A
MEDICAL researcher found murdered in her Oxford home was stabbed 49
times and strangled with her jumper, police revealed yesterday.
Dr
Barbara Johnston, 55, a researcher into childhood respiratory
complaints who had used live animals on some projects, is believed to
have answered the door of her flat to her killer.
The spinster, who returned to Britain last September after
spending 23 years in New Zealand, was found dead by police who broke
into her flat in the north of the city at 1am last Thursday.
Her parents, Valerie and Francis Johnston, who live in
Bloxwich, Walsall, had contacted police because they had not heard from
her.
Johnston, who studied at Southampton University and Somerville
College, Oxford, had worked on research papers in New Zealand with the
vivisectionist Professor Peter Gluckman, who has been targeted on
several occasions by animal activists.
The pair studied brain injuries using live lambs. Johnson has also used live rats in her research.
Oxford has become the focus of protests by animal rights
activists angered at the construction of a research laboratory in South
Parks Road.
A spokesman for Thames Valley police said last night he would
be “extremely surprised” if her murder had any connection with her work
in New Zealand.
Gluckman, a former dean of Auckland Medical School, last night
described Johnston as an “isolated” person, adding that she went
through great emotional distress when working with other people.
In her entry on the Friends Reunited website written before
her return to Oxford, she stated: “Came to Auckland in 1982 on a
research fellowship but not currently working. Can’t afford to return
to the UK while it’s so expensive to live there, but life in the South
Pacific is relaxed, peaceful and safe, which must count for something
these days.”
Police found Johnston’s body in her bedroom, fully clothed,
with the jumper used to strangle her still around her neck. Detectives
have ruled out a sexual motive for the killing, but are investigating
whether she had recently met anyone via the internet.
Last night police arrested a 42-year-old man in Faringdon, Oxfordshire on suspicion of the murder.
