‘If police had listened to me Ripper’s last victims could still be alive’
THE last person to see a young girl left for dead with horrific hammer injuries claims her attacker was the Yorkshire Ripper.
Bryan Copping, 55, looked into the eyes of a sinister figure before the assault in 1979 and later identified him as Peter Sutcliffe.
The beast murdered two more women and attacked another three before he was arrested on January 2, 1981.
Bryan says they could have been saved if West Yorkshire Police had acted on his evidence and he now wants officers to reopen the case.
Minutes after the encounter, reporter Yvonne Mysliwiec, 21, was attacked in Ilkley, West Yorks. She suffered terrible head injuries but survived.
Bryan says the bearded man bore a striking resemblance to Sutcliffe.
Then 16 years old, Bryan says police dismissed the attack as the work of a copycat criminal.
He said: “Peter Sutcliffe is the man that attacked Yvonne 100% on the night of October 11, 1979.”
Bryan met Yvonne on a bridge over train tracks and had a chat. He noticed a mystery man walking towards him, trying to hide his face.
Bryan recalled: “We both made quick eye contact. He immediately turned his face downwards. I proceeded over the bridge and he proceeded down the steps not far behind Yvonne.”
Yvonne, now 61, was then savagely attacked and left in a pool of blood. She survived because youngsters disturbed her assailant.
At the time of the attack, Bryan passed a flatbed-style lorry parked on the far side of the bridge. Sutcliffe was a trucker who drove all over the UK.
Bryan was later startled by a man running behind him.
He said: “I turned round and looked over my shoulder to see the same man I had just seen on the footbridge.”
He described a man with black hair and beard wearing a khaki waistlength coat, greenish trousers and black boots. The suspect got in the lorry and drove off.
Bryan gave police a description and Yvonne helped to produce a similar photofit when she awoke from a coma.
He also believes Sutcliffe had stalked a local park six weeks earlier. Bryan had been drinking with pals and stumbled into a man while relieving himself.
The friends ran to a nearby police station to report the incident but were turned away and warned for drinking.
Bryan, who still lives in Ilkley, says he was shocked to see pictures of Sutcliffe when he was arrested as he was identical to the park stalker.
He claimed: “They missed a golden opportunity to catch the Ripper.”
Crime expert Chris Clark said: “This is compelling evidence. At the time, West Yorkshire Police did not want to add more potential victims. I believe Sutcliffe intended to murder Yvonne.”
Sutcliffe, now 71, is serving 20 life sentences for murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others.
West Yorkshire Police have said there are no plans to charge Sutcliffe with any further offences.