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When the true identity of the infamous Yorkshire Ripper was revealed in 1981, the public breathed a sigh of relief. Peter Sutcliffe, the man behind the heinous slayings of at least thirteen women, had finally been apprehended and would no longer be a threat. But after the relief dissolved, it gave way to questions and criticism. Sutcliffe had been interviewed nine times by West Yorkshire Police, during the five-year investigation.
How had he evaded the authorities for so long? And what were the implications of the investigators’ failure to capture Sutcliffe when he was right under their noses? In this documentary, we will take a look at these questions and more as we explore the life and crimes of Peter Sutcliffe: The Yorkshire Ripper.
00:00 Introduction
01:32 Early Life
09:22 Sutcliffe's Criminial Life
25:55 Wearside Jack
30:36 The Ripper's Final Active Years
33:26 The End of the Yorkshire Ripper
38:37 The Aftermath
Written & Researched by: Amanda Winters
🎧 Check out the "Hit The Lights" Podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Google and everywhere else you get your podcasts!
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When the true identity of the infamous Yorkshire Ripper was revealed in 1981, the public breathed a sigh of relief. Peter Sutcliffe, the man behind the heinous slayings of at least thirteen women, had finally been apprehended and would no longer be a threat. But after the relief dissolved, it gave way to questions and criticism. Sutcliffe had been interviewed nine times by West Yorkshire Police, during the five-year investigation.
How had he evaded the authorities for so long? And what were the implications of the investigators’ failure to capture Sutcliffe when he was right under their noses? In this documentary, we will take a look at these questions and more as we explore the life and crimes of Peter Sutcliffe: The Yorkshire Ripper.
00:00 Introduction
01:32 Early Life
09:22 Sutcliffe's Criminial Life
25:55 Wearside Jack
30:36 The Ripper's Final Active Years
33:26 The End of the Yorkshire Ripper
38:37 The Aftermath
Written & Researched by: Amanda Winters
🎧 Check out the "Hit The Lights" Podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Google and everywhere else you get your podcasts!
🎧 Podcast Links:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6anlNMUERfwC7S0665z3wy
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-hit-the-lights-podcast/id1503579405
Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS84MTIwMzkucnNz
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/b9116ded-48d9-4f42-ab95-1a74d32c0c89/the-hit-the-lights-podcast
To submit any creepy personal stories or send in videos/photographs you may have caught over the years and can't explain, please email 👉 mystory@top5s.co.uk
Our other channels 👇
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzNwK_O14PRYEm5LBiiOAgw
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpbMdDya7ubh013QGe0JqHA/featured
🔎 ColdCaseDetective: TRUE CRIME
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdjslyNQupPSFxK_mSPcG-g?
WarsofTheWorld: MILITARY HISTORY
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB29sxIJ9PQIo0hCnIaOMbg
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfxuwHJ4cQHgf1ez7662_fQ
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Thanks for watching.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement is intended. If you are, or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, PLEASE email us before putting in a claim and we can resolve the issue immediately. We can be reach on this email: info@top5s.co.uk
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NewsTranscript
00:02When the true identity of the infamous Yorkshire Ripper was revealed in 1981, the public breathed a sigh of relief.
00:10Peter Sutcliffe, the man behind the heinous slayings of at least 13 women, had finally been apprehended and would no
00:17longer be a threat.
00:19But after the relief dissolved, it gave way to questions and criticism.
00:24Sutcliffe had been interviewed nine times by West Yorkshire police during the five-year investigation.
00:30How had he evaded the authorities for so long?
00:33And what were the implications of the investigators' failure to capture Sutcliffe when he was right under their noses?
00:40In this documentary, we'll take a look at these questions and more as we explore the life and crimes of
00:46Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.
00:51Welcome to Murderous Minds.
01:38Peter William Sutcliffe was born June 2nd, 1946, to John William Sutcliffe and Kathleen Francis in Bingley, West Riding of
01:47Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom.
01:49Raised in a working-class household, he was brought up as a Catholic and was the eldest of five children.
01:56His mother was a Roman Catholic while his father was part of the choir at the Anglican Church of St
02:01Wilfrance.
02:03Shortly after Sutcliffe's birth, his mother became pregnant again, although the baby would later pass away while still in infancy.
02:12As a child, Sutcliffe was considered small and frail and was treated gently as a result.
02:19He barely played with other children, preferring the company of a book or his mother, whom he followed around the
02:24family home like a shadow.
02:27He much preferred the comforts of the indoors and rarely ventured outside as a result.
02:32At the age of four, however, he was placed in school.
02:35His parents believed it would help boost his confidence and his social skills, but still Sutcliffe remained aloof, observing other
02:44children from the sidelines as he remained quiet and unapproachable.
02:49Other children of the school were carefree, playful and loud, and they often poked fun at his appearance, specifically his
02:57narrow limbs.
02:58He avoided getting involved with games the other children were playing and often stood off to the side of the
03:04playground during breaks, watching the others from a safe distance.
03:09By the age of five, Sutcliffe still hadn't grown out of his neediness.
03:13He still clung to his mother's side when he was at home, and even at the age of seven, he
03:17would hide in the folds of her skirts while other children would stay by their mother's side, holding hands.
03:24As he got older, his younger sister Anne, who was the second oldest child, took on the role of Sutcliffe's
03:30protector while in school.
03:32Her defensiveness of her brother caused much of the taunts to quiet considerably.
03:38But when Sutcliffe left primary school and began attending secondary, things changed for the worse.
03:43He continued to remain aloof, never making any friends and never joining in with activities.
03:48This combined with his frail appearance made him a target for bullies, and eventually Sutcliffe stopped going to school altogether.
03:56For two weeks, he hid in the attic of his family home after pretending to leave for classes, sleeping away
04:03most of his days.
04:06Eventually, however, his parents discovered his truancy after they received a letter from the school.
04:12Although Sutcliffe told his parents that he hated school and didn't want to attend, he continued going and reported he
04:18never skipped class again and never complained.
04:22He remained reserved and withdrawn into his teen years.
04:26Leaving school in 1961 at the age of 15, he began working in engineering, taking up employment as an apprentice
04:33fitter.
04:34His nature remained the same even as he turned 17.
04:39Throughout his childhood and teen years, Sutcliffe showed no major signs of abnormality.
04:44He was not known to abuse animals, set fires or participate in other criminal or violent activities.
04:52However, his youngest brother Carl noted that the children's home life wasn't exactly a happy one.
04:59Speaking to the press, Carl recalled,
05:01My dad was a drinker. He used to belt the hell out of us when we were kids.
05:06I remember when I was about 4 or 5, there was a bit of an argument and he smashed a
05:11beer glass into Peter's head.
05:13It was at the Christmas dinner table and it was one of those big chunky glasses with dimples in.
05:20It was over something and nowt.
05:22That really stuck in my mind.
05:25Carl also noted that their father was a womanizer who likely had children all around Bingley,
05:31but had once ruthlessly shamed and belittled their mother in front of the children for meeting up with another man.
05:38As for Peter, Carl stated he was great with me normally.
05:42He was a brilliant brother.
05:44He'd buy me presents, take me to the pictures and the skating rink.
05:48But again, it wasn't all picture perfect.
05:51I do remember there was one time when he held me by the feet out of the bedroom window.
05:56I thought he's not going to drop me, but he did on my head.
06:00I had a twisted neck and I had a real sore neck for weeks.
06:06Peter didn't stay in engineering for long.
06:09After a year, he left his apprenticeship, complaining of being exploited.
06:13He spent a short stint working alongside his father, who was a weaver at a local mill,
06:19before moving on to a firm named Fiber Products.
06:24As Sutcliffe turned 18, people began to notice a change in his behaviour.
06:28He purchased a motorbike and began taking an interest in health and fitness magazines.
06:33He was particularly interested in building bulk and strength, and started taking bodybuilding supplements.
06:41Sutcliffe then changed career paths again.
06:43This time he began working as a gravedigger, where he reportedly developed a macabre sense of humour.
06:51Between 1971 and 1973, he worked at the Bard Television Factory, on a packaging line,
06:58before taking up a position on night shift at a manufacturing plant.
07:02Though he was made redundant in 1975, and used some of the money to train as a heavy goods vehicle
07:09driver.
07:11In 1976, Sutcliffe was fired from his job for the theft of used tyres.
07:17He was unemployed for over six months, until he began working as a HGV driver for a Bradford-based company.
07:25Reportedly, during his late teens, Sutcliffe developed an interest in sex workers,
07:30an interest which is generally described as unhealthy.
07:33He would often watch them solicit on street corners, and had an abnormal fascination with them,
07:38but was never known to hire them himself.
07:42However, there is some speculation that Sutcliffe did once attempt to do so, but had a bad experience,
07:48during which he was conned out of money by the sex worker and her pimp.
07:54On February 14th, 1967, Sutcliffe, now 21, met 17-year-old Sonia Zirma.
08:02The couple married on August 10th, 1974, two years after Sonia began treatment for her schizophrenia.
08:09On several occasions, she suffered from terrible miscarriages,
08:13and the pair soon learned that they would not be able to have children.
08:17Upon learning this news, Sonia returned to her studies with the goal of becoming a teacher.
08:22During this time, she reportedly had an affair.
08:26She completed her teacher training course in 1977, and soon became employed,
08:32after which she and Sutcliffe purchased a home in Heaton, Bradford,
08:36moving into the property on September 26th.
08:40Notably, Sonia stayed married to Sutcliffe even after he was found guilty of murder in 1981,
08:46and remained in their marital home.
08:48The couple separated in 1989, and divorced five years later.
08:53A journalist by the name of Barbara Jones described Sonia as the most irritating, strangest,
08:59and coldest person I've ever met.
09:02She's so incredibly prickly and demanding.
09:05For years, Sutcliffe managed to maintain the facade of an ordinary, married working man.
09:11But in reality, he was a violent, ill-tempered individual with a vicious hatred of women,
09:16who enjoyed causing others harm.
09:29Sutcliffe's first known assault occurred in 1969, when he struck a sex worker.
09:34At the time, he was reportedly looking for the same woman who'd conned him out of money,
09:39leaving his friend's minivan, and walking up St. Paul's Road in Bradford,
09:43until he could no longer be seen.
09:46Sutcliffe returned to the van shortly afterwards,
09:49but he was out of breath, as if he was fleeing something.
09:52He told his friend, Trevor Birdsall, to drive.
09:57Sutcliffe then revealed that he'd followed a sex worker into a carriage,
10:00and hit her over the head with a stone and a sock.
10:03I got out of the car, went across the road, and I hit her.
10:07The force of the impact tore the toe off the sock, and whatever was in it came out.
10:12I went back to the car and got in it.
10:15The authorities visited Sutcliffe's home the following day,
10:18as the victim had noticed Trevor's car license plate.
10:22He admitted to striking the woman, but claimed that he'd only used his hand.
10:26The police officers reportedly told him that he was very lucky,
10:30as the woman wanted nothing more to do with the incident,
10:32and no further action was taken against Sutcliffe,
10:36leaving him free and clear to continue acting out his violence.
10:41Sutcliffe's second documented assault occurred on July 5th, 1975,
10:46in the town of Keeley, when he attacked Anna Brosman,
10:49who was walking alone that night.
10:52She was struck with a hammer, rendering her unconscious,
10:55before being slashed in the stomach with a knife.
10:59Sutcliffe was unable to kill Anna, however, as he was disturbed by a neighbor.
11:03She had to undergo neurological surgery,
11:06but Anna survived her wounds, though she was traumatized for life.
11:10She later stated,
11:23Over a month later, on August 15th,
11:26Sutcliffe attacked a woman named Olive Smelt in Halifax.
11:30He used the same method of approach that he had taken with Anna,
11:32which involved him engaging in small talk with Olive,
11:35before hitting her in the head with a hammer from behind.
11:39Sutcliffe then disarranged the woman's clothing,
11:42before slashing her lower back with a knife.
11:44Once again, he was interrupted and unable to finish the job.
11:48Olive managed to survive her injuries,
11:50but was deeply traumatized afterwards.
11:54Speaking with Detective Superintendent Dick Holland,
11:57Olive described her attacker as having a Yorkshire accent.
12:01It was also noted that both she and Anna had been in towns with red light districts
12:05when they were assaulted,
12:07but both of these details were ignored by authorities.
12:12Sutcliffe struck again on August 27th,
12:14when he attacked 14-year-old Tracy Brown in Silsden,
12:18although he was never convicted of this crime.
12:21Tracy was hit from behind five times on the head,
12:23as she was walking along a country lane.
12:26The headlights of a passing vehicle spooked Sutcliffe and caused him to flee,
12:29leaving the teenager alive, although she required brain surgery.
12:35The Ripper's first murder occurred on October 30th,
12:38just months following the string of assaults of young women.
12:42Wilma McCann was a 28-year-old mother of four living in Leeds
12:46when she was picked up by Sutcliffe while trying to get home from the pub.
12:51Sutcliffe had reportedly solicited Wilma for sex,
12:54but struck her twice with his hammer before anything of that nature could take place.
12:59After striking her in the head, the Ripper disarranged her clothes,
13:02and inflicted one stab wound to the throat,
13:05two below the right breast, three below the left breast,
13:08and another nine stab wounds around the navel.
13:12Back near Wilma's home, two of her children,
13:14seven-year-old Sonia and five-year-old Richard,
13:17waited at the bus stop that she normally used.
13:19But their mother never returned home.
13:22The 28-year-old's body was found early the next morning
13:26by a local milkman and his brother.
13:30The investigation into Wilma's death was extensive.
13:34150 officers from the West Yorkshire police were involved,
13:37and 11,000 interviews took place.
13:40Despite their efforts, law enforcement failed to identify the 28-year-old's killer.
13:46Tragically, in December of 2007, Wilma's daughter, Sonia, took her own life.
13:51She had spent years suffering from depression after her mother's death.
13:55Almost three months passed before Sutcliffe took another life.
13:58On January 20th, 1976, he picked up 42-year-old Emily Jackson,
14:04who had recently started engaging in sex work
14:07because she and her husband were struggling financially.
14:11On the night of the slaying, Emily was soliciting outside the gaiety pub on Roundhay Road.
14:17Once Sutcliffe picked her up,
14:19he drove her about half a mile to some derelict buildings in the Manor Industrial Estate.
14:24The ripper hit the 42-year-old woman on the head with a hammer
14:27after pretending that his car wouldn't start,
14:29causing the two of them to investigate beneath the bonnet.
14:33Sutcliffe then dragged Emily's body into a yard filled with rubbish
14:36and disarranged her clothing.
14:39Using a sharpened screwdriver,
14:41he stabbed her in the neck, chest and abdomen 52 times
14:45before stamping on her thigh,
14:46which caused him to leave behind a boot print.
14:51Emily's body was discovered the next day by a workman
14:54using a shortcut through the estate.
14:55When the police arrived on the scene,
14:58they noticed drag marks indicating that the killer had moved her body
15:01and they determined that nothing had been taken from her handbag.
15:06The boot mark left behind was determined to have come from a Dunlop Warwick Wellington boot
15:12and was likely a size 7 or 8.
15:15Investigators promptly linked Emily's demise with that of Wilma
15:18due to the types of injuries they had both received.
15:22Sutcliffe would later recall his second murder, stating,
15:25She got in the car.
15:27I remember when she got in, there was an overpowering smell of cheap perfume and sweat.
15:32This served all the more for me to hate this woman, even though I didn't even know her.
15:37Looking back, I can see how the first murder had unhinged me completely.
15:42Less than five months later, on May 9th, Sutcliffe attacked a 20-year-old named Marcella Claxton in Leeds.
15:49She had been making her way home from a party in the small hours of the morning,
15:53when she was stopped by the Ripper,
15:54who spotted her while cruising the streets in his Ford Corsair.
16:00Marcella reportedly asked for a lift, and the pair pulled over at one point so that she could urinate.
16:06Afterwards, Sutcliffe struck the 20-year-old with a hammer from behind.
16:10He dealt her around eight or nine blows to the head before fleeing the scene.
16:14Although Marcella has claimed that as she lay on the ground, Sutcliffe masturbated and pushed Cash into her hand, telling
16:20her not to call the police.
16:23This version of events greatly bothered Sutcliffe when he heard about it, and he reportedly made racist remarks in response.
16:31Marcella managed to stumble to a phone box and call emergency services.
16:35She claimed that once she hung up, she spotted the Ripper's car again, and she assumed he was there to
16:40finish her off, although he was unable to find her.
16:44The 20-year-old survived her ordeal, but required 52 stitches to close the wounds in her head.
16:49Although she still suffered intermittent blackouts.
16:53She had also been four months pregnant at the time of the attack, and miscarried as a result of the
16:58violence.
17:01Marcella later testified against Sutcliffe at his trial.
17:04Notably, she was able to give the police an accurate description of the man who assaulted her,
17:09detailing that he was a young white man, with crinkly black hair and a beard, and that he had a
17:14Yorkshire accent.
17:15Claimed not to live in Leeds, and had a white car with red upholstery.
17:20Still, Marcella's case was not linked to that of the Yorkshire Ripper until after Sutcliffe was arrested and his confession
17:27had been taken.
17:29The rest of 1976 passed without incident.
17:33Sutcliffe stayed inactive for over 270 days before finally succumbing to his violent desires, and attacking 28-year-old Irene
17:41Richardson.
17:42On February 5th, 1977, Irene was a sex worker in Chapel Town, and was beaten to death with a hammer,
17:49in almost the exact same spot where Marcella Claxton had been assaulted.
17:54After her death, the Ripper disarranged Irene's clothing, and covered her body with a coat.
18:01Irene had been soliciting near the Gayety pub, the same one where Sutcliffe had picked up Emily Jackson, and she
18:07had been picked up by him in a similar fashion.
18:10Much like Marcella, Irene went to urinate but was attacked by Sutcliffe instead.
18:15He dealt three blows to her skull, and then stabbed and slashed her with a Stanley knife.
18:20He left the scene upon hearing voices in the distance.
18:24Irene's body was discovered the following morning by a passing jogger.
18:27She had stab wounds around her neck and throat, and three to her stomach, which were so vicious that her
18:32intestines had been exposed.
18:35One of the biggest clues investigators found at the scene was tire impressions, which revealed the brand and type, and
18:41narrowed down the type of vehicle the killer may drive from hundreds to just 26.
18:46But there were 100,000 of those vehicles that would need to be inspected and ruled out.
18:51Two months later, Patricia Tina Atkinson became the Ripper's fourth murder victim.
18:57On April 23rd, Tina, a sex worker from Bradford, was found dead in her flat.
19:02She was picked up by Sutcliffe while on her way home from the pub, and invited him to her home
19:07which was nearby.
19:09Inside the flat, he hung up his coat, before turning to Tina, and dealing four blows to the back of
19:14her head.
19:15He hit her once more, and then picked her up and placed her on the bed, disarranging her clothing before
19:20he attacked her with a hammer again.
19:24This time, he also used the claw end of the weapon, leaving long, odd marks and grazes, that the pathologist
19:30later described as curious.
19:33Tina was stabbed six times in the stomach, slashed along the left side of her body, and stabbed again in
19:38the back.
19:39Sutcliffe threw a bedsheet over her body before he left.
19:44Tina was discovered the following evening at 6.30 by a friend.
19:47A bloody footprint was found on the bedsheet, which matched the one discovered on Airy Jackson's body.
19:55Another two months passed before the Ripper struck again.
19:58On June 26th, 16-year-old Jane McDonald was killed in Chapel Town.
20:03Unlike many of his previous victims, Jane was not a sex worker.
20:08Disturbingly, the police described the teenager as the Ripper's first innocent victim.
20:13Jane had been on her way home at 2am, when Sutcliffe spotted her, exited his vehicle, and began to follow
20:19her.
20:20He assumed she was a sex worker, as it was so late, and she was travelling through the red light
20:24district.
20:26Armed with his hammer, he closed the distance between the two, and hit Jane on the back of the head
20:30with his hammer.
20:32He dragged her into a nearby children's play area, and hit her again.
20:37As per his MO, Sutcliffe disarranged the 16-year-old's clothing and stabbed her in the back and chest.
20:43She was stabbed about 20 times in total, and bludgeoned three times.
20:48A broken bottle with a screw top protruded from her chest.
20:52The investigation into the Yorkshire Ripper changed at this point.
20:56Grotesquely, it was only after Jane's murder that the public became outraged by the serial killer,
21:01and the police began to take the case seriously.
21:05The chief constable at the time, Ronald Gregory, even appointed his most senior detective to take the lead on the
21:10case.
21:12Until this point, nobody had been interested in solving the case of a serial killer stalking sex workers in West
21:17Yorkshire.
21:19After Jane's demise, Sutcliffe's next attack was on Maureen Long, a woman residing in Bradford, who had accepted a lift
21:26from him.
21:27He assaulted her in July, but was interrupted and fled the scene.
21:32Maureen ended up in hospital for nine weeks, and suffered from hypothermia after the Ripper had abandoned her, but she
21:38ultimately recovered.
21:41Around this time, a witness misidentified the make of Sutcliffe's car, which wasted much of the police's time and resources.
21:49On October 1st, 1977, Sutcliffe took the life of 20-year-old Jean Jordan, a mother of two and sex
21:57worker operating in Manchester.
22:00He picked her up that night, and they drove to an isolated spot, an overgrown wasteland surrounded by thick hedges.
22:07Armed with his hammer, Sutcliffe followed after Jean, and hit her eleven times.
22:12He was startled, however, when he saw a vehicle's headlights turn on nearby.
22:17The car's engine then started.
22:20Realising the body may be seen, Sutcliffe pulled Jean's remains closer to the hedges.
22:24But as soon as one car pulled away, another pulled in, and he seemed to decide that it was too
22:29risky for him to loiter.
22:32Sutcliffe headed to his car and began to drive home.
22:34On route, he realised that he'd given Jean a brand new £5 note that had been in his pay packet,
22:41which could possibly be tracked back to him.
22:44However, he still deemed it too dangerous to go back to the body, so he continued on his way home.
22:49He returned to the scene a week later, but was unable to find the cash.
22:54In a rage, he slashed and stabbed Jean's body, horrifically mutilating her in a way he had not done with
22:59his previous victims.
23:01He eventually tried to remove her body from her head, so that the Ripper would not be associated with this
23:07slaying, but failed to do so, and eventually gave up and returned home.
23:13Jean's body was found on October 10th.
23:16The £5 note that Sutcliffe had so desperately wanted to find was discovered by the police inside a secret compartment
23:22of her handbag.
23:24The note was traced to branches of the Midland Bank in Shipley and Bingley, and it was determined that 8
23:29,000 employees could have received the note in their pay packets.
23:34Over the course of three months, 5,000 of these individuals were interviewed, including Sutcliffe himself, but they did not
23:41identify the Ripper.
23:43Sutcliffe's alibi for the night of the slaying was found to be credible.
23:47He was at a party for most of it.
23:51Sutcliffe's next victim was 25-year-old Marilyn Moore, a Leeds-based sex worker, whom he solicited on the night
23:57of December 14th.
23:59He had suggested the pair get into the back seat, but the door on Marilyn's side was locked.
24:05When Sutcliffe came around to open it, he swung his hammer at her, but lost his balance, dealing the 25
24:11-year-old a glancing blow.
24:14Marilyn screamed loudly as she fell to the ground, and Sutcliffe hit her again.
24:19She was dealt a few more blows before the Ripper was forced to flee, as he was worried that her
24:23screaming, and a nearby barking dog, would bring unwanted attention.
24:28Marilyn regained consciousness and walked to the main road, where a couple out walking saw her and called the emergency
24:34services.
24:36She received emergency surgery and survived the encounter, giving the police a thorough description of the Ripper, although she claimed
24:44he had a Liverpool accident, rather than a Yorkshire one.
24:48She also described his vehicle wrongly, though tire treads found at the scene matched those from the Irene Richardson case.
24:58On January of 1978, investigators stopped searching for the person who'd received the £5 note Jean Jordan had received.
25:06Later that month, the Ripper took the life of a 21-year-old Bradford sex worker named Yvonne Pearson.
25:13She had been bludgeoned with a hammer before Sutcliffe jumped on her chest, stuffed horse hair into her mouth, which
25:19he had gathered from an abandoned sofa, and hid her body beneath the same sofa.
25:25Only ten days passed before he struck again.
25:29Eighteen-year-old Helen Reitker was a sex worker from Huddersfield, who was struck in the head five times.
25:35Her clothing was disarranged, and she was stabbed in the chest numerous times.
25:39Her body was found, three days later.
25:42Sutcliffe told police,
25:44I had the urge to kill any women.
25:46The urge inside me to kill girls was now practically uncontrollable.
25:56Where Side Jack
26:02On April 4th, 1979, Josephine Whittaker, a 19-year-old banking clerk, became the Ripper's next victim.
26:10She was attacked in Halifax as she was walking home from her grandparents' house.
26:15Sutcliffe spotted Josephine as she was walking alone that night, and began walking alongside her, engaging in polite conversation.
26:23The 19-year-old noted that she often took a shortcut home, which involved her cutting across an unlit field.
26:29Sutcliffe followed her, and when they were out of range of the street lamps, struck her with his hammer.
26:35He hit Josephine twice, disarranging her clothing, and proceeded to stab her 21 times in the chest and stomach, and
26:42six times in the right leg.
26:45Unfortunately, it was at this point that the investigation into the Yorkshire Ripper was completely derailed by an ongoing hoax.
26:52Between March 1978 and June 1979, three letters were sent to the police and a newspaper, the Daily Mirror, by
26:59a man claiming to be the culprit.
27:02He signed the letters, Jack the Ripper.
27:06On June 17th, 1979, the individual sent a cassette tape to Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield, where he introduced himself
27:14as Jack, and claimed responsibility for the murders.
27:18But the FBI informed the West Yorkshire Police, that both the tape and the letters were from a hoaxer, after
27:24an expert profiler heard the recording, and determined as such.
27:29Take a listen to the recording.
27:32I'm Jack. I see you are still having no luck catching me. I have the greatest respect for you, George.
27:40But Lord, you are no nearer catching me now than four years ago when I started.
27:48I reckon your boys are letting you down, George. They can't be much good, can they?
27:54The only time they came near catching me was a few months back in Chapel Town when I was disturbed.
28:03I warned you in March that I'd strike again. Sorry it wasn't Bradford. I'm not quite sure when I'll strike
28:10again.
28:12But it will be definitely sometime this year. I'm not sure where. Maybe Manchester. I like it there. There's plenty
28:23of them knocking about.
28:24They never learn, do they, George? I bet you've warned them. But they never listen. Well, it's been nice chanting
28:32you, George. George, Chuck the Ripper.
28:36The man on the tapes was dubbed, Wearside Jack, due to his Wearside accent. And despite being told he was
28:42not the Ripper, the police continued to treat Wearside Jack as their number one suspect.
28:48While Peter Sutcliffe was interviewed and released nine times in the span of five years, four of these releases came
28:54when the police felt he didn't match their Wearside suspect, as he had a different accent and different handwriting.
29:01One Northumbria police detective inspector wrote a report which detailed how Wearside Jack was not the true culprit, as the
29:09writer had made no reference to Yvonne Pearson, whose body was discovered at the time.
29:15This indicated to him that the letters and tape truly were a hoax. But his report went ignored. It wasn't
29:22until Sutcliffe was arrested in 1981 that the police finally established that Wearside Jack was an imposter.
29:29In 2005, John Samuel Humble, an unemployed labourer, was arrested at his Sunderland home. He admitted to writing and sending
29:38the Wearside Jack letters, and to the creation of the cassette tape, describing his own actions as evil.
29:44However, he denied perverting the course of justice, and his lawyers argued that he should only be charged with wasting
29:50police time.
29:51However, Humble was ultimately charged with four counts of perverting the course of justice.
29:56He was reportedly motivated by a desire for notoriety, a hatred of the authorities, which stemmed from having spent a
30:03stint in a young offenders institution in 1975, and a fixation with Jack the Ripper.
30:09Before his arrest, Humble had attempted to come clean, by anonymously phoning the police to tell them that they had
30:15been pranked, but his claims were discounted.
30:19On March 21st, 2006, Humble was given eight years behind bars.
30:24He was released in 2009, having served four years of his sentence and given a new name.
30:29He died ten years later in August 2019.
30:38The Ripper's Final Act of Years
30:43Meanwhile, on September 1st, 1979, Sutcliffe murdered 20-year-old Barbara Leach, a Bradford University student.
30:51It had now become commonplace for the Ripper to target any woman, not just sex workers.
30:57Like most of his other victims, Sutcliffe chose Barbara after he spotted her walking alone.
31:03As she walked towards him, he exited his vehicle and attacked her with a hammer as she passed him.
31:09He then disarranged her clothing and stabbed her with his screwdriver, before finally placing an old piece of carpet on
31:15top of her.
31:16Barbara was reported missing by her roommate the following morning and was found behind 13 Ashgrove during a police search
31:23for her.
31:26In April of 1980, Sutcliffe was arrested for drunk driving.
31:30As he waited for his trial to begin, he took the lives of two more victims.
31:3447-year-old Marguerite Walls, a civil servant, was struck by his hammer on the night of August 20th while
31:41walking home from work in Leeds.
31:43After she was repeatedly hit by the Ripper, a loop of rope was put around Marguerite's neck so she could
31:49be dragged into a nearby high-walled garden.
31:52While he knelt on her chest, Sutcliffe strangled her.
31:55He then removed all her clothing except her tights and covered her in foliage.
32:02Investigators did not immediately believe her murder was the work of the Ripper, due to the use of the robe
32:07and the fact that her cause of death was strangulation.
32:10Her body was also absent of stab wounds.
32:13All of these clues led to the idea that this was a separate attack by a separate killer.
32:1920-year-old Jacqueline Hill was the final murder victim of the Ripper.
32:23A Leeds-based student, Jacqueline was assaulted while walking home from her nearest bus stop.
32:29Sutcliffe got out of his car and followed her a short distance before striking a blow with his hammer.
32:35He then pulled a 20-year-old into a nearby wasteland, removed her clothes and stabbed her in the chest
32:41with his screwdriver.
32:43Jacqueline was also stabbed once in the eye.
32:46Around the time of these final slayings, Sutcliffe also attempted to take the lives of three other women who managed
32:52to survive their attacks.
32:54Abhadya Bandara, who was attacked in Leeds on September 24th.
32:58Maureen Mo Lea, an art student attacked on the grounds of Leeds University on October 25th.
33:04And Theresa Sykes, a 16-year-old girl who was assaulted in Huddersfield on the night of November 5th.
33:11On November 25th, Trevor Birdsale, who'd been driving the van after Sutcliffe assaulted his first victim in 1969, reported him
33:20as a potential Ripper suspect.
33:26The End of the Yorkshire Ripper
33:33On January 2nd, 1981, Sutcliffe was stopped by the police while in the company of a 24-year-old sex
33:39worker named Olivia Reavers in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
33:43His vehicle had false license plates, and he was arrested and transferred to Dewsbury Police Station in West Yorkshire, where
33:50he was questioned in connection to the Ripper case.
33:53The following day, law enforcement returned to the scene of his arrest.
33:57Here they discovered a knife, a hammer and a rope, all of which he'd attempted to get rid of when
34:02he briefly slipped away from the police, after tying them he was bursting for a pee.
34:07It was soon learned that Sutcliffe had also dumped a second knife in the toilet cistern at the police station,
34:12when he'd been allowed to go to the restroom.
34:15Before long, investigators had obtained a search warrant for his marital home in Heaton, and his wife Sonia was picked
34:22up for questioning.
34:23When Sutcliffe was stripped at the police station, he was found to be wearing an inverted V-neck jumper beneath
34:28his trousers, where the sleeves were pulled over his legs and his genital area was exposed by the neckline,
34:34indicating a sexual motive for his crimes.
34:38The fronts of the elbows were padded. This is believed to have protected his knees while he knelt over his
34:43victims.
34:44This information was not made public until 2003.
34:49Sutcliffe was questioned for two days, before confessing to his crimes.
34:53On January 4th 1981, he declared himself the Ripper, and began to calmly describe his criminal activities.
35:01In later weeks, he would claim that God had told him to murder the women, stating,
35:05The women I killed were filthy. Bastard prostitutes who were littering the streets. I was just cleaning up the place
35:12a bit.
35:14The only ounce of regret Sutcliffe showed was when it came to Jane MacDonald, the 16-year-old he'd murdered
35:19near a children's play park in June of 1977.
35:25Sutcliffe, now 35, was charged with 13 counts of murder on January 5th 1981.
35:32At his trial, he pleaded not guilty to all charges, insisting he was guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of
35:38diminished responsibility.
35:41He claimed that he was the tool of God's will, and this served to be the basis of his defense.
35:46He added that he heard voices which commanded him to kill sex workers, and that those voices were God's.
35:53Sutcliffe then pled guilty to seven charges of attempted murder, while four psychiatrists diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia.
36:01The judge rejected the diminished responsibility plea, and the expert testimonies, and insisted the case should be heard by a
36:08jury.
36:11The trial began on May 5th, and lasted two weeks.
36:14In the end, Sutcliffe was found guilty of murder on all counts, and sentenced to 20 concurrent life sentences.
36:21For their part, the jury also rejected the testimony of the four psychiatrists.
36:27There is speculation that they were influenced by the testimony of a prison officer who heard Sutcliffe tell his wife
36:33that if he convinced people he was mad, then he might get 10 years in a loony bin.
36:39The trial judge told Sutcliffe that he was beyond redemption, and he hoped that he would never leave prison.
36:45He recommended that a 35-year-old serve 30 years in prison before being considered for parole.
36:51In 2010, 29 years into his sentence, the High Court issued Sutcliffe with a whole life tariff, meaning he would
36:58never leave prison.
37:01While incarcerated, Sutcliffe began using the surname Coonan, his mother's maiden name.
37:07Despite his paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis, all attempts to send him to a secure psychiatric unit were blocked.
37:14While in Parkhurst, the first prison he was sent to in 1981, he was attacked by a violent inmate, when
37:20a broken coffee jar was plunged twice into one side of his face.
37:24In 1984, Sutcliffe was moved to Broadmoor Hospital under Section 47 of the Mental Health Act in 1983.
37:32He was attacked several more times in the years following.
37:35Once in 1996, when a convicted robber attempted to strangle him with a pair of headphones.
37:40Once in 1997, when he was attacked with a pen by another inmate, leaving him with a damaged right eye
37:46and lost vision in his left.
37:48And once in 2007, when an inmate lunged at him with a metal cutlery knife, which narrowly missed his right
37:54eye and stabbed him in the cheek instead.
37:59In 2015, Sutcliffe was assessed as being no longer mentally ill, and a year later it was ruled that he
38:06would no longer need clinical treatment for his mental condition.
38:09He was sent from Broadmoor to Frankland Prison in Durham, in August of 2016.
38:16Peter Sutcliffe died at the University Hospital of North Durham on November 13th, 2020.
38:22He was 74 and had contracted COVID-19, and had a myriad of underlying health problems.
38:28He had reportedly refused treatment, and his remains were cremated after his death.
38:38The Aftermath
38:44West Yorkshire police were criticized heavily for their poor handling of the Ripper case.
38:49It was one of the largest investigations undertaken by a British police force, and they were not prepared for the
38:54enormity of the task.
38:56One particular hindrance to the case was that it predated the use of computers, making it difficult to cross-reference
39:02and thoroughly examine the information they received, due to the manual nature of the system.
39:09Appeals to the public only served to muddy the waters further, as thousands of tips poured in over the years
39:14about the Ripper and Wareside Jack.
39:17But there was a backlog of unprocessed information, which meant nobody connected the vital pieces which would have helped lead
39:23a path to Sutcliffe.
39:25The police were also criticized for their lack of interest in solving the murders of sex workers.
39:31The Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group organized several Reclaim the Night marches, in response to law enforcement's attitude, and condemned their
39:40constant victim blaming, noting that the police's main response to the Ripper's actions was that women should stay indoors at
39:47night.
39:49Eleven marches were held across the UK on November 12, 1977, with women protesting the idea that they should be
39:56shut away because of the violence and actions of Sutcliffe.
40:00Statements from many senior policemen at the time failed to do anything but flame the fires, with Attorney General Sir
40:06Michael Havers stating, at Sutcliffe's trial in 1981,
40:10some were prostitutes, but perhaps the saddest part of the case is that some were not.
40:15The last six attacks were on totally respectable women.
40:20Meanwhile, Jim Hobson, a senior detective for West Yorkshire Police, stated that the Ripper has made it clear that he
40:27hates prostitutes.
40:28Many people do.
40:29We as a police force will continue to arrest prostitutes, but the Ripper is now killing innocent girls.
40:35That indicates your mental state, and that you are in urgent need of medical attention.
40:40You have made your point.
40:42Give yourself up before another innocent woman dies.
40:45Feminist activist Nina Lopez stated Sir Michael Havers' comments were an indictment of the hallway in which the police and
40:52the establishment were dealing with the Yorkshire Ripper case.
40:55Another activist, Julie Bindle, who lived in Leeds at the time of the murders,
41:00and even reported to the police being followed one night by a man matching Sutcliffe's description,
41:05said of these kinds of statements,
41:07there are no innocent victims, because there were no guilty victims.
41:13After Sutcliffe's incarceration, the government ordered a review of West Yorkshire Police's investigation into the Ripper.
41:20It was concluded by the inspector of Constabulary Lawrence Byford, and his subsequent report was dubbed the Byford Report.
41:27It was released to the public in full in 2006, and backed up much of the criticism which had already
41:33been laid against the authorities.
41:34It noted that the tip-off from Trevor Birdsale went unnoticed between November 25th, 1980, when the tip was given,
41:42until Sutcliffe's arrest in January of 1981.
41:46The report also stated that there was a high likelihood that the Ripper had numerous other victims,
41:51including Carol Wilkinson, who was bludgeoned over the head with a stone in Bradford on October 10th, 1977, and reportedly
41:59knew Sutcliffe.
42:00Sutcliffe's wife, Sonia, claimed to know nothing about her husband's criminal activities while they were married.
42:06His youngest brother, Carl, was equally shocked when he discovered, aged 21, that his own sibling was the Yorkshire Ripper.
42:13He was looking for jobs in the local library when he noticed the newspaper featuring his brother's photograph.
42:19Carl recalled,
42:20I was shocked.
42:21I looked over this lad's shoulder, who was reading the paper, and there was a picture of my brother's house.
42:27It's said they had caught the Ripper, and there was his house.
42:32Sutcliffe's mother, Kathleen, died of a heart attack three years before his son was apprehended.
42:37Meanwhile, John Sutcliffe, who died in 2004, at the age of 81, stated that he didn't believe his son was
42:43responsible for all the crimes he had been convicted of,
42:47despite Sutcliffe's lengthy, detailed confessions.
42:50Even today, the trigger which set Sutcliffe out on his gruesome, murderous path is still greatly debated.
42:57As we discussed earlier, it has been theorized that a bad experience with a sex worker caused the Ripper to
43:02begin his crimes,
43:04while the man himself has grotesquely claimed that he was cleaning the streets.
43:09However, another theory put forward was that Sutcliffe was trying to reconcile the virgin of his mother that he knew,
43:15attentive and doting, with one described by his father as an unfaithful adulteress.
43:22Perhaps Sutcliffe could not see women as multifaceted, but rather that they were one of two stereotypes,
43:27a pure, virginial individual, worthy of love, or a sinful, sexual person who is not.
43:35While discussing the attitudes of the police force and how it hampered the apprehension of the Ripper,
43:41activist Nina Lopez stated that it was why it took them so long to arrest him.
43:45It was as though the police considered Sutcliffe was doing them a favor by killing prostitutes and cleaning up the
43:51streets.
43:52She added the police have much better PR now, the messaging has changed,
43:56but I don't think the establishment has changed at all.
43:59What do you think of this?
44:01Our heart goes out to all of the victims of Peter Sutcliffe's terrible crimes.
44:07Thank you for watching Murderous Minds, and we'll see you in the next episode.