Other Ripper victims who lived

years to monitor any possible damage and prevent me suffering seizures.

“But I made a full recovery and I refused to dwell on things. I think I was helped because I had such a clear recall of my attacker that I knew I would recognise him straight away.”

She tried not to dwell on why she had been targeted and reconciled herself to having been “in the wrong place at the wrong time”. Two months later, another woman found herself in the same predicament. Unlike Tracy, Wilma Mccann did not survive.

For those women who had survived Sutcliffe’s attacks, news of his capture in January 1981 came as an overwhelming relief. Tracy said: “I was in a pub with some pals when the news came through that Sutcliffe had been caught. I just said, ‘Thank God for that’. And when I saw Sutcliffe’s photo in the newspaper, I recognised him straight away.”

It wasn’t until 1992 that Sutcliffe admitted the attack on Tracy but the Director of Public Prosecutions ruled it was not in the public interest to convict him in a further trial.

Tracy still felt vindicated: “Although I did know who it was for all those years, there was that element of doubt because it took him so long to confess. It was like sealing it, really, just closing a lid on it.”

Somebody’s Mother, Somebody’s Daughter, True Stories from Victims and Survivors of the Yorkshire Ripper, is published by Michael O’mara Books on Thursday and priced £18.99.

Anna Rogulskyj, 34, Keighley, 1975 Marilyn Moore, 25, Leeds, 1977 Marcella Claxton, 34, Leeds, 1976 Upadhya Bandara, 34, Leeds, 1980 Maureen Long, 42, Bradford, 1977 Theresa Sykes, 16, Huddersfield, 1980 ORDEALOlive Smelt at scene of 1975 attack in Halifax. She died in 2011, aged 82 Ann Rooney, 22, Horsforth, 1979 1 Wilma Mccann, 28,Leeds, Oct 1977.2 Emily Jackson, 42,Leeds, Jan 1976.3 Irene Richardson, 28,Leeds, Feb 1977.4 Patricia Atkinson, 32,Bradford, April 1977.5 Jayne Macdonald, 16,Leeds, June 1977.6 Jean Jordan, 20,Manchester, Oct 1977.7 Yvonne Pearson, 21,Bradford, Jan 1978.8 Helen Ryktya, 18,Huddersfield, Jan 1978.9 Vera Millward, 40,Manchester, May 1978.10 Josephine Whitaker,19, Halifax, April 1979.11 Barbara Leach, 20,Bradford, Sept 1979.12 Marguerite Walls, 47,Leeds, Aug 1980.13 Jacqueline Hill, 20,Leeds, Nov 1980.