The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
The Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, dies in hospital at age of 74
The Yo r k s h i r e Ripper, Britain’s most notorious killer of the 20 th C e n t u r y, has died in hospital aged 74.
Pe t e r Sutcliffe was serving a whole-life tariff for murdering 13 women across Yorkshire and the north-west between 1975 and 1980 and had brutally attacked at least seven more, who survived.
He died at the University Hospital of North Durham after being transferred there from ma x i m u m security HMP Frankland, where he was an inmate.
He had tested positive for Covid-19 and was suffering from underlying health conditions including diabetes, heart trouble and obesity.
Current serving police officers said Sutcliffe was a “monster” who should “rot in hell” after hearing he had died.
Brian Booth, chairman of We s t Yo r k s h i r e Po l i c e Fe d e r a t i o n , said: “On hearing of the death of Peter Sutcliffe today, I feel: Good riddance.
“The monster who murdered so many innocent women in and around West Yorkshire should rot in hell.”
Richard McCann was five when his mother Wilma was murdered by Sutcliffe in 1975.
He was left terrified after his mother’s killing was followed by that of Jayne MacDonald, who lived in his street.
Mr McCann told BBC Breakfast: “I was convinced as a child, having had no therapy of any description, he was out there and that he was going to kill me.
“I was ashamed of being associated with Sutcliffe and all his crimes and, possibly to do with the way that lots of people in society looked down, and the police and some of the media – describing some of the women as innocent and some not so innocent.
“I’m sorry to harp on about this but I’ve had to live with that shame for all these years. There’s only one person that should have felt shame, although I doubt that he did, and that was Peter Sutcliffe.”
Former detective Bob Bridgestock said he was one of the first on the scene when Josephine Whitaker was murdered in 1979.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Peter Sutcliffe wasn’ t a ver y intelligent killer, he was just brutal.
“I’ve walked with my dog this morning and people have said ‘ Good news, good riddance’, and that’s what a lot of people will be thinking about it.”
He said senior detectives “wore b l i n ke r s ” while leading the cumbersome inquiry, which got sidetracked by a cruel hoaxer who called himself Wearside Jack and diverted the probe to the Sunderland area.
He added: “I t ’s the victims that served the life sentence and then the victims’ families that really serve the true life sentences. For them today, they will have some kind of closure.”
One of S u t c l i ff e’s surviving victims said she was still suffering from the effects of his attack in Leeds, 44 years on.
Marcella Claxton told Sky News: “I have to live with my injuries, 54 stitches in my head, back and front, plus I lost a baby, I was four months pregnant.
“I still get headaches, dizzy spells and blackouts.”
Born in Bingley, Yorkshire, in 1946, Sutcliffe left school aged 15 and worked in menial jobs before becoming a grave digger.
He began his killing spree in 1975 and avoided detection for years due to a series of missed chances by police to snare him. He confessed in 1981 after he was caught in Sheffield.
In May 1981, he was jailed for 20 life terms at the Old Bailey, with the judge recommending a minimum sentence of 30 years.