Missed clues left loner free to keep killing
WITHIN the annals of 20th- century serial killers, one name – and one moniker – represents a particularly disturbing chapter.
The fear wrought by Peter Sutcliffe’s barbaric and bloody attacks on women was compounded by the police incompetence that let him slip the net for so long.
Sutcliffe was the newlymarried former grave digger whose brutal reign of terror instilled unshakeable terror in the north of England as police failed to pick up the clues in their pursuit of the notorious murderer known as the Yorkshire Ripper.
Sutcliffe’s victims were teenage girls, shop assistants, prostitutes, clerks. They were mothers, daughters, sisters, wives. And the broad spectrum of victims from various walks of life meant that no woman was safe with Sutcliffe at large.
In all, 13 were killed and seven more were viciously attacked, although police remain convinced the Yorkshire Ripper’s grim roll call of victims remains higher – not least because a red herring and copious missed opportunities gave Sutcliffe the chance to continue his murderous rampage.
Sutcliffe’s unexpected confession to police in 1981 was followed by his decision to contest the charges – leading to an Old Bailey trial during which he claimed he was on a mission from God to kill prostitutes.
He died on Friday, November 13, aged 74. His killing spree remains among the most sickening murder investigations of the last century.
Sutcliffe was born on June 2 1946 in Bingley. A relative loner at school, he left at 15 and took on a series of menial jobs. On August 10, 1974, Sutcliffe married Sonia. Less than a year later, the lorry driver picked up a hammer and began attacking women, two in Keighley and one in Halifax.
All three survived and police did not notice the similarities between the attacks.
The first fatality was Wilma McCann. The 28- year- old sex worker and mother- of- four was battered to death early on October 30, 1975.
His next victim was murdered in similarly bloody circumstances in January the following year.
He would apparently wait more than a year before striking again. It was his fifth murder, that of 16- year- old Jayne MacDonald in April 1977, that saw the national press wake up to the fact a serial killer was on the loose.
Dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, his identity went unknown for years – in fact police were totally misled by a hoax which took detectives to Sunderland, allowing Sutcliffe to keep on killing.
By the summer of that year, Sutcliffe had been interviewed five times.
He also bore a significant resemblance to a widely- circulated image of the prime suspect.
But, the fact his accent and handwriting did not match those of the hoaxer meant Sutcliffe remained a free man.
He was finally caught in January 1981 when police ran a check on his car to discover the number plates were stolen.
His passenger was 24- year- old street worker Olivia Reivers – detectives later discovered a hammer and a knife nearby. Their search was over.
In May 1981, he was jailed for 20 life terms at the Old Bailey, with a minimum of 30 years.