Ripper denies hammer attacks on two men in letter from his jail cell
YORKSHIRE Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has denied being involved in two violent unsolved attacks on men.
Sutcliffe, who killed 13 women, has been linked to the murder of a bookie and a hammer attack on a taxi driver.
But in an extraordinary letter from prison the 71-year-old insisted he did not carry out the attacks in the mid-1960s.
Sutcliffe said that while he ‘did some bad things’ he wanted the public to know he did not attack any men.
The serial killer is serving 20 life sentences at top security Frankland Prison in Durham for murdering 13 women between 1975 and 1980 and attempting to kill seven more.
Most of the Bradford lorry driver’s victims were attacked with a hammer. In his letter, written in June to an ITV journalist, Sutcliffe admitted that police recently questioned him about a further 16 attacks, but insisted none was fatal.
Writing under his adopted name of Peter Coonan, he said: ‘Yes, I did some bad things, but I just want people to know that I did not attack or murder any males.’
The daughter of Fred Craven has said she believes the Ripper killed her father. Mr Craven, a bookmaker a from Bingley, West Yorkshire, was beaten to death with a hammer in his office in 1966. His daughter Irene Vidler, 74, remains convinced Sutcliffe was behind the attack on the 66year-old father of five.
‘He knew us quite well, he used to come to our house for tea when we were children,’ she told ITV. ‘He placed bets with my dad. My sister Jenny, he asked her to go out with him and she refused because she didn’t like him.
‘At the time of the attack, Sutcliffe was working in the Bingley graveyard. I think that given the way he was killed with a hammer on his head, that it was the same way Sutcliffe killed his victims.’
Leeds taxi driver John Tomey, who survived a brutal attack in 1967, has said he identified Sutcliffe as his attacker in 20 seconds when police showed him pictures of suspects.
Mr Tomey, now 77, suffered permanent brain injuries when he was attacked with a hammer by a passenger he had picked up in Leeds as he drove him across the moors near Bingley in March 1967.
An artist’s impression of the man responsible for the attack, based on his description, bore a striking resemblance to Sutcliffe, and Mr Tomey is adamant he was a victim of the Yorkshire Ripper. Shortly after Sutcliffe’s arrest in January 1981, detectives showed Mr Tomey images of possible suspects to see if
‘I believe he’s done a lot more’
he could identify his attacker. It took him a matter of seconds to pick out Sutcliffe.
‘By the time we’d turned the first page, they started to turn the second page. I said, “Go back, it’s him”. It took me 20 seconds and I’m a man with brain injuries,’ he said.
However, in his letter Sutcliffe – who has been told he will never be released from prison – denied responsibility for either crime.
‘I can say with 100 per cent honesty I did not murder Mr Craven. And never have I attacked a male,’ he wrote.
‘With a whole life sentence I’d have nothing to lose and it would not be in my interest to say I didn’t do it if I did, as I’m in jail until my dying day. So I’m telling you 100 per cent it was nothing to do with me.’
Sutcliffe was interviewed earlier this year by West Yorkshire Police. The force said he was questioned about 17 unsolved attacks – but refused to confirm that the murder of Mr Craven was among them.
ITV wrote to Sutcliffe putting to him the allegations that he attacked Mr Craven and Mr Tomey. In his reply, he denied knowing Mr Craven ‘on a personal level’ or where his business was. He also said he was questioned about 16, not 17, nonfatal attacks, adding: ‘The police are satisfied I was not involved with any said attacks. I was not questioned about Mr Craven or Mr Tomey.’
Mrs Vidler said: ‘All I want from Peter Sutcliffe is for him to say, “I did it”. I don’t want any witch-hunts, I don’t want anything. I know they can’t do anything more to Peter Sutcliffe than he’s already got. But I want closure and there’s other families that want the closure as well. I believe he’s done a lot more.’
Sutcliffe recently had £2,000 laser eye surgery on the NHS.