Ripper could face trial over 13 more ‘victims’
THE Yorkshire Ripper is at the centre of a new inquiry as police probe whether they can finally prove that he claimed even more victims.
Detectives are re-visiting women who survived attacks during Peter Sutcliffe’s reign of terror amid claims he targeted at least 13 more people.
Officers told one suspected victim the serial killer could be prosecuted again, even though he is serving a whole life sentence.
The cold case investigation by West Yorkshire Police is examining a huge number of documents and forensic exhibits from previous cases.
Using the latest techniques, clothing and other possessions will be scoured for DNA that could link the attacks to Sutcliffe.
The review is believed to focus on censored files from a 1982 government report, which concluded he was ‘probably responsible’ for many more crimes.
Sources at the force insisted the investigation is ‘normal procedure’ and ‘pretty standard’ in the case of high profile unsolved crimes. But it is extraordinary that detec- tives are once again formally considering whether one of Britain’s bloodiest serial killers was behind even more brutal attacks.
A relative of one of the women told the Sunday Mirror: ‘Police knocked on the door and told her she was on a list of possible victims. They asked her to give a new statement and took a sample. They said science has evolved – and that they were looking at 13 other cases.
‘They were asking a lot of questions and we’re glad about that. The police were telling her he could end up back in court.’
Sutcliffe, now aged 69, held the north of England in the grip of fear for five years until his capture on January 2, 1981. The Bradford lorry driver used hammers, screwdrivers and a knife, which was part of a wedding gift from his wife Sonia, to kill and mutilate his victims.
The sprawling police operation to catch him was one of the most wide-ranging and controversial of the last century.
At his trial, Sutcliffe pleaded not guilty on the grounds of diminished responsibility and claimed God had told him to do it.
But he was jailed for life after being convicted of the murder of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven others. He will die in prison after the High Court ruled in 2009 that he should never be released.
Sutcliffe has been held at Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne, Berkshire, since 1984 after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but now faces the prospect of being sent to an ordinary prison after being declared sane.
Since he was unmasked, Sutcliffe has been identified as a potential suspect for murders and attacks the length of the country.
Among the cases police are now believed to be considering is that of 14-year-old Tracy Browne, who was attacked in August 1975 while walking along a country lane in Silsden, West Yorkshire. She was hit five times with a hammer before her attacker saw the lights of a passing car and ran off, leaving her needing brain surgery to survive.
The review may also look at the case of Maureen Lea, a 20-year-old art student who was attacked in October 1980 as she walked home in Leeds following a night out.
She survived after being hit over the head with a hammer and stabbed in the base of her spine with screwdrivers.
Sutcliffe was eventually arrested with a prostitute in January 1981 while in a car with a false number plate in the red light district of Sheffield. Afterwards, he told police he thought he ‘was invisible because I never got caught’. The cold case review is believed to involve files contained in an unpublished section of the 1982 report by former Inspector of Constabulary Sir Lawrence Byford.
Sir Lawrence concluded that ‘between 1969 and 1980, Sutcliffe was probably responsible for many attacks on unaccompanied women which he has not yet admitted’.
He said these were ‘not only in the West Yorkshire and Manchester areas but also in other parts of the country’, adding: ‘We feel it is highly improbable that the crimes in respect of which Sutcliffe has been charged and convicted are the only ones attributable to him.’ A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: ‘We are continuing with an ongoing process to review historic documents including material relating to the Yorkshire Ripper.
‘As part of this review officers have begun to visit a small number of people named as victims of then unsolved assaults and other offences in cases submitted to West Yorkshire Police as part of reviews carried out in the early 1980s.
‘Officers also took the opportunity to review any statements held, ask for any further information and, also took DNA samples. Should any new lines of inquiry be identified, they will be comprehensively pursued.’