Did the Ripper kill
hidden too.
History views the Wigginton murder as one of this country’s greatest miscarriages of justice. Semi-literate squaddie Andrew Evans, based at nearby Whittington Barracks, confessed to killing the schoolmaster’s daughter, but was later found to be delusional through depression.
Evans, just 17 when arrested, served 25 years before his conviction was quashed. He received £1 million in compensation.
Ms Clark, whose mother was a friend of the murdered girl, has spent years attempting to unlock the truth.
Her groundwork has identified Sutcliffe, who preyed on prostitutes and innocent women during a five-year reign of terror, as a prime suspect. The paranoid schizophrenic, who claimed God’s voice drove him to kill, is serving 20 consecutive life sentences.
Ms Clark, from Tamworth, says: “I
beneath
asbestos
sheeting, am convinced Sutcliffe did it, and I think the police should interview him about it. Everything fits in. There are so many tiny pieces that come together to create the same outcome.
“At first, I was convinced a local man carried out the murder, a man had been seen poaching in the field in the days before. But the more I looked into the case, the stronger the links with Sutcliffe became.”
Ms Clark, aged 39, has family ties to the victim. Her mother, Donna Osborne, was the best friend of the murdered girl’s twin, Anne.
Her grandmother was hairdresser to the sisters. Relatives lived only yards from the spot where the body was discovered.
Ms Clark recalls: “My dad lived with his parents and brother on Gillway Lane, just down the road from Judith’s parents’ house, and their garden backed onto the field where she was found.
“They saw flares going up to alert others that they had found her battered body; they saw the police erect the tent and saw the body being removed; they saw officers and forensics experts doing their work.
“Judith’s sister was brave enough to re-enact the victim’s last movements. She was a very brave girl to do that.”
The Tamworth Herald incorporated a chilling clue in the final paragraphs of an in-depth report about the murder.
The article stated: “A letter made from words cut from newspaper headlines to read ‘Lichfield schoolgirl dies next at weekend – (signed) Tamworth Murderer’ was delivered to the head office of a Midland evening newspaper on Wednesday. The envelope had a Walsall postmark.”
That ransom-style note was delivered to the Birmingham Evening Mail, the Post’s sister title.
Teenager Judith,
bright
and
aca-