytechnic, decided to make tracks to Scotland after his liberation by the Court of Appeal. In 1991, he crosses paths in a Glasgow gay club with Brian McQuillan, whom Beggs attacks with a razor in his flat. McQuillan, petrified, jumps naked through the front window, almost killing himself in the fall²‘Jalled: Beggs Has a Long List of Despicable Crimes | the Scotsman | Saturday 13 October 2001 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/20011013/066/0008> [accessed 22 November 2023].

This history is by no means complete. Time and time again, Beggs comes to the attention of the police. Despite these warning signs, he offends again. A psychiatric report screams ‘dangerous.’ Yet, the man is again allowed to walk the streets in 1994. Five years later, the limbs of a Barry Wallace surface in Loch Lomond, and later his head washes ashore near Troon³‘Beggs – the Danger Signals’. 2008. Belfasttelegraph (BelfastTelegraph.co.uk) <https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/imported/beggs-the-danger-signals-28330909.html> [accessed 11 August 2022].

This sounds like one Beggs is one seriously unstable offender waving red flags, yet the system just let him walk away repeatedly.

In 1992, forestry workers found upon some bones in Ingleby Bank Wood⁴‘Skeleton death puzzle | Newcastle Journal | Tuesday 28 July 1992 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002240/19920728/030/0004> [accessed 11 November 2023]. Turns out, they were those of David Hall, missing since 1987 from Sunderland. This length of time meant that the pathologist couldn’t pin down the cause or manner of his death. An open verdict was recorded at the inquest⁵Corrigan, Naomi. 2020. ‘Mystery Still Surrounds Discovery of Man’s Body in Shallow Grave’, TeessideLive <https:// www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/mystery-still-surrounds-discovery-mans-19391401> [accessed 11 August 2022].

Hall was labelled a “carefree” individual employed by the local council as a refuse collector. He frequented public houses and social establishments in the Sunderland area, earning recognition from both staff and customers. It was rumoured that Hall had been planning a game of football that fateful night, but nobody knows for sure. He had no link to the Ingleby area and wasn’t geared up for walking when they found him.

There are no ties to Oldham’s murder, as far as I know, and the case remains unsolved.

• 1
  ‘New clue in gay murder hunt ’ | Newcastle Journal | Friday 22 May 1987 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002240/19870522/021/0003> [accessed 11 November 2023]
• 2
  ‘Jalled: Beggs Has a Long List of Despicable Crimes | the Scotsman | Saturday 13 October 2001 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/20011013/066/0008> [accessed 22 November 2023]
• 3
  ‘Beggs – the Danger Signals’. 2008. Belfasttelegraph (BelfastTelegraph.co.uk) <https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/imported/beggs-the-danger-signals-28330909.html> [accessed 11 August 2022]
• 4
  ‘Skeleton death puzzle | Newcastle Journal | Tuesday 28 July 1992 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002240/19920728/030/0004> [accessed 11 November 2023]
• 5
  Corrigan, Naomi. 2020. ‘Mystery Still Surrounds Discovery of Man’s Body in Shallow Grave’, TeessideLive <https:// www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/mystery-still-surrounds-discovery-mans-19391401> [accessed 11 August 2022]