Midland schoolgirl?
demic, left her family home for a cycle ride at around 5.30pm after a family tiff over wearing make-up. Her body was found hours later, search parties lighting flares to signal the horrific discovery.
Ms Clark insists ‘indicators’ suggesting Sutcliffe had been in the vicinity are too strong to be ignored. All the facts she has painstakingly uncovered are backed by press coverage, and police appeals, issued at the time.
“Firstly, Judith was seen talking to a man who had black curly hair and long sideburns, but eye-witnesses couldn’t see his face clearly,” she says.
“It was like he was trying not to be seen at the entrance to the lane where her body was later found.
“He was also said to be wearing work-type clothing and Wellington boots. Sutcliffe admitted to police he would wear work clothes and Wel- lington attacks.
“At that time, Sutcliffe was living with his in-laws and would, quite often, borrow his mother-in-law’s car. This was a blue-grey Ford Escort.
“By going through every newspaper article, I found a Ford Escort of that colour was seen parked in a field entrance off Comberford Lane at 6.55pm. Another witness saw Judith on her bike with the same car slowly following her just ten minutes after she left her home.”
Detectives working on the baffling case did receive an anonymous tipoff which led them to spread inquiries to parts of Lancashire that have now been incorporated in The Ripper’s Yorkshire lair.
Could the force have been informed of Sutcliffe’s possible involvement?
A van matching that belonging to a close friend of The Ripper’s – a man
boots
to
his
murders
and who later provided officers with key information about the deranged killer – was also seen in the area.
Ms Clark believes that man may have crafted the note sent to the Birmingham Mail as a warning of what Sutcliffe’s warped mind was conjuring.
“Had he guessed, or had he been told by Sutcliffe, that he’d attacked Judith.” she asks. “Maybe Sutcliffe had intended to attack a girl in Lichfield, but had been unable to do so due to the scale of the investigation in Tamworth?”
Charting Sutcliffe’s crimes on a map reveals he extensively used motorway networks to access victims, and Wigginton is close to the M42.
Ms Clark strongly believes the information she has uncovered merits a fresh look at the unsolved case – and a fresh look at the full extent of The Ripper’s barbarity. ANDREW Evans (pictured), riddled by depression, admitted to a murder he did not commit.
Saddled by mental health issues, the serving soldier signed a confession after three days of police questioning. It was a confession he later retracted, but the 17-yearold was given a life sentence in 1973 nonetheless.
Four months after being quizzed by police following the crime, Evans informed his grandmother that he wanted to visit a police station and view a photograph of Judith.
He had, he told her, been plagued by a dream involving “a hazy combination of images of women’s faces”.
Those harrowing images convinced vulnerable Evans he was the killer. When asked by detectives if he murdered Judith, the squaddie replied: “This is it. I don’t know. Show me a picture and I’ll tell you if I’ve seen it.”
In 2000, Evans said: “By confessing, I thought I’d be able to rid myself of all the crap going on in my head.”
Evans was convicted solely on his words. There was not a shred of forensic or eye-witness evidence to support the case against him. None of Judith’s blood was found on his clothing, his fingerprints were not on the body or the bicycle.