Peter William Sutcliffe (born 2 June 1946 in
BingleyBingley is a market town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
,
West Riding of YorkshireThe West Riding of Yorkshire was one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...
) is an
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
serial killerA serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Often, a sexual element is involved with the killings...
who was dubbed
The Yorkshire Ripper. Sutcliffe was convicted in 1981 for murdering 13 women and attacking several others. He is currently serving
life imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious felony crime where the convicted person is to remain in prison for the rest of his or her life...
in
Broadmoor HospitalBroadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in Berkshire, England. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton...
. Sutcliffe began using the name
Peter William Coonan at some point after his conviction.
Early life
Sutcliffe was the son of John and Kathleen Sutcliffe. Reportedly a
lonerA loner is a person who avoids or does not actively seek human interaction or prefers to be alone. There are many reasons for solitude, intentional or otherwise, and "loner" implies no specific cause...
at school, he left at the age of 15 and took a series of menial jobs, including two stints as a grave digger during the 1960s. Sutcliffe worked at the factory of Baird Television Ltd. between November 1971 and April 1973 on the packaging line, but left when he was asked to go on the road as a salesman. After leaving Baird's, he worked
nightshift"Nightshift" is a 1985 hit song by the Commodores and title track from the album of the same name. The song was a tribute to Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye, two famous R&B musicians who had died in 1984....
s at the Britannia Works of Anderton International from April 1973. In February 1975 he took
redundancyLayoff is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or a group of employees for business reasons, such as the decision that certain positions are no longer necessary or a business slow-down or interruption in work...
, used the pay-off to gain an
HGVLarge Goods Vehicle , or category N2 and N3, is the formal term in the European Union for goods vehicles with a maximum allowed mass over 3.5 tonnes. Category N2 is up to 12 t, category N3 greater than 12 t....
licence on 4 June, 1975 and began working as a driver for a tyre firm on 29 September of that year. However, he was
sackA sack is a bag, especially a large one for carrying or storing goods.Sack can also mean, as a verb:* To dismiss an employee from a job* To tackle the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage in American and Canadian football...
ed for the theft of used tyres on 5 March, 1976. He was
unemployedUnemployment occurs when a person is available to work and seeking work but currently without work. The prevalence of unemployment is usually measured using the unemployment rate, which is defined as the percentage of those in the labor force who are unemployed...
until October 1976, when he found another job as an HGV driver for T & WH Clark (Holdings Ltd.) on the Canal Road Industrial Estate, between
ShipleyShipley is a town in West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, north of Bradford and north-west of Leeds....
and
BradfordBradford is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
.
Sutcliffe frequented prostitutes as a young man and it has been speculated that a bad experience with one (during which he was allegedly conned out of money) helped fuel his violent hatred against women.
He first met Sonia Szurma, of
CzechCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and
UkrainianUkrainian may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine* The Ukrainians, people from Ukraine or of Ukrainian descent.* Something relating to Ukrainian culture....
parentage, on St Valentine's Day in 1967 and they married on 10 August, 1974. His wife suffered a number of
miscarriageMiscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
s over the next few years and eventually the couple were informed that she would not be able to have children. Shortly after this she returned to a teacher training course. When she completed the course in 1977 and began teaching, the couple used the extra money to buy their first house in
HeatonHeaton is a Ward of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It includes the villages of Frizinghall, Heaton and Daisy Hill. Extending to Chellow Heights reservoir on the western edge and the Bradford-Shipley railway line on the eastern edge...
,
BradfordBradford is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, where they moved on 26 September, 1977 and where they were still living at the time of Sutcliffe's arrest for the murders in 1981.
Victims
Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering the following 13 victims:
| Date |
Name of victim |
Age at death |
Body found |
Location on map |
| 30 October 1975 |
Wilma McCann |
28 |
Prince Phillip Playing Fields, LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The historic core at the heart of Leeds in 2001 had an estimated subdivision population of 443,247, whilst the entire city, that includes the urban and suburban areas incorporated into the city in 1974, had an estimated...
|
|
| 20 January 1976 |
Emily Jackson |
42 |
Manor Street, Sheepscar Sheepscar is an inner city district of Leeds in West Yorkshire England. It is overlooked by the tower blocks of Little London and Lovell Park to the west, and gives way to Meanwood in the north-west, Chapeltown in the north-east and Burmantofts in the east....
, Leeds |
|
| 5 February 1977 |
Irene Richardson |
28 |
Roundhay ParkRoundhay Park in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is one of the biggest city parks in Europe. It has over of parkland, lakes, woodland and gardens which are owned by Leeds City Council. The park is one of the most popular attractions in Leeds, nearly a million people visit each year...
, Leeds |
|
| 23 April 1977 |
Patricia Atkinson |
32 |
Flat 3, 9 Oak Avenue, Bradford Bradford is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
|
|
| 26 June 1977 |
Jayne MacDonald |
16 |
Adventure playground, Reginald Street, Leeds |
|
| 1 October 1977 |
Jean Jordan |
20 |
Allotments next to Southern Cemetery, Manchester Southern Cemetery, Manchester is a large municipal cemetery in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Greater Manchester, England, three miles south of Manchester city centre: it was opened in 1879...
|
|
| 21 January 1978 |
Yvonne Pearson |
21 |
Under a disused sofa on waste ground off Arthington Street, Bradford |
|
| 31 January 1978 |
Helen Rytka |
18 |
Timber yard in Great Northern Street, Huddersfield Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city.Huddersfield is near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme...
|
|
| 16 May 1978 |
Vera Millward |
40 |
Grounds of Manchester Royal Infirmary The Manchester Royal Infirmary is a hospital in Manchester, England which was founded by Charles White in 1752 as a cottage hospital capable of caring for twelve patients...
|
|
| 4 April 1979 |
Josephine Whitaker |
19 |
Savile Park, HalifaxHalifax is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England, with an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece Hall...
|
|
| 2 September 1979 |
Barbara Leach |
20 |
Back of 13 Ashgrove, Bradford |
|
| 20 August 1980 |
Marguerite Walls |
47 |
Garden of a house called "Claremont", New Street, Farsley Farsley is a small commuter town in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England 6 miles to the west of Leeds city centre, and 4 miles east of Bradford. It was formerly in the municipal borough of nearby Pudsey.It is mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book as Fersellei...
, Leeds |
|
| 17 November 1980 |
Jacqueline Hill |
20 |
Waste ground off Alma Road, HeadingleyHeadingley is an inner suburb of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road...
, Leeds |
|
1975
Sutcliffe committed his first documented
assaultAssault is a crime of violence against another person. In some jurisdictions, including Australia and New Zealand, assault refers to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, while in other jurisdictions, such as the United States, assault may refer only to the threat...
in
KeighleyKeighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
on the night of 5 July 1975. He attacked Anna Rogulskyj (aged 36), who was walking alone, striking her unconscious with a ball-pein hammer and slashing her stomach with a knife. Disturbed by a neighbour, he left without killing her. Rogulskyj survived after extensive medical intervention but was emotionally
traumatisedPsychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event. When that trauma leads to posttraumatic stress disorder, damage may involve physical changes inside the brain and to brain chemistry, which damage the person's ability to adequately cope with...
by the attack.
Sutcliffe attacked Olive Smelt (aged 46) in
HalifaxHalifax is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England, with an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece Hall...
in August, using the same
M.O.Modus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "method of operating". The plural is modi operandi...
, striking her from behind and using a knife to slash her above her buttocks. Again he was interrupted, and left his victim badly injured but still alive. Like Rogulskyj, Smelt suffered emotional scars from the attack, including
clinical depressionMajor depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
. On 27 August, Sutcliffe attacked Tracy Browne (aged 14) in
SilsdenSilsden is a town and civil parish situated in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the northern slope of the Aire river valley between Keighley and Skipton. It is about from the river. Along the lower edge of the town is the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
. He struck her from behind and hit her on the head five times while she was walking in a country lane. Sutcliffe was not convicted of this attack, but confessed to it in 1992.
He killed his first victim, Wilma McCann (aged 28), from the
ChapeltownChapeltown is a suburb of north-east Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, and is the centre of the city's British African-Caribbean community. It is approximately one mile north of Leeds city centre. Along with neighbouring Harehills, Chapeltown has in the past suffered from rioting...
district of
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The historic core at the heart of Leeds in 2001 had an estimated subdivision population of 443,247, whilst the entire city, that includes the urban and suburban areas incorporated into the city in 1974, had an estimated...
, a mother of four, on 30 October. Sutcliffe struck her twice with a hammer before stabbing her 15 times in the neck, chest and abdomen. Traces of
semenSemen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that usually contains spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize female ova...
were found on the back of her underwear. An extensive inquiry, involving 150 police officers and 11,000 interviews, failed to uncover Sutcliffe. One of McCann's daughters committed
suicideSuicide is the intentional killing of one's self. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"...
in December 2007, reportedly after suffering years of torment over her mother's death.
1976
Sutcliffe did not kill again until January 1976, when he stabbed 42-year-old
housewifeHousewife is a term used to describe a married female who is not employed outside of the home.-Multicultural norms:In agriculture studies, the word "housewife" is occasionally used referring to the person who does the majority of the chores within a farm's compound, as opposed to field and...
Emily Jackson 51 times in Leeds. In dire financial straits, Jackson had been using the family van to exchange sexual favours for money, a fact which shocked family and neighbours when it came to light after the murder. Sutcliffe hit her on the head with a hammer and then used a sharpened screwdriver to stab her in the neck, chest, and abdomen. Sutcliffe also stamped on her thigh, leaving behind an impression of his boots.
He attacked 20-year-old Marcella Claxton in
Roundhay ParkRoundhay Park in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is one of the biggest city parks in Europe. It has over of parkland, lakes, woodland and gardens which are owned by Leeds City Council. The park is one of the most popular attractions in Leeds, nearly a million people visit each year...
,
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The historic core at the heart of Leeds in 2001 had an estimated subdivision population of 443,247, whilst the entire city, that includes the urban and suburban areas incorporated into the city in 1974, had an estimated...
, on 9 May. Walking home from a party, she was given a ride by Sutcliffe. When she later got out of the car to urinate, Sutcliffe hit her from behind with a hammer. She was left alive and could testify against Sutcliffe at his trial.
1977
Sutcliffe's next murder took place on 5 February 1977. He attacked Irene Richardson (aged 28), another
ChapeltownChapeltown is a suburb of north-east Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, and is the centre of the city's British African-Caribbean community. It is approximately one mile north of Leeds city centre. Along with neighbouring Harehills, Chapeltown has in the past suffered from rioting...
prostitute in Roundhay Park, bludgeoning her to death with a hammer. Once she was dead, he mutilated her corpse with a knife. Tyre tracks left near the murder scene resulted in an enormous list of possible suspect vehicles.
Two months later, on 23 April 1977, he killed Patricia
"Tina" Atkinson (aged 32), a Bradford prostitute, at her flat, where police found a bootprint on the bedclothes. After another two months, Sutcliffe committed another murder in Chapeltown, his youngest victim, Jayne MacDonald (aged 16), on 26 June. She was not a prostitute, and in the public perception, her death showed that every woman was a potential victim. Sutcliffe seriously assaulted Maureen Long (aged 42) in Bradford in July; interrupted, he left her for dead. A witness misidentified the make of his car. Over 300 police officers working the case amassed 12,500 statements and checked thousands of cars, without result.
Sutcliffe killed a
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
prostitute, Jean Jordan (aged 20), on 9 October 1977. Her body was not found for 10 days but had obviously been moved several days after death. In a later confession, Sutcliffe stated he had realised that a new
£5£5 refers to five Pound Sterling banknotes or coins, sometimes referred to as "fivers". These include:*British Five Pound coin*British Five Pound note*Irish five pound banknotes:**Series A**Series B**Series C...
note he had given her was traceable. After hosting a family party at his new home he had returned to her body, left on a piece of wasteland behind Manchester's
Southern CemeterySouthern Cemetery, Manchester is a large municipal cemetery in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Greater Manchester, England, three miles south of Manchester city centre: it was opened in 1879...
, in an attempt to retrieve the note. Unable to find her handbag he tried to remove Jordan's head with a broken pane of glass and a hacksaw in an attempt to distract the police by disguising that her death was the result of a Ripper attack. The recovery of the note hidden inside a 'secret compartment' in her handbag offered a valuable piece of evidence. As the note was new it could be traced to branches of the
Midland BankMidland Bank was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836...
in
ShipleyShipley is a town in West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, north of Bradford and north-west of Leeds....
and
BingleyBingley is a market town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
. Extensive replication by the police of how a bank branch operated over a three-week period resulted in pinning down the note to one of 8,000 local employees, supplied as part of their wages. Over three months the police interviewed 5,000 men, including Sutcliffe, but did not connect him to the crime. Jordan's body was discovered by actor Bruce Jones, who at that time was a local dairy worker. He had an
allotmentAllotment may refer to:* Allotment , a small area of land, let out at a nominal yearly rent by local government or independent allotment associations, for individuals to grow their own food....
on the land adjoining where the body was found and had been looking for disused house bricks when he made the discovery.
Sutcliffe attacked another Leeds prostitute, Marilyn Moore (aged 25) on 14 December. She survived, and provided police with a description of her attacker. Tyre tracks found at the scene matched those from an earlier attack.
1978
The police withdrew their intensive search for the person who received the £5 note in January 1978. Although Sutcliffe was interviewed about the £5 note, he was not investigated further (he would ultimately be contacted, and disregarded, by the Ripper Squad on several further occasions). In that month, Sutcliffe killed again, attacking a
BradfordBradford is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
prostitute, Yvonne Pearson (aged 21), this time hiding the body under a discarded sofa so that it was not found until March. He killed a
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city.Huddersfield is near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme...
prostitute, Helen Rytka (aged 18), on the night of 31 January; her body was uncovered three days later.
After a two-month hiatus, Sutcliffe killed again, attacking Vera Millward (aged 40) in the car park of
Manchester Royal InfirmaryThe Manchester Royal Infirmary is a hospital in Manchester, England which was founded by Charles White in 1752 as a cottage hospital capable of caring for twelve patients...
on 16 May.
1979
Almost a year passed before Sutcliffe struck again, during which time his mother Kathleen died on 8 November 1978 at the age of 59.
On 4 April 1979, Sutcliffe killed Josephine Whitaker (aged 19), a bank clerk, in Halifax; he assaulted her on Savile Park Moor as she was walking home. Despite new forensic evidence, the police efforts were diverted for several months into a fruitless search for a man with a
WearsideWearside is an unrecognised conurbation in North East England, mostly referring to the City of Sunderland, but also including parts of County Durham including Seaham. The people of Wearside often refer to themselves as "Mackems"....
accent, which was pinned down to the
CastletownCastletown is an area of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear. A former mining community, it lies north of the River Wear, and is near to Hylton Castle and Washington...
area of Sunderland, following a hoax tape message taunting Superintendent George Oldfield, who was leading the search.
The hoaxer (dubbed "
Wearside JackWearside Jack is the nickname given to John Samuel Humble , a hoaxer who pretended to be the Yorkshire Ripper in the late 1970s.-Taunting letters:...
") had sent two letters to the police boasting of his crimes in 1978 signed "
Jack The RipperJack the Ripper was a pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished districts in and around Whitechapel, London, in late 1888. The name originated in a letter by someone claiming to be the murderer that was sent to the London Central News Agency and...
" and claimed responsibility for a murder (that of 26-year-old Joan Harrison) in
PrestonPreston is a city and non-metropolitan district of Lancashire, in North West England. It is located on the north bank of the River Ribble, and was granted city status in 2002, becoming England's 50th city in the 50th year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign...
in November 1975. On 20 October 2005, John Samuel Humble, an unemployed alcoholic and long-time resident of the
Ford EstateFord Estate is a suburb in Sunderland. The suburb is divided into two areas: High Ford borders the run-down estate of Pennywell and like its neighbour, has many of its houses boarded up, ready for redevelopment or reconstruction...
area of Sunderland (a mile away from Castletown), was charged with attempting to
pervert the course of justicePerverting the course of justice, in English, Canadian , and Irish law, is a criminal offence in which someone prevents justice from being served on himself or on another party...
in response to his sending of the hoax letters and tape and
remandDetention of suspects is the process of keeping a person who has been arrested in a police-cell, prison or other detention centre before trial or sentencing.-Detention before charge:...
ed in
custodyCustody can refer to:*Child custody, a legal description of whether a child resides or has contact with a given parent*Police custody *Custody account, see either custodian bank or clearing house...
. On 21 March 2006 he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Sutcliffe killed Barbara Leach (aged 20) on 1 September. Barbara Leach was a
Bradford UniversityThe University of Bradford is a university in Bradford, West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. Formed from a technical college in 1966, there are three campuses: the main campus, located on Richmond Road, the School of Health, on Trinity Road, and the School of Management, at Emm Lane...
student murdered in Ashgrove near the university and not far from her lodgings. It was his sixteenth attack. Yet again, the murder of a woman who was not a prostitute alarmed the public and prompted an expensive publicity campaign, which pushed the Wearside connection. Even with this false lead, Sutcliffe was re-interviewed on at least two occasions in 1979, but despite matching several forensic clues and being on the list of 300 names in connection with the £5 note, he was not strongly suspected. In total, Sutcliffe was interviewed by the police on nine occasions.
1980
In April 1980 Sutcliffe was arrested for drunk driving. While awaiting trial on this charge, he killed two more women, Marguerite Walls (aged 47) on the night of 20 August and Jacqueline Hill (aged 20), a student at the
University of LeedsThe University of Leeds is a major teaching and research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire and, with over 33,000 full-time students, is the second largest single site university in the United Kingdom. In the world university league tables published in November 2008, the university's ‘employer...
, on the night of 17 November 1980. He also attacked two other women who survived: Dr. Upadhya Bandara (aged 34) in Leeds on 24 September and Theresa Sykes (aged 16) in Huddersfield on the night of 5 November. On 25 November, one of Sutcliffe's friends reported him to the police as a suspect, but this information vanished into the enormous volumes already created. Sutcliffe's friend assumed that they had investigated him and cleared him.
1981 arrest and trial
On 2 January 1981, Sutcliffe was stopped by the police with prostitute Olivia Reivers (aged 24) in the driveway of Light Trades House, Melbourne Avenue, Broomhill, Sheffield. He was arrested, on grounds of having fitted his car with false
number platesA vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database...
. He was transferred to
DewsburyDewsbury is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, and lies by the River Calder and the Calder and Hebble Navigation....
Police Station in connection with this offence. At Dewsbury, he was questioned in relation to the Yorkshire Ripper case, as he matched so many of the physical characteristics known. Next day, the police discovered the knife, the hammer and the rope he discarded when he was arrested on Melbourne Avenue, and a second knife that he had placed in the toilet cistern at the police station under the pretext of needing to urinate, which increased police interest. The police obtained a
search warrantA search warrant is a court order issued by a judge or magistrate that authorizes law enforcement to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a criminal offense and seize such items or information....
for his home at 6 Garden Lane in the
HeatonHeaton is a Ward of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It includes the villages of Frizinghall, Heaton and Daisy Hill. Extending to Chellow Heights reservoir on the western edge and the Bradford-Shipley railway line on the eastern edge...
district of Bradford and brought his wife in for questioning.
When Sutcliffe was stripped of his clothing at the police station, he was discovered to be wearing a V-neck sweater under his trousers; the arms had been pulled over his legs, so that the V-neck exposed his groin; the elbows were padded to protect his knees as, presumably, he knelt over his victims' corpses. The sexual implications of this outfit were held to be obvious, but this fact was not communicated to the public until disclosure in a book by writer Michael Bilton, published in 2003, called
Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.
After two days of intensive questioning, Sutcliffe suddenly declared he was the Ripper on the afternoon of 4 January, 1981. Over the next day, Sutcliffe calmly described his many attacks. Weeks later he claimed to have been told to murder the women by
GodGod is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
. He displayed emotion only when telling of the murder of his youngest victim, Jayne MacDonald, and when he was questioned about the murder of Joan Harrison, which he vehemently denied. He was charged at
DewsburyDewsbury is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, and lies by the River Calder and the Calder and Hebble Navigation....
on 5 January.
At his trial, Sutcliffe pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of
murderIn English law, murder is considered the most serious form of homicide, in which one person kills another either intending to cause death or intending to cause serious injury...
, but guilty to
manslaughterIn the English law of homicide, manslaughter is a less serious offence than murder, the differential being between levels of fault based on the mens rea . In England and Wales, the usual practice is to prefer a charge of murder, with the judge or defence able to introduce manslaughter as an option...
on the grounds of
diminished responsibilityIn English law, diminished responsibility operates only as a mitigatory defence to reduce what would otherwise have been murder to manslaughter . This allows the judge sentencing discretion, e.g. to impose a hospital order under s37 Mental Health Act 1983 to ensure treatment rather than punishment...
. The basis of his defence was his claim that he was the tool of
God's willDivine retribution is a supernatural punishment usually directed towards all or some portions of humanity by a deity.This theological concept exists in virtually all major religions...
. Sutcliffe first claimed to have heard voices while working as a gravedigger, that ultimately 'ordered' him to kill prostitutes. He claimed that the voices originated from a headstone of a deceased Polish man, Bronislaw Zapolski, and furthermore that the 'voices' were that of God.
He also pleaded guilty to seven counts of
attempted murderAttempted murder is a crime in some jurisdictions.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful homicide and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
. The prosecution intended to accept Sutcliffe's plea after four
psychiatristA psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry and is certified in treating mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
s all diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia. However, the trial judge, Mr Justice Boreham, demanded an unusually detailed explanation of the prosecution reasoning, and after a two-hour representation by the Attorney-General Sir Michael Havers, a 90-minute lunch break and a further 40 minutes of legal discussion, he rejected the diminished responsibility plea, insisting that the case should be dealt with by a jury. The trial proper was set to commence on 5 May 1981.
The trial lasted two weeks and, despite the efforts of his counsel
James Chadwin QCJames Armstrong Chadwin QC was a prominent British barrister, whose cases included defending Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper"....
, Sutcliffe was found guilty of murder on all counts and sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial judge said that Sutcliffe was beyond redemption, and that he hoped that he would never leave
prisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Other terms are penitentiary, correctional facility, and jail , although in the United States "jail" and "prison" refer to different subtypes of correctional facility...
. He recommended a minimum term of 30 years to be served before
paroleParole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole, meaning " word". Following its use in late-medieval Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners...
is considered. This recommendation meant that Sutcliffe was unlikely to be freed until at least 2011, at the age of 65.
After his trial, Sutcliffe admitted two further attacks to detectives. It was decided at the time, however, that prosecution for these offences was
"not in the public interest".
West Yorkshire PoliceWest Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing West Yorkshire in England. It is the fourth largest force in England and Wales by number of officers, with 5671 officers....
have made it clear that the female victims wish to remain anonymous.
Prison and Broadmoor Hospital
Sutcliffe began his sentence at
HMP ParkhurstHM Prison Parkhurst is a prison situated in Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.Parkhurst prison is one of three closely associated prisons, the other two being Camp Hill, and Albany...
on 22 May 1981. Despite being found sane at his trial, he was soon diagnosed as suffering from
schizophreniaSchizophrenia , from the Greek roots skhizein and phrēn, phren- is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality...
. Attempts to send him to a secure psychiatric unit were initially blocked. During his time at Parkhurst he was seriously assaulted for the first time. The attack was carried out by James Costello, a 35-year-old career criminal from
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
with several convictions for violence. On 10 January 1983, he followed Sutcliffe into the recess of F2, the hospital wing at Parkhurst Prison. He plunged a broken coffee jar twice into the left side of Sutcliffe's face, creating four separate wounds requiring a total of 30 stitches. In March 1984 Sutcliffe was finally sent to
Broadmoor HospitalBroadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in Berkshire, England. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton...
, under section 47 of the
Mental Health Act 1983The Mental Health Act 1983 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom but applies only to people in England and Wales. It covers the reception, care and treatment of mentally disordered persons, the management of their property and other related matters...
.
His wife Sonia obtained a separation from him in 1982 and a final
divorceDivorce or dissolution of marriage is the final termination of a marriage, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between two persons...
in April 1994. On 23 February 1996, Sutcliffe was attacked in his private room in the Henley Ward of Broadmoor Hospital. Paul Wilson, a convicted robber, asked to borrow a
video cassetteVideotape is a means of recording images and sound on to magnetic tape as opposed to movie film. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
before attempting to strangle him with the flex from a pair of
stereoHigh fidelity or hi-fi reproduction is a term used by home stereo listeners and home audio enthusiasts to refer to high-quality reproduction of sound or images that are very faithful to the original performance...
headphonesHeadphones are a pair of small loudspeakers, or less commonly a single speaker, with a way of holding them close to a user's ears and a means of connecting them to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio or CD player. They are also known as earphones, earbuds, stereophones, headsets or,...
. Two other murderers,
Kenneth ErskineKenneth Erskine is an English serial killer who became known as the Stockwell Strangler.-Crimes:During 1986, Erskine murdered seven elderly people, breaking into their homes and strangling them; most often they were sexually assaulted...
(the "
StockwellStockwell is an inner city area of London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth.Stockwell is south south-east of Charing Cross and located between Brixton, Clapham, Vauxhall and Kennington. The A3 road runs through Stockwell.-History:...
Strangler") and Jamie Devitt, intervened upon hearing Sutcliffe's screams.
After an attack by fellow inmate Ian Kay on 10 March 1997 with a pen, Sutcliffe lost vision in his left eye, and his right eye was severely damaged. Kay admitted he had tried to kill Sutcliffe, and was ordered to be detained in a secure mental hospital without time limit. Rumours suggested that Sutcliffe received nearly £200,000 in compensation for the attack, but
West London Mental Health TrustThe West London Mental Healthcare NHS Trust was established 1 October 2000.The head quarters is situated in St. Bernard's Hospital Building...
, which runs
Broadmoor HospitalBroadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in Berkshire, England. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton...
, issued a statement on 18 January 2008 stating that no
compensationCompensation can refer to:*Financial compensation**Remuneration, such as a wage or salary to pay people for their work*** Executive compensation***Deferred compensation...
had been paid in relation to this incident. In 2003, reports surfaced that Sutcliffe had developed diabetes.
Despite being given a
whole life tariffThis is a list of prisoners who have received a whole life tariff through some mechanism in jurisdictions the United Kingdom.-Imposed by Home Secretaries :...
by successive
Home SecretariesThe Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
, Sutcliffe could still be released from custody if the
parole boardA parole board is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on parole after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. Parole boards are used in many jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and the United...
decides that he is no longer a danger to the public. He was originally sentenced to a minimum of 30 years, so he could be released from prison in 2011 because the system under which his tariff was increased has since been declared illegal by the
European Court of Human RightsThe European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is an international judicial body established under the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 to monitor respect of human rights by states...
and also the
High CourtThe High Court of Justice is, together with the Crown Court and the Court of Appeal, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
. The main point of conflict is that the continued detention of Sutcliffe and other life prisoners is currently controlled by a politician – the Home Secretary – rather than by a member of the judiciary. A
European Court of Human RightsThe European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is an international judicial body established under the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 to monitor respect of human rights by states...
hearing which opened in February 2007 is reviewing whether
life imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious felony crime where the convicted person is to remain in prison for the rest of his or her life...
is a violation of
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
; if life imprisonment is outlawed, then Sutcliffe and all other prisoners serving such sentences in Europe would have their cases recalled to court for a new sentence to be set.
Sutcliffe was not on a
Home OfficeThe Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security and order. As such it is responsible for the police, United Kingdom Borders Agency and MI5. It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs, counter-terrorism...
list, published in late 2006, of 35 murderers in
England and WalesEngland and Wales is a legal unit within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland, England and Wales follow the legal system known as English law, and the two form the constitutional successor to the...
who had been told by various judges and politicians that they should never be released.
Sutcliffe's father died in 2004 and was
crematedCremation is the process of reducing human remains to basic chemical compounds in the form of gases and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high temperatures and vaporization....
. On 17 January 2005, Sutcliffe was allowed to visit Grange over Sands, where the ashes had been scattered. The decision to allow the temporary release was initiated by
David BlunkettDavid Blunkett is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside since 1987. Blind since birth and from a poor family in one of Sheffield's most deprived districts, he rose to become Education Secretary in Tony Blair's first Cabinet from 1997 to 2001,...
and later ratified by
Charles ClarkeCharles Rodway Clarke is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Norwich South since 1997, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006.-Early life:...
when he took over the role of Home Secretary. Sutcliffe was accompanied by four members of the hospital staff. Despite the passage of 25 years since the Ripper murders, Sutcliffe's visit was still the focus of front-page
tabloidA tabloid is an industry term for a smaller newspaper format per spread; to a weekly or semi-weekly alternative newspaper that focuses on local-interest stories and entertainment, often distributed free of charge ; or to a newspaper that tends to sensationalize and emphasize or exaggerate or...
headlines.
On 22 December 2007, Sutcliffe was attacked once again. A fellow inmate named Patrick Sureda lunged at him with a metal cutlery knife. Sutcliffe flung himself backwards and the blade missed his right eye, instead stabbing him in the cheek.
On 17 February 2009, it was reported that Sutcliffe was "fit to leave Broadmoor". If the Ministry of Justice agrees with the doctors' verdict, he will be sent to a medium-secure unit where he could be allowed out on short release for
rehabilitation- Mental health :*Rehabilitation , the rehabilitation of criminal behavior.*Rehabilitation , therapy aimed at improving neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished by disease or traumatic injury...
.
Criticism of West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire PoliceWest Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing West Yorkshire in England. It is the fourth largest force in England and Wales by number of officers, with 5671 officers....
were criticised for being inadequately prepared for an investigation on this scale. The case was one of the largest ever investigations by a British police force and predated the use of computers in criminal cases. The information on suspects was stored on handwritten index cards. Aside from difficulties in storing and accessing such a bulk of paperwork (the floor of the incident room had to be reinforced to cope with the weight of paperwork), it was difficult for officers to overcome the information overload of such a large manual system. Sutcliffe was interviewed nine times, but all information the police had about the case was stored in paper form, making cross referencing a difficult task. This fact was compounded by the
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
appeal for information, which generated thousands more documents to process. The police were also criticised for being too focused on the
"I'm Jack" Wearside tape and letters, using them as a point of elimination rather than as a line of enquiry, which allowed Sutcliffe to remain at large for longer, as he did not fit the profile of the sender of the tape or letters. The official response to these problems ultimately led to the implementation of the forerunner of HOLMES 1 (the
Home
Office
Large
Major
Enquiry
System) Computer system, firstly through the development of MICA (Major Incident Computer Application) which was developed between West Yorkshire Police and ISIS Computer Services.
In 1988, the mother of the last victim argued in
courtA court is a body, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes and dispense civil, criminal, or administrative justice in accordance with rules of law....
that the police had failed to use reasonable care in apprehending the murderer of her daughter in
Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police 1988. The
House of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". Parliament comprises the Sovereign, the House of Commons , and the Lords...
held that the
Chief ConstableChief Constable is the title given to the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police, Civil Nuclear...
of West Yorkshire did not owe a
duty of careIn order to establish negligence in English tort law, an invididual must be owed a duty of care by another, to ensure that they do not suffer any unreasonable harm or loss...
to the mother; in other words, that the police enjoy a limited immunity from
negligenceNegligence is a legal concept in the common law legal systems usually used to achieve compensation for injuries . Negligence is a type of tort or delict . However, the concept is sometimes used in criminal law as well...
suits arising from negligent conduct of criminal investigations.
The Byford Report
On 1 June 2006, the
Home OfficeThe Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security and order. As such it is responsible for the police, United Kingdom Borders Agency and MI5. It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs, counter-terrorism...
released Inspector of Constabulary Sir Lawrence Byford's 1981 report of an official inquiry into the Ripper case. Part of the document entitled
"Description of suspects, photofits and other assaults" remains censored by the Home Office. Also partly censored was a section on Sutcliffe’s
"immediate associates".
Referring to the period between 1969, when Sutcliffe first came to the attention of police, and 1975, the year of the murder of Wilma McCann, the report states:
"There is a curious and unexplained lull in Sutcliffe's criminal activities and there is the possibility that he carried out other attacks on prostitutes and unaccompanied women during that period." In 1969 Sutcliffe, described in the Byford Report as an
"otherwise unremarkable young man", came to the notice of police on two occasions in connection with incidents involving prostitutes. The report said that it was clear he had on at least one occasion attacked a Bradford prostitute with a
blackjack weaponA truncheon or baton is essentially a stick of less than arm's length, usually made of wood, plastic, or metal, and carried by law-enforcement, corrections, security, and military personnel for less lethal self-defense, as well...
. Also in 1969 he was arrested in the
red light districtRed Light District can refer to several different topics:* Red-light district - a neighborhood where prostitution is common* The Red Light District - the title of the 2004 album by rapper Ludacris...
of the city in possession of a hammer. However, rather than believing Sutcliffe might use the hammer as an offensive weapon, the arresting officers assumed he was a burglar and he was charged with
"going equipped for stealing."
Byford's report states: "We feel it is highly improbable that the crimes in respect of which Sutcliffe has been charged and convicted are the only ones attributable to him. This feeling is reinforced by examining the details of a number of assaults on women since 1969 which, in some ways, clearly fall into the established pattern of Sutcliffe’s overall
modus operandiModus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "method of operating". The plural is modi operandi...
. I hasten to add that I feel sure that the senior police officers in the areas concerned are also mindful of this possibility but, in order to ensure full account is taken of all the information available, I have arranged for an effective liaison to take place." Police identified a number of attacks which matched Sutcliffe's modus operandi and tried to question the killer, but he was never charged with other crimes.
The Byford Report’s major findings were contained in a summary published by the then
Home SecretaryThe Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
, William Whitelaw, but this is the first time precise details of the bungled police investigation have been disclosed. Sir Lawrence described delays in following up vital tip-offs from Trevor Birdsall, an associate of Sutcliffe’s since 1966. On 25 November 1980, Birdsall sent an anonymous letter to police, the text of which ran as follows: This letter was marked "Priority No 1". An index card was created on the basis of the letter and a policewoman found Sutcliffe already had three existing index cards in the records. But "for some inexplicable reason", said the Byford Report, the papers remained in a filing tray in the incident room until the murderer’s arrest on 2 January the following year.
Birdsall visited Bradford Police Station the day after sending the letter to repeat his misgivings about Sutcliffe; he added the information that he had been with Sutcliffe when Sutcliffe got out of a car to pursue a woman with whom he had had a bar room dispute in Halifax on 16 August 1975. This was the date and place of the Olive Smelt attack. A report compiled on this visit was lost, despite a "comprehensive search" which took place after Sutcliffe’s arrest, according to the report. Byford said:
Further reading
- Bilton, Michael. Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. HarperCollins, 2003. ISBN 0007169639.
- Cross, Roger. Yorkshire Ripper. HarperCollins Canada, Limited, 1981. ISBN 0586055266.
- Burn, Gordon
Gordon Burn was an English writer born in Newcastle upon Tyne and the author of four novels and several works of non-fiction....
. Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son: The Story of Peter Sutcliffe. Heinemann, 1984. Original from the University of Michigan.
- McCann, Richard. Just a Boy: The True Story of A Stolen Childhood. Ebury Press, 2005. ISBN 0091898226.
- O'Gara, Noel. The Real Yorkshire Ripper. Court Publications, Ballinahowen, Athlone, Ireland, 1989.
- Ward Jouve, Nicole. The Streetcleaner: The Yorkshire Ripper Case on Trial. Kampmann, 1986. ISBN 0714528471.
External links