Peter Sutcliffe | |
|---|---|
 Sutcliffe after his arrest inSheffield, 1981 | |
| Born | Peter William Sutcliffe (1946-06-02)2 June 1946 Shipley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 13 November 2020(2020-11-13) (aged 74) Durham, England |
| Other names |
|
| Occupation | HGV driver |
| Criminal status | Died in prison |
| Spouse | |
| Convictions |
|
| Criminal penalty | 20 concurrent life sentences(whole life order) |
| Details | |
| Victims | 22+ (13 confirmed murdered, 7 confirmed injured, 2 suspected to be injured, at least 1 other officially suspected murder) |
Span of crimes | 1975–1980 (confirmed) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Locations | |
Date apprehended | 2 January 1981 |
| Imprisoned at |
|
Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020), also known asPeter Coonan, was an Englishserial killer who was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980.[1]: 144 Press reports dubbed him theYorkshire Ripper, an allusion to theVictorian serial killerJack the Ripper. Sutcliffe was sentenced to twenty concurrent sentences oflife imprisonment, which were converted to awhole life order in 2010. Two of his murders took place inManchester; all the others took place inWest Yorkshire.Criminal psychologist David Holmes characterised Sutcliffe as being an "extremely callous,sexually sadistic serial killer."[2]
Sutcliffe initially attacked women and girls in residential areas, but appears to have shifted his focus tored-light districts because he was attracted by the vulnerability ofprostitutes and the ambivalent attitude of police to prostitutes' safety.[3][4] After his arrest inSheffield bySouth Yorkshire Police for driving with false number plates in January 1981, he was transferred to the custody ofWest Yorkshire Police, who questioned him about the killings. Sutcliffe confessed to being the perpetrator, saying that thevoice of God had sent him on a mission to kill prostitutes. At his trial he pleaded not guilty to murder on grounds ofdiminished responsibility but was convicted of murder on a majority verdict. Following his conviction, Sutcliffe began using his mother's maiden name of Coonan.
The search for Sutcliffe was one of the largest and most expensivemanhunts in British history. West Yorkshire Police faced heavy and sustained criticism for their failure to catch Sutcliffe despite having interviewed him nine times in the course of their five-year investigation. Owing to the sensational nature of the case, investigators handled an exceptional amount of information, some of it misleading, includinghoax correspondence purporting to be from the "Ripper". Following Sutcliffe's conviction, the government ordered a review of the Ripper investigation, conducted byInspector of ConstabularyLawrence Byford, known as the "Byford Report". The findings were made fully public in 2006 and confirmed the validity of the criticism of the force.[5] The report led to changes to investigative procedures that were adopted across allBritish police forces.[6] Since his conviction, Sutcliffe has been linked to a number of other unsolved crimes.
Sutcliffe was transferred from prison toBroadmoor Hospital in March 1984 after being diagnosed withparanoid schizophrenia.[7] TheHigh Court dismissed anappeal by Sutcliffe in 2010, confirming that he would serve a whole life order and never be released from custody. In August 2016, it was ruled that Sutcliffe was mentally fit to be returned to prison, and he was transferred that month toHM Prison Frankland. In 2020, Sutcliffe died in hospital from natural causes as a result ofdiabetes-related complications.
Peter William Sutcliffe was born inShipley, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 2 June 1946, to a working-class family who lived inBingley.[8] His parents were John William Sutcliffe and his wife, Kathleen.[9] Sutcliffe's mother wasCatholic while his father was a member of the choir at the localAnglican church of St Wilfred's; their children were raised in their mother's Catholic faith, and Sutcliffe briefly served as an altar boy.[10] Sutcliffe's mother was the victim ofdomestic abuse by his alcoholic father, making it likely that she struggled through her pregnancy under greatemotional stress. Sutcliffe wasborn prematurely, having to spend two weeks in hospital.[11] One of Sutcliffe's brothers recounted an incident in which their father smashed a beer glass over Sutcliffe's head during a Christmas argument when the brother was four or five years old. Additionally, Sutcliffe's father wouldwhip his children with a belt.[12]
In 1970, Sutcliffe's father posed as his wife's lover in order to lure her to a local hotel, taking along Sutcliffe and two of his siblings to witness him expose herinfidelity. When Sutcliffe's mother arrived, his father pulled out anegligee from her purse as her children watched. In his late adolescence Sutcliffe developed a growing obsession withvoyeurism, and spent much time spying onprostitutes and their male clients.[13] Reportedly a loner, he left school at the age of 15 and had a series of menial jobs, including two stints as agravedigger at Bingley Cemetery in the 1960s.[14] Because of this occupation, Sutcliffe developed a macabre sense ofhumour — co-workers reported that Sutcliffe enjoyed his work too much and would even volunteer to do overtime washing corpses.[12] Between November 1971 and April 1973, Sutcliffe worked at theBaird Television factory on a packaging line. He left this position when he was asked to go on the road as a salesman.[1]: 63
After leaving Baird Television, Sutcliffe worked night shifts at the Britannia Works of Anderton International from April 1973. In February 1975, he tookredundancy and used half of the £400 pay-off to train as aheavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver.[15] On 5 March 1976, Sutcliffe wasdismissed from this employment for the theft of used tyres. He was unemployed until October 1976, when he found a job as an HGV driver for T. & W.H. Clark Holdings Ltd. on the Canal Road Industrial Estate inBradford.[1]: 71
Sutcliffe reportedly hired prostitutes as a young man, and it has been speculated that he had a bad experience during which he wasconned out of money by a prostitute and herpimp.[16] Other analyses of Sutcliffe's actions have not found evidence that he actually sought the services of prostitutes but note that he nonetheless developed an obsession with them, including "watching them soliciting on the streets ofLeeds and Bradford."[13]
On 14 February 1967, Sutcliffe met 16-year-oldSonia Szurma, the daughter of Ukrainian and Polishrefugees fromCzechoslovakia, at theRoyal Standardpub on Manningham Lane in Bradford'sred-light district; they married on 10 August 1974.[17] Sonia was studying to become a teacher when she was diagnosed withparanoid schizophrenia. Her relationship with Sutcliffe was later characterised by the writerGordon Burn as domineering, with Sonia willing to slap down her husband "like a naughty schoolboy,"[18] while Sutcliffe even had to occasionally "contain her physically by pinning her arms to her side" during her common "unprovoked outbursts of rage."[19] Barbara Jones, a journalist who had numerous conversations with Sonia, described her as the strangest, coldest and most irritating person she had ever encountered, noting that she was incredibly prickly and demanding.[20]
Sonia suffered severalmiscarriages after marrying Sutcliffe, and the couple were informed that she would not be able to have children.[21] Sonia eventually resumed her teacher training course, during which time she had an affair with an ice-cream van driver. When she completed the course in 1977 and began teaching, she and Sutcliffe used her salary to buy a house at 6 Garden Lane inHeaton, into which they moved on 26 September 1977, and where they were living at the time of Sutcliffe's arrest in 1980.[22]
Sutcliffe's first documented assault was against a female prostitute he encountered while searching for another woman who had deceived him out of money.[23] He left his friend Trevor Birdsall's minivan and walked along St. Paul's Road in Bradford until he was out of sight.[24] When he returned, Sutcliffe appeared out of breath, as if he had been running, and instructed Birdsall to drive away quickly. He claimed to have followed a prostitute into a garage and struck her on the head with a stone wrapped in a sock.[25] The following day, police visited Sutcliffe's home because the woman he attacked had noted Birdsall'svehicle registration plate.[26] Sutcliffe admitted to hitting her but insisted it was with his hand.[27] The officers informed him that he was "very lucky" because the woman did not wish to press charges.[28]
Sutcliffe committed his second known assault inKeighley on the night of 5 July 1975. He attacked 36-year-old Anna Rogulskyj, who was walking alone, striking her unconscious with a hammer and slashing her stomach with a knife.[29] Disturbed by a neighbour, he left the scene without killing her. Rogulskyj survived after brain surgery[a] but waspsychologically traumatised by the attack.[30] She later expressed that she had been fearful of going out frequently due to the feeling that people were staring and pointing at her. Rogulskyj's encounter with Sutcliffe had turned her life into a misery, and at times, she wished she had died in the attack.[31]
On the night of 15 August, Sutcliffe attacked 46-year-old Olive Smelt inHalifax. Employing the samemodus operandi, he briefly engaged Smelt with a commonplace pleasantry about the weather before striking hammer blows to her skull from behind. He then disarranged Smelt's clothing and slashed her lower back with a knife. Again, Sutcliffe was interrupted and left his victim badly injured but alive. Like Rogulskyj, Smelt subsequently suffered severe emotional and mental trauma. She later toldDetective Superintendent Dick Holland that her attacker had aYorkshire accent, but this information was ignored, as was the fact that neither she nor Rogulskyj were in towns with a red-light district.[32]
On 27 August, Sutcliffe targeted 14-year-old Tracy Browne inSilsden, attacking her from behind and hitting her on the head five times while she was walking along a country lane. He ran off when he saw the lights of a passing car, leaving his victim requiring brain surgery. Sutcliffe was not convicted of the attack but confessed in 1992. Browne later recalled that she had initially felt charmed by Sutcliffe, noting that they had walked together for almost a mile—about thirty minutes—without ever feeling intimidated or in danger.[33]
The first victim Sutcliffe killed was 28-year-old Wilma Mary McCann, a mother of four fromScott Hall, on 30 October. McCann was last seen alive at 7:30 p.m. when she left hercouncil house on Scott Hall Avenue, in theChapeltown area of Leeds, walking past the nearby Prince Philip Playing Fields.[34] As with the earlier attacks, Sutcliffe approached her from behind and struck the back of her skull twice with a hammer. An extensive inquiry, involving 150 officers of theWest Yorkshire Police and 11,000 interviews, failed to identify Sutcliffe.[b][c]
Sutcliffe committed his next murder in Leeds on 20 January 1976, when he stabbed 42-year-old Emily Monica Jackson fifty-two times.[36] In dire financial straits, Jackson had been persuaded by her husband to engage in prostitution, using the van of their family roofing business. Sutcliffe picked up Jackson, who was soliciting outside the Gaiety pub on Roundhay Road, then drove about half a mile to some derelict buildings on Enfield Terrace in the Manor Industrial Estate.[37] Sutcliffe hit Jackson on the head with a hammer, dragged her body into a rubbish-strewn yard, then used a sharpenedscrewdriver to stab her in the neck, chest and abdomen. He stomped on her thigh, leaving behind an impression of his boot.[1]: 30
Sutcliffe attacked 20-year-old Marcella Claxton inRoundhay Park on 9 May. Walking home from a party, Claxton accepted an offer of a lift from Sutcliffe. When she got out of the car to urinate, he hit her from behind with a hammer. Claxton survived and testified against Sutcliffe at his trial. At the time of this attack, Claxton had been four months pregnant and subsequently miscarried her baby.[14] She required multiple, extensive brain operations and suffered from intermittentblackouts andchronic depression.[31]
On 5 February, Sutcliffe attacked 28-year-old Irene Richardson, a Chapeltown prostitute, in Roundhay Park.[38] Richardson was last seen at 11:15 p.m. leaving a rooming house on Cowper Street, saying she was going to Tiffany's, a pub anddisco in the centre of Leeds. Richardson was bludgeoned to death with a hammer, and stabbed in the neck and throat, and three times in the stomach. Once she was dead, Sutcliffe mutilated her corpse with a knife and then arranged her body by neatly placing her knee-length boots over the back of her thighs. Tyre tracks left near the murder scene resulted in a long list of possible suspect vehicles.[1]: 36
Two months later, on 23 April, Sutcliffe killed 32-year-old prostitute Patricia "Tina" Atkinson-Mitra in her Bradford flat, where police found a boot print on the bedclothes.[39] According to Sutcliffe, he picked Atkinson up inManningham before driving to her residence. There he hit her on the back of the head four times to incapacitate her, then pulled down her jeans and pants and exposed her breasts. Sutcliffe then stabbed her six times in the stomach with a knife.
On 25 June 1977, 15-year-oldJayne Michelle MacDonald went to meet friends at the Hofbrauhaus, a German-stylebierkeller in Leeds. She missed the last bus home and went back to a friend's house to wait for her sister to bring her home. After approximately forty-five minutes, MacDonald decided to walk home. During the journey she was attacked by Sutcliffe in Reginald Street[40] at around 2:00 a.m.[41]: 190 [42] MacDonald's body was discovered the following morning at 9:45 a.m. by children in the playground between Reginald Terrace and Reginald Street in Chapeltown. Apost mortem was carried out by theHome Officepathologist Professor David Gee. The extent of her injuries was not revealed at the time by police, although it was subsequently revealed she had been hit on the head three times with a hammer and had been stabbed in the chest and back; a broken bottle was found embedded in her chest.[43]
The following month, on 10 July 1977, Sutcliffe assaulted 43-year-old Maureen Long in Bradford. Long was leaving a nightclub when Sutcliffe offered her a lift home. Long stopped to urinate and Sutcliffe struck her on the head, knocking her out. Long was suffering fromhypothermia when found and was hospitalised for nine weeks.[31] A witness misidentified the make of Sutcliffe's car, resulting in more than 300 police officers checking thousands of cars without success.
On 1 October 1977, Sutcliffe murdered 20-year-old Jean Bernadette Jordan, a prostitute and mother of two fromManchester known to friends as "Scottish Jean".[1]: 92 [d] Shortly after 9:00 p.m., Sutcliffe was cruising the area ofMoss Side when he picked up Jordan. After they arrived at an allotment in Princess Road nearSouthern Cemetery, he hit her once in the head before proceeding to hit her ten more times. In a later confession, Sutcliffe admitted he had realised the newfive-pound note he had given to Jordan was traceable. After hosting a family party at his home on 9 October 1977, he returned to the wasteland behind Southern Cemetery, where he had left the body, but was unable to find the note. He stripped the body of its clothing and used a knife and a broken pane of glass to mutilate her corpse and attempted to decapitate her using the glass and a hacksaw.[44]
On the morning of 10 October, Jordan's body was discovered by local dairy worker and future actorBruce Jones,[45] who had an allotment on land adjoining the site and was searching for house bricks when he made the discovery. The five-pound note, hidden in a secret compartment in Jordan's handbag, was traced to branches of theMidland Bank in Bingley andShipley. Police analysis of bank operations allowed them to narrow their field of inquiry to 8,000 employees who could have received it in their wage packet. Over three months, the police interviewed 5,000 men, including Sutcliffe. The police found that Sutcliffe'salibi, the family party, was credible. Weeks of intense investigations pertaining to the origins of the note led to nothing, leaving investigators frustrated that they collected an important clue but had been unable to trace the actual firm to which or whom the note had been issued.[46]
On 14 December, Sutcliffe attacked Marilyn Moore, a 25-year-old prostitute, in the back of his car on wasteland in Scott Hall. Sutcliffe lost his balance whilst delivering a blow to Moore with a hammer, allowing Moore to escape with severe head injuries. Tyre tracks found at the scene matched those from an earlier attack.[14] The resultingphotofit bore a strong resemblance to Sutcliffe, as had those from other survivors, and Moore provided a good description of Sutcliffe's blackSunbeam Rapier, which had been seen in red-light areas. Sutcliffe was interviewed on this issue.[47]
Police discontinued the search for the person who received the five-pound note in January 1978. Although Sutcliffe was interviewed about the matter, he was not investigated further and was contacted and disregarded by the Ripper investigation on several further occasions. That month, Sutcliffe killed Yvonne Ann Pearson, a 21-year-old prostitute from Bradford, on 21 January 1978. He repeatedly bludgeoned her about the head with aball-peen hammer, then jumped on her chest before stuffinghorsehair into her mouth from a discarded sofa, under which he hid her body near Lumb Lane.[1]: 107
Ten days later, on 31 January, Sutcliffe killed Elena "Helen" Rytka, an 18-year-old prostitute fromHuddersfield, striking her on the head five times as she exited his vehicle at Garrards timber yard before stripping most of her clothes, although her bra and polo-neck jumper were positioned above her breasts. Rytka was thensexually assaulted as she lay on the ground. Rytka was the sole victim that Sutcliffe had raped.[48] After Rytka staggered to her feet, Sutcliffe again struck her on the back of the head with his hammer a number of times before retrieving a knife from his car and stabbing her several times through the heart and lungs. Rytka's body was found three days later behind a stack of timber, placed under a sheet ofasbestos, beneath the railway arches of the timber yard.[1]: 112
Vera Evelyn Millward was a 40-year-old prostitute and mother of seven who left her council flat inHulme at 10:00 p.m. on 16 May 1978, telling her boyfriend that she was going out to buy cigarettes. Sutcliffe picked up Millward and drove her to the parking compound of theManchester Royal Infirmary inChorlton-on-Medlock. After she got out of his car, Sutcliffe attacked Millward with a hammer. She was also slashed across the stomach and stabbed repeatedly with a screwdriver through the same wound in her back. Sutcliffe slashed her stomach so viciously that he "opened up her stomach". After she died, Sutcliffe dragged Millward's body against a fence and stabbed her repeatedly with a knife.[49]
On the evening of 2 March 1979, 22-year-old Irish student Ann Rooney was attacked from behind atHorsforth College inHorsforth. She was struck three times on the head, probably with a hammer, according to Professor David Gee, who examined her atLeeds General Infirmary. Rooney's description of her attacker and his car closely matched that of Sutcliffe and his Sunbeam Rapier, which had been flagged by police numerous times in red-light areas in both Leeds and Bradford. In 1992, Sutcliffe confessed to the attack on Rooney, as well as the 1975 attack on Tracy Browne.Barbara Mills,QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, decided at the time that it wasn't in the public's interest to add any additional charges against Sutcliffe for the attacks on Browne and Rooney.[50][51][52]
At 11:55 p.m. on 4 April 1979, Sutcliffe killed Josephine Anne Whitaker, a 19-year-old clerk, as she was walking home onSavile Park Moor in Halifax. Sutcliffe hit Whitaker from behind with his ball-peen hammer and hit her again as she lay on the ground. He then proceeded to stab her with a screwdriver twenty-one times in the chest and stomach and six times in the right leg before also thrusting the screwdriver into hervagina. Whitaker's skull was fractured from ear to ear.[53]
Despiteforensic evidence, police efforts were diverted for several months following the receipt of a taped message purporting to be from the murderer, taunting Assistant Chief ConstableGeorge Oldfield of the West Yorkshire Police, who was leading the Yorkshire Ripper investigation. The tape contained a man's voice saying, "I'm Jack. I see you're having no luck catching me. I have the greatest respect for you, George, but Lord, you're no nearer catching me now than four years ago when I started."[54] Based on the recorded message, police began searching for a man with aWearside accent, which linguists narrowed down to theCastletown area ofSunderland, Tyne and Wear. The hoaxer, dubbed "Wearside Jack", sent two letters to police and theDaily Mirror in March 1978 boasting of his crimes. The letters, signed "Jack the Ripper", claimed responsibility for the November 1975 murder of 26-year-old Joan Harrison inPreston.
The hoaxer case was re-opened in 2005, and DNA taken from envelopes was entered into the national database. The DNA matched that ofJohn Samuel Humble, an unemployed alcoholic and longtime resident of theFord Estate inSunderland — a few miles fromCastletown — whose DNA had been taken following adrunk and disorderly offence in 2001. On 20 October 2005, Humble was charged withattempting to pervert the course of justice for sending the hoax letters and tape. He wasremanded in custody and on 21 March 2006 was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison.[55] Humble died on 30 July 2019, aged 63.[56]
At approximately 1:00 a.m. on 1 September, Sutcliffe murdered 20-year-old Barbara Janine Leach, aBradford University social psychology student who had earlier left a pub.[57] Leach was attacked with a hammer after walking past Sutcliffe. He dragged her to the backyard of 13 Back Ash Grove, behind a low wall into an area where dustbins were kept, before pulling up her shirt and bra to expose her breasts and unfastening her jeans and partially pulling them down. He then stabbed her with the same screwdriver that he had used to kill Whitaker. Sutcliffe covered Leach's body with an old piece of carpet and placed stones on top of it. The murder of another woman who was not a prostitute alarmed the public and prompted an expensive publicity campaign, emphasising the Wearside connection. Despite the false lead, Sutcliffe was interviewed on at least two other occasions in 1979. Despite matching several forensic clues and being on the list of 300 names in connection with the five-pound note, he was not strongly suspected.
On 26 June, Sutcliffe, stopped while driving, tested positive for alcohol and was arrested.[58] Whilst awaiting trial for this, due in mid-January 1981, he killed 47-year-old civil servant Marguerite Walls on the night of 20 August. Walls left her office between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. to walk to her home inFarsley. Sutcliffe incapacitated her with a hammer blow to the back of her head as he continued to strike her while yelling "filthy prostitute" beside a driveway.[59] In order to move her twenty yards from the place of the attack up the driveway and into a high-walled garden, Sutcliffe first tied a length of rope around Walls' neck and tightened it. There he suffocated her and removed almost every piece of clothing except her tights. He partially covered the body with grass and leaves before he left.
On 24 September, a 34-year-old doctor from Singapore, Upadhya Bandara, was walking home from meeting friends when Sutcliffe followed her into an alley inHeadingley. He struck her on the head, rendering her unconscious; then, when he was startled, he dragged her along the street with a rope around her neck, killing her, and fled.
Maureen Lea, a 21-year-old art student atLeeds University, was attacked by Sutcliffe on 25 October.[60] Lea had finished visiting a pub with friends in Chapeltown when she was attacked as she hurried down a dark street to catch the bus home. She suffered from significant wounds, including a puncture hole to the back of her skull, a fractured skull, a fractured cheekbone, a broken jaw and numerous scratches and bruises.
Theresa Sykes, aged 16, was attacked in Huddersfield on the night of 5 November.[61] Sykes was going to a shop inOakes when Sutcliffe hit her from behind. Her boyfriend heard her screams and ran out, scaring off Sutcliffe. Sykes was recovering from brain surgery when Sutcliffe was arrested.
Jacqueline Hill, a 20-year-old student at Leeds University, was murdered on the night of 17 November.[59] Hill was returning home to her students' hall of residence in Headingley when Sutcliffe delivered a blow to her head before removing her clothes and stabbing her repeatedly in the chest and once in the eye with a screwdriver.
On 25 November, Trevor Birdsall, Sutcliffe's friend and the unwitting getaway driver in his first documented assault in 1969, reported him to the police as a suspect. In total, Sutcliffe had been questioned by the police on nine separate occasions in connection with the Ripper enquiry before his eventual arrest and conviction.[11]
On 2 January 1981, Sutcliffe was stopped by police with 24-year-old prostitute Olivia Reivers in the driveway of Light Trades House on Melbourne Avenue,Broomhill,Sheffield, South Yorkshire. A police check by Probationary Constable Robert Hydes revealed that Sutcliffe's car had false number plates; he was arrested and transferred toDewsbury police station in West Yorkshire. There, Sutcliffe was questioned in relation to the Ripper case as he matched many of the known physical characteristics.
The next day, Sergeant Robert Ring decided on a "hunch" to return to the scene of Sutcliffe's arrest, where he discovered a knife, hammer and rope that Sutcliffe had discarded behind an oil storage tank when he briefly slipped away after telling police he was "bursting for a pee". Sutcliffe hid a second knife in the toilet cistern at Dewsbury police station when he was permitted to use the toilet. Police obtained asearch warrant for his home in Heaton and brought his wife in for questioning.[62]
When Sutcliffe was stripped at Dewsbury police station, he was found to be wearing an inverted V-necked jumper under his trousers. The sleeves had been pulled over his legs, and the V-neck exposed his genital area. The fronts of the elbows were padded to protect his knees as, presumably, he knelt over his victims' corpses. The sexual implications of this outfit were considered obvious, but it was not known to the public until being published in 2003.
When presented with the discovery of the weapons, Sutcliffe suddenly admitted to being the Yorkshire Ripper. Over the next day, he calmly described his numerous attacks. He stated that he experienced an overwhelming urge to kill any woman, describing the impulse to kill girls as practically uncontrollable.[47] Several weeks later, he claimed thatGod had instructed him to murder his victims, stating that the women he killed were "filth" and "bastard prostitutes" who were cluttering the streets; he felt he was just cleaning up the place.[47] Sutcliffe only expressed regret when discussing his youngest murder victim, Jayne MacDonald, and showed emotion when questioned about the killing of Joan Harrison, which he vehemently denied. Harrison's murder had been linked to the Ripper killings by "Wearside Jack", but in 2011, DNA evidence revealed that the crime had actually been committed by convicted sex offender Christopher Smith, who died in 2008.[63]
Sutcliffe was charged on Sunday 4 January 1981. The fact of his arrest and charge was announced to the media by West Yorkshire Police in a late night news conference, at which grinning police chiefs said they were "absolutely delighted" with developments. Their conduct was later criticised as having given newspapers and other media an effective green light to publish background material about Sutcliffe, that went against traditional norms of contempt of court. Indeed, this contributed directly to the strictness of theContempt of Court Act 1981. Sutcliffe first appeared at court at Dewsbury on Monday 5 January, while a large, hostile crowd gathered outside.[64]
At his trial that May, Sutcliffe pleaded not guilty to thirteen charges of murder, but guilty tomanslaughter on the grounds ofdiminished responsibility. The basis of hisdefence was that he claimed to be the tool ofGod's will. Sutcliffe said he hadheard voices that ordered him to kill prostitutes while working as a gravedigger, which he claimed originated from the headstone of a Polish man, Bronisław Zapolski, and that the voices were that of God.[65][66]
Sutcliffe pleaded guilty to seven charges ofattempted murder. Theprosecution intended to accept his plea after four psychiatrists diagnosed him withparanoid schizophrenia, but the trial judge, Justice SirLeslie Boreham, demanded an unusually detailed explanation of the prosecution's reasoning. After a two-hour representation by theAttorney-General, SirMichael Havers, a ninety-minute lunch break and another forty minutes of legal discussion, Justice Boreham rejected the diminished responsibility plea and theexpert testimonies of the psychiatrists, insisting that the case should be dealt with by a jury. The trial proper was set to commence on 5 May 1981.[67]
Sutcliffe's trial lasted two weeks, and despite the efforts of his counsel,James Chadwin QC, Sutcliffe was found guilty of murder on all counts and was sentenced to twenty concurrent sentences oflife imprisonment.[68] The jury rejected the evidence of four psychiatrists who gave testimony that Sutcliffe had paranoid schizophrenia, possibly influenced by the evidence of a prison officer who heard him say to his wife that if he convinced people he was mad, he might get ten years in a "loony bin".[41]: 188 He spent the next 10 days atWormwood Scrubs before being transferred toHM Prison Parkhurst on 2 June 1981.[69]
Justice Boreham declared that Sutcliffe was beyond redemption and expressed the hope that he would never be released from prison. He recommended a minimum of thirty years before parole eligibility, suggesting that Sutcliffe would not be free until at least 2011. However, on 16 July 2010, theHigh Court imposed awhole life tariff on Sutcliffe, ensuring he would never be released.[70] After his trial, Sutcliffe acknowledged two additional attacks, although he was not prosecuted for those offences.
West Yorkshire Police were criticised for being inadequately prepared for an investigation on this scale. It was one of the largest investigations by aBritish police force[71] and predated the use of computers. Information on suspects was stored on handwrittenindex cards. Aside from difficulties in storing and accessing the paperwork, it was difficult for investigators to overcome the information overload of such a large manual system.
Sutcliffe was interviewed nine times,[72] but all information police had about the case was stored in paper form, making cross-referencing difficult, compounded by television appeals for information, which generated thousands more documents. The 1982 Byford Report into the investigation concluded that the ineffectiveness of the major incident room was a significant handicap to the Ripper investigation. It should have functioned as the central nerve centre of the police operation; however, a backlog of unprocessed information led to the failure to connect crucial pieces of related information. This critical flaw in the central index system allowed Peter Sutcliffe to repeatedly evade capture.[73]
The selection by Chief ConstableRonald Gregory of Oldfield to lead the inquiry faced criticism from Byford, who argued that appointing a senior officer based on age or years of service should be avoided. Instead, he emphasised the need for an officer with strong professional competence who could inspire confidence and loyalty.[74] Byford found Oldfield's focus on the hoax tape wanting,[75]: 86–87 [76] and that Oldfield had ignored advice from survivors of Sutcliffe's attacks, from several eminent specialists, from theFBI in the United States and from dialect analysts[77]Stanley Ellis andJack Windsor Lewis,[75]: 88 that "Wearside Jack" was a hoaxer.[e] Indeed, the investigation had used the hoax tape as a point of elimination, rather than as a line of enquiry, allowing Sutcliffe to avoid scrutiny as he did not fit theprofile of the sender of the tape or letters. The hoaxer was given unusual credibility when analysis ofsaliva on the envelopes he sent showed he had the same blood group as that which Sutcliffe had left at crime scenes, a type shared by only 6% of the population.[55] Humble, the hoaxer, appeared to know details of the murders that supposedly had not been released to the press, but that in fact he had acquired from his local newspaper and from pub gossip.[79]
In response to the police reaction to the murders, theLeeds Revolutionary Feminist Group organised a number of 'Reclaim the Night' marches. The group and otherfeminists had criticised police forvictim-blaming, especially for a suggested curfew for women at night; let men be issued a curfew instead. Eleven marches in various towns across the United Kingdom took place on the night of 12 November 1977, making the points that women should be able to walk anywhere without restriction and that they should not be blamed for men's violence.[75]: 83
In 1988, the mother of Sutcliffe's last victim, Jacqueline Hill, during an action fordamages on behalf of Hill's estate, argued in the caseHill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire in the High Court that West Yorkshire Police had failed to use reasonable care in apprehending Sutcliffe. TheHouse of Lords held that the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire did not owe aduty of care to the victim due to the lack of proximity and therefore failed on the second limb of theCaparo test.[80] After Sutcliffe's death in November 2020, West Yorkshire Police issued an apology for the "language, tone, and terminology" used by the force at the time of the original investigation, nine months after a victim's son wrote on behalf of several of the victims' families.[81]
The prevailing attitude within the West Yorkshire Police at that time reflectedmisogyny andsexist beliefs, as reported by various sources.[41][82][83] Jim Hobson, a senior West Yorkshire detective, stated at a press conference in October 1979 that Sutcliffe had clearly expressed hatred towards prostitutes, a sentiment shared by many. He emphasised that the police would continue to arrest prostitutes, but noted that Sutcliffe was now targeting innocent women. This shift indicated his troubling mental state and a pressing need for medical intervention. Hobson urged Sutcliffe to surrender before another innocent woman was harmed.[41]
Joan Smith noted inMisogynies: Reflections on Myths and Malice—a collection of essays that explores the phenomenon of women-hating in various aspects of society—that even Sutcliffe did not fully deny his actions at his trial, claiming he was demented at the time.[41] During Sutcliffe's 1981 trial, Michael Havers said in his opening statement that while some of Sutcliffe's victims were prostitutes, the saddest aspect of the case was that some were not, noting that the last six attacks were on completely respectable women.[5] This statement drew criticism from theEnglish Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), who protested outside theOld Bailey.[84] Nina Lopez, one of the ECP protestors in 1981, stated toThe Independent forty years later, following Sutcliffe's death in November 2020, that Havers' comments reflected a criticism of how the police and the establishment were handling the Yorkshire Ripper case.[81]
TheInspector of ConstabularyLawrence Byford's 1981 report of an official inquiry into the Ripper case[73] was not released by theHome Office until 1 June 2006. The sections "Description of suspects, photofits and other assaults" and parts of the section on Sutcliffe's "immediate associates" were not disclosed by the Home Office.[85] The Byford Report's major findings were contained in a summary published by theHome Secretary,William Whitelaw, disclosing for the first time precise details of the bungled investigation. Byford noted delays in following up crucial tip-offs from Birdsall, who sent an anonymous letter to the police on 25 November 1980. The letter stated that Birdsall had good reason to know the identity of the man sought in the Ripper case, describing him as someone who had dealings with prostitutes and a particular interest in them. The letter provided the name and address: Peter Sutcliffe, 5 Garden Lane, Heaton, Bradford, Clarkes Trans, Shipley.[73]
Birdsall visited the Bradford police station the day after sending his letter to reiterate his suspicions about Sutcliffe. He mentioned that he was with Sutcliffe when he exited a car to pursue a woman after an argument at a bar in Halifax on 15 August 1975, which coincided with the Olive Smelt attack. A report compiled during this visit was lost, despite a comprehensive search conducted after Sutcliffe's arrest, as noted in the Byford Report.[73] Byford indicated that the failure to act on Birdsall's anonymous letter and his visit to the police station exemplified the declining efficiency of the major incident room. This oversight allowed Sutcliffe to remain at liberty for over a month when he could potentially have been in custody. Fortunately, there is no evidence to suggest he committed any further murders during that time.[73]
The Byford Report suggested a high likelihood that Sutcliffe may have had additional victims both during and before his known killing spree. Police identified several attacks that aligned with Sutcliffe's modus operandi and attempted to question him, but he was never charged with the other crimes. The report noted a curious and unexplained lull in Sutcliffe's criminal activities between 1969, when he first attracted police attention, and 1975, the year of his first documented murder. It concluded that Sutcliffe was likely responsible for numerous attacks on unaccompanied women between 1969 and 1980, which he had not confessed to, not only in the West Yorkshire and Manchester areas but also in other regions of the country.[86]
In 1969, Sutcliffe, described in the Byford Report as an otherwise unremarkable young man, came to police attention on two occasions due to incidents involving prostitutes.[87] Later that year, in September,[88] he was arrested in Bradford's red-light area for possessing a hammer, classified as an offensive weapon, but he was charged with "going equipped for stealing" because it was assumed he was a potentialburglar.[87][73] The report indicated that Sutcliffe had attacked a Bradford prostitute with acosh at least once.[87] Byford noted that it seemed improbable that the crimes for which Sutcliffe was charged and convicted were the only ones he committed. This belief was reinforced by examining several assaults on women since 1969 that clearly fit Sutcliffe's established modus operandi. Byford expressed confidence that senior police officers in the relevant areas were aware of this possibility and arranged for effective communication to ensure that all available information was considered.[73]
Only days after his conviction in 1981, crime writerDavid Yallop asserted that Sutcliffe may have been responsible for the murder of 20-year-old Carol Wilkinson, who was randomly bludgeoned over the head with a stone in Bradford on 10 October 1977, nine days after his killing of Jean Jordan.[89][90] Wilkinson's murder had initially been considered as a possible "Ripper" killing, but this was quickly ruled out as she was not a prostitute.[91][90] Police eventually admitted in 1979 that the Ripper did not solely attack prostitutes, but by this time a local man, Anthony Steel, had already been convicted of Wilkinson's murder.[90] Yallop highlighted that Steel had always protested his innocence and been convicted on weak evidence.[92] He had confessed to the murder under intense questioning, having been told that he would be allowed to see a solicitor if he did so.[93] Even though his confession failed to include any details of the murder, and Hobson's testifimony at trial that he did not find the confession credible, Steel was narrowly convicted.[93]
Around the time of Wilkinson's murder it was widely reported that Professor David Gee, the Home Office pathologist who conducted all the post-mortem examinations on the Ripper victims, noted similarities between the Wilkinson murder and the killing of Ripper victim Yvonne Pearson three months later.[94] Like Wilkinson, Pearson was bludgeoned with a heavy stone and was not stabbed, and was initially ruled out as a "Ripper" victim.[90] Pearson's murder was re-classified as a Ripper killing in 1979 while Wilkinson's murder was not reviewed.[94][93] Sutcliffe did not confess to Wilkinson's murder at his trial, and Steel was already serving time for the murder. During his imprisonment, Sutcliffe was noted to show "particular anxiety" at mentions of Wilkinson due to the possible unsoundness of Steel's conviction.[10]
Sutcliffe was known to have been acquainted with Wilkinson and to have argued violently with her stepfather over his advances towards her.[95] He was familiar with the council estate where she was murdered and regularly frequented the area. In February 1977, only months before the murder, Sutcliffe was reported to police for acting suspiciously on the street where Wilkinson lived.[96] Furthermore, earlier on the day of the murder, Sutcliffe had gone back to mutilate Jordan's body before returning to Bradford, showing he had already gone out to attack victims that day and would have been in Bradford to attack Wilkinson after he returned from mutilating Jordan.[90][97] The location where Wilkinson was killed was also very close to Sutcliffe's place of employment, where he would have clocked in for work that afternoon.[98]
In 2003, Steel's conviction was quashed after it was found that his lowIQ and mental capabilities made him a vulnerable interviewee, discrediting his supposed "confession" and confirming Yallop's long-standing suspicions that he had been wrongfully convicted.[93] Yallop continued to put forth the theory that Sutcliffe was the real killer.[90] In 2015, former detective Chris Clark and investigative journalist Tim Tate published a book,Yorkshire Ripper: The Secret Murders,[99] which supported the theory that Sutcliffe had murdered Wilkinson, pointing out that her body had been posed and partially stripped in a manner similar to the Ripper'smodus operandi.[100][93]
In 1982, West Yorkshire Police appointed detectiveKeith Hellawell to lead a secret investigation into possible additional victims of Sutcliffe.[101][102] A list was compiled of around sixty murders and attempted murders not just in Yorkshire but around the country that West Yorkshire Police and other forces thought could possibly be linked to Sutcliffe.[101] Detectives were able to eliminate him from forty of these cases with reference to his lorry driver's logs, which showed which part of the country he was in when he was working,[103] leaving twenty-two unsolved crimes with hallmarks of a Sutcliffe attack that were investigated further.[101][104][102] Twelve of these occurred within West Yorkshire while the others took place in other parts of the country.[105] Hellawell had also listed the attacks on Tracey Browne in 1975 and Ann Rooney in 1979 as possible Sutcliffe attacks, and it was to Hellawell that Sutcliffe confessed to these crimes in 1992, confirming police suspicions that he was responsible for more attacks than those he confessed to.[101]
In 2017, West Yorkshire Police launched Operation Painthall to determine if Sutcliffe was guilty of unsolved crimes dating back to 1964. In December 2017, the force, in response to a Freedom of Information request, neither confirmed nor denied that Operation Painthall existed.[109]
In 2015, authors Chris Clark andTim Tate published a book, titledYorkshire Ripper: The Secret Murders, that claimed links between Sutcliffe and more unsolved murders.[99] They alleged that between 1966 and 1980, Sutcliffe was responsible for at least twenty-two more murders than he was convicted of.[99] The book was later adapted into a two-partITV documentary series of the same name, which featured both Clark and Tate.[93]
Following his conviction and incarceration, Sutcliffe chose to use the name Coonan, his mother's maiden name.[136] Despite being found sane at his trial, Sutcliffe was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Attempts to send him to a secure psychiatric unit were blocked. While at Parkhurst he was seriously assaulted by James Costello, a 35-year-old career criminal with several convictions for violence; on 10 January 1983, he followed Sutcliffe into a recess of F2, the hospital wing at Parkhurst, and plunged a broken coffee jar twice into the left side of Sutcliffe's face, creating four wounds requiring thirty stitches. In March 1984, Sutcliffe was sent toBroadmoor Hospital under Section 47 of theMental Health Act 1983.[137]
Sutcliffe's wife obtained aseparation around 1989 and a divorce in July 1994.[138] On 23 February 1996, Sutcliffe was attacked in his room in Broadmoor's Henley Ward; Paul Wilson, a convicted robber, asked to borrow a videotape before attempting to strangle Sutcliffe with the cable from a pair of stereo headphones. After an attack with a pen by fellow inmate Ian Kay on 10 March 1997, Sutcliffe lost the vision in his left eye, and his right eye was severely damaged.[139] Kay admitted trying to kill Sutcliffe and was ordered to be detained in a secure mental hospital without limit of time.[140] In 2003, it was reported that Sutcliffe had developeddiabetes.[141]
Sutcliffe's father died in 2004 and wascremated. On 17 January 2005 he was allowed to visitArnside where the ashes had been scattered. The decision to allow the temporary release was initiated byDavid Blunkett and ratified byCharles Clarke when he became Home Secretary. Sutcliffe was accompanied by four members of the hospital staff. The visit led to front-page tabloid headlines.[142] On 22 December 2007, a fourth attack on Sutcliffe occurred when fellow inmate Patrick Sureda lunged at him with a metal cutlery knife, shouting that he would blind Sutcliffe in his remaining eye. Sutcliffe managed to throw himself backwards, causing the blade to miss his right eye and stab him in the cheek instead.[143]
On 17 February 2009, it was reported[144] that Sutcliffe was "fit to leave Broadmoor". On 23 March 2010, theSecretary of State for Justice,Jack Straw, was questioned byJulie Kirkbride,ConservativeMP forBromsgrove, in theHouse of Commons seeking reassurance for a constituent, a victim of Sutcliffe, that he would remain in prison. Straw indicated that, although Sutcliffe's release was a decision for the parole board, the extensive evidence he had reviewed suggested that there were no circumstances under which Sutcliffe would be released.[145]
On 16 July 2010, the High Court heard Sutcliffe's application for a minimum term to be set, which would allow for the possibility of parole if deemed safe for release.[146] The court ultimately ruled that Sutcliffe would never be released.[147][148] In his statement, Mitting described Sutcliffe's actions as a campaign of murder that terrorised a significant portion of Yorkshire for several years. He noted that the only explanation for this behaviour, according to the jury's verdict, was anger, hatred, and obsession, and remarked that it is difficult to imagine circumstances under which one individual could cause so much harm to so many victims, aside from a terrorist act.[149]
Psychological reports describing Sutcliffe's mental state were taken into consideration, as was the severity of his crimes.[150] Sutcliffe spent the rest of his life in custody. On 4 August 2010, a spokeswoman for the Judicial Communications Office confirmed that Sutcliffe had initiated an appeal against the decision.[151] The hearing for Sutcliffe's appeal began on 30 November 2010, at theCourt of Appeal.[152] The appeal was rejected on 14 January 2011.[153] On 9 March 2011, the Court of Appeal rejected Sutcliffe's application for leave to appeal to theSupreme Court.[154] In December 2015, Sutcliffe was assessed as being "no longer mentally ill".[155] In August 2016, a medical tribunal ruled that he no longer required clinical treatment for his mental condition, and could be returned to prison. Sutcliffe was reported to have been transferred from Broadmoor toHM Prison Frankland in August 2016.[156][157]
Sutcliffe died atUniversity Hospital of North Durham, at the age of 74, on 13 November 2020, from natural causes as a result of diabetes-related complications, after having previously returned to HM Prison Frankland following treatment for a suspected heart attack at the same hospital two weeks prior.[8] He had a number of underlying health problems, includingobesity.[24][158][25][159] A private funeral ceremony was held, and Sutcliffe's body was cremated.[160]
The song "Night Shift" by English post-punk bandSiouxsie and the Banshees on their 1981 albumJuju is about Sutcliffe.[161]
On 6 April 1991, Sutcliffe's father, John,talked about his son on the television discussion programmeAfter Dark.[162][163]
This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, a British television crime drama miniseries, first shown onITV from 26 January to 2 February 2000, is a dramatisation of the real-life investigation into the murders, showing the effect that it had on the health and career of Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield (Alun Armstrong). The series also starredRichard Ridings andJames Laurenson as DSI Dick Holland and Chief ConstableRonald Gregory, respectively. Although broadcast over two weeks, two episodes were shown consecutively each week. The series was nominated for theBritish Academy Television Award for Best Drama Serial at the 2001 awards.[164]
In 2009, the three TV filmsRed Riding, also called The Yorkshire Ripper trilogy, depicted some of Sutcliffe's deeds. The third book (and second episodic television adaptation) inDavid Peace'sRed Riding series is set against the backdrop of the Ripper investigation. In that episode, Sutcliffe is played byJoseph Mawle. The 13 May 2013 episode ofCrimes That Shook Britain focused on the case.[165]
On 26 August 2016, the police investigation was the subject ofBBC Radio 4'sThe Reunion.Sue MacGregor discussed the investigation with John Domaille, who subsequently served as assistant chief constable in the West Yorkshire Police; Andy Laptew, a young detective who conducted interviews with Sutcliffe; Elaine Benson, a detective who was part of the investigative team; David Zackrisson, who worked on the false leads, the "Wearside Jack" tape and the Sunderland letters; andChrista Ackroyd, a local journalist.[166]
A three-part series of one-hour episodes,The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story, by filmmaker Liza Williams aired onBBC Four in March 2019. This included interviews with some of the victims, their families, police and journalists who covered the case. In the series she questions whether the attitude towards women on the part of both the police and society prevented Sutcliffe from being caught sooner.[167] On 31 July 2020, the series won the BAFTA prize for Specialist Factual TV programming.[168]
A play written by Olivia Hirst andDavid Byrne,The Incident Room, premiered at Pleasance as part of the 2019Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The play focuses on the police force hunting Sutcliffe. The play was produced byNew Diorama.[169]
In December 2020,Netflix released a four-part documentary entitledThe Ripper, which recounts the police investigation into the murders with interviews from living victims, family members of victims and police officers involved in the investigation.[170]
In November 2021, American heavy metal bandSlipknot released a song titled "The Chapeltown Rag", which is inspired by media reporting on the murders.[171]
In February 2022,Channel 5 released a 60-minute documentary entitledThe Ripper Speaks: The Lost Tapes, which recounts interviews, and Sutcliffe speaking about life in prison and inBroadmoor Hospital, as well as crimes he had committed but that had not been seen or treated as "a Ripper killing".[172]
In 2023, the ITV1 dramaThe Long Shadow focused on Sutcliffe's crimes.[173][174]
{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (multiple files){{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: location (link){{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (multiple files)The Yorkshire Ripper probably committed more attacks than the murders and attempted murders for which he was jailed, a secret report says.
Parts 1, 2, 3 = 22, 29 October 2016 – 5 November 2016
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