This is Peter Suttcliffe.
According to the Crown, it's officers, agents and Counsels, this man successfully evaded and outwitted one of the most modern, experienced, well-resourced urban Police forces, a massive, unprecedentend campaign of citizen community vigilance and a constant, non-stop, almost daily barrage of press reports and appeals for information and witnesses to come forward in a constant stream across almost every instrument of the mass media.
In this way,although questioned by West Yorkshire Police on THREE separate occasions (and was probably every post-pubescent male North of Watford at the time) and eliminated on each occasion from their long-list pool of suspects, he proceeded to murder regularly, with impunity, non-stop and in the full glare of press and public attention, averaging roughly one brutal, bludgeoning quasi-ritualistic murder every four months, all of them committed outdoors and either in the street or on open ground, right under the noses of both the West Yorkshire Police and more than half a million Leeds residents, who were ALL looking for him.
For nearly Six Years.
This guy.
This strutting, hypermanic, lanky streak of piss, with his iconic "Man from The Joy of Sex" beard and Eraserhead flat-top haircut managed to escape notice and evade capture for well-over a half decade of continual, non-stop violent offending and the largest investigation in British criminal history.
This guy.
It's a matter of historical record that West Yorkshire Police never caught the Yorkshire Ripper.
Peter Sutcliffe was arrested in Sheffield in the early hours of a January morning in 1981 by officers of the South Yorkshire Police Force, who chanced upon his steamed-up up car parked up on Melbourne Avenue, in Broomhill, Sheffield.
(About 400 yards from where I studied Psychology for 3 years, before I set about un-learning all of it.)
Normally, this kind of behaviour would not warrant a pull, but Sutcliffe's car had false plates.
I haven't yet seen an effort to explain WHY he was driving around in a car with false plates, or how he got them, but that's something to think about and bare in mind, as we go forward.
In this way,although questioned by West Yorkshire Police on THREE separate occasions (and was probably every post-pubescent male North of Watford at the time) and eliminated on each occasion from their long-list pool of suspects, he proceeded to murder regularly, with impunity, non-stop and in the full glare of press and public attention, averaging roughly one brutal, bludgeoning quasi-ritualistic murder every four months, all of them committed outdoors and either in the street or on open ground, right under the noses of both the West Yorkshire Police and more than half a million Leeds residents, who were ALL looking for him.
This guy.
Peter Sutcliffe was arrested in Sheffield in the early hours of a January morning in 1981 by officers of the South Yorkshire Police Force, who chanced upon his steamed-up up car parked up on Melbourne Avenue, in Broomhill, Sheffield.
(About 400 yards from where I studied Psychology for 3 years, before I set about un-learning all of it.)
Normally, this kind of behaviour would not warrant a pull, but Sutcliffe's car had false plates.
I haven't yet seen an effort to explain WHY he was driving around in a car with false plates, or how he got them, but that's something to think about and bare in mind, as we go forward.
SAVILE WAS QUIZZED OVER YORKSHIRE RIPPER
Jimmy Savile's details were recorded as part of the hunt to find the Yorkshire Ripper, in the 1970s, but no evidence has been found that he was a 'person of interest' to the inquiry.
Questions were raised about the broadcaster's relationship with the Ripper investigation last year when a retired senior officer claimed the disgraced DJ was a suspect in the notorious case more than 30 years ago.
But today's report from West Yorkshire Police concluded it could find no evidence of this being true.
The review found that many records have been destroyed, but detectives had found huge numbers of record cards with information about thousands of men who had been spoken to.
The report said: 'Searches of the paperwork relating to the investigation have identified four index cards relating to Savile. They contain scant information and do not indicate whether Savile was a "person of interest" to the enquiry team.
'The information held was his name, date of birth, home address and various reference numbers. It was not possible to establish the relevance of the reference numbers as a large proportion of the investigation paperwork had been destroyed in the 1980s.'
But the review said: 'One card does make reference to Savile offering his services as an intermediary for the police, should the "Ripper" wish to make contact.'
he serial killer, who was jailed for murdering 13 women, was taped at the high security hospital Broadmoor on weekly calls to his brother
By Amanda Williams
PUBLISHED: 05:32 EST, 18 November 2012 | UPDATED: 06:30 EST, 18 November 2012
Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has been recorded telling family he will one day be able to 'pop to the shops' on day release, it emerged today.
The serial killer, who was jailed for murdering 13 women, was also taped at the high security hospital Broadmoor defending predatory paedophile Jimmy Savile.
Sutcliffe, now 66, was recorded speaking on weekly telephone calls to his younger brother Carl Sutcliffe by a source who leaked the tapes to The Sun.
Pals: Sutclliffe (left) was also taped at the high security hospital Broadmoor defending predatory paedophile Jimmy Savile. It is claimed that Frank Bruno (right) had no idea who he was shaking hands with when this picture was taken. He has since said that he was duped into this meeting by Savile (centre)
He claimed he had been cleared for a move to a medium - security unit and said the only person who is standing in his way was Broadmoor's clinical director, Dr Kevin Murray.
Psychopath Sutcliffe said: 'Dr Murray turned down several medium secure units willing to accept me.'
Patients in high secure hospitals, such as Broadmoor are classed as a grave and immediate danger to the public who require a significant period of treatment.
Patients in medium security units, of which there are around 30 around the country, still present a significant danger, but will remain in treatment between two and five years.
Face of a killer: Sutcliffe has claimed he is 'cured' and will one day be able to 'pop to the shops' in taped conversations. He is pictured right on his wedding day in 1974
According to the recordings Sutcliffe, who was jailed for life in 1981 after admitting killing 13 women and attempting to murder seven more, has been deemed a 'low risk' prisoner as long as he takes his medication.
During the calls, which the Sun reports were made every Tuesday and lasted 15 minutes, he also defends Jimmy Savile, as police investigate 300 cases of alleged abuse by the former BBC star across three decades.
He claimed the victims were talking 'rubbish' and insisted his old friend was innocent.
Sutcliffe, whose reign of terror spanned between 1975 and 1980 in one of the most notorious serial killer cases in British history, was also taped boasting about how many visitors and penpals, some as young as 21, he had.
He even claimed he had commissioned one letter writer, a talented artist called Fiona, to do a 'picture of him'.
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Victim: Police search the grounds of a property called Claremont where the body of Marguerite Walls, the 12th victim of Peter Sutcliffe the Yorkshire Ripper was found
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The murderer bemoaned his regular visits from 'shrinks' and said how he was now disgusted by food, apart from toast and honey.
The former trucker, who claimed he was on a divine mission to rid the streets of prostitutes, is now a Jehovah's Witness and whinged to his brother during the calls that he could not find a copy of the Watchtower, a magazine produced by the religious group.
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Memories: Sutcliffe is pictured here at the wheel of a lorry. The former driver said he enjoyed watching documentaries about Eddie Stobart, as it 'brought back memories'
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He also said he could not read very well as he only has one remaining good eye after losing the other in a vicious attack, but recently enjoyed watching a documentary about Eddie Stobart as it 'brought a few memories back.'
Sutcliffe, who once reached 20 stone while in the secure unit, said he was in good health and said he was a believer in going to bed early, and waking up early.
In the chats with his brother he also discussed his opinions on general topics such as marriage, which he believes is dying out as an institution, university fees, which he has deemed to expensive when there is no guarantee of a job at the end, and celebrations such as New Year's Eve, 'just an ordinary day'.
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| Caged: The murderer was also taped at the high security hospital Broadmoor (pictured) defending Savile and claiming he would one day be eligible for day release |
Mr Justice Mitting told the High Court yesterday that a psychiatrist's report might also form the basis for Sutcliffe to appeal against his murder convictions. The Ripper has been accused of "hoodwinking" psychiatrists into believing that voices from God had ordered him to kill prostitutes.
NAME/RANK & STATION
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RESPONSIBILITY
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COMMENT
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Chief Constable Ronald Gregory. Wakefield
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Was in overall control of enquiry
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Resigned June 1983 after O' Gara's allegations were published in England.
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Assistant Chief Con. George Oldfield. Leeds.
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Took control of murder hunt after the Jayne McDonald murder.
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He asked the media to identify the Irish suspect after the McDonald murder. Resigned June 1983.
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Det. Chief Superintendent James Hobson. Leeds.
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Assumed overall control after the Hill murder in 1980.
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Resigned June 1983.
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Deputy Chief Con. John Bennion. Leeds
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Appointed A.C.C crime after Gregory resigned in 1983.
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Moved from West Yorkshire after he found out about the cover-up
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Deputy Chief Con. Austin Haywood. Leeds
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Prevent press leaks to journalists during the murder hunt.
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Retired.
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Det. Superintendent Alf Finlay. Leeds.
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The Jacqueline Hill Murder enquiry and the murder of Mrs. Clay in Dewsbury.
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Resigned in June 1983.
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Chief Constable Colin Sampson. Leeds.
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Conducted police internal enquiry in 1981.
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Retired 1.4.1989, shortly after reading O' Gara manuscript.
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Det. Superintendent Frank Morritt. Leeds
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Jim Hobson's assistant and confidante
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Retired
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Chief Inspector Bullock. Leeds.
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Investigated the Jackson murder
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Retired
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Chief Superintendent John Clark. Dewsbury.
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In control of Sutcliffe as a suspect.
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Insisted that Sutcliffe be interviewed by senior officers after his arrest. Retired
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Bob Baxter Wakefield.
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Chief press officers. W.Yorks police.
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Facilitated a police cover-up.
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A.C.C. Thomas M.Cook. Wakefield
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Currently A.C.C. for crime
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Engaged in the cover-up.
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Chief Constable Peter Nobes. Wakefield
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Assisted D.C.C. Colin Sampson in police internal enquiry
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Retired 1993.
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Superintendent Peter Silvester (community Affairs). Leeds.
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Helped organise publicity campaign to identify the Geordie tape in 1979.
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Retired.
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Det. Superintendent Geoge MacKeating. Wakefield
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Came to Ireland in 1988 to collect murder weapon.
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Det. Chief Superintendent Dick Holland. Bradford
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In overall command in late 1979 when Oldfield had a heart attack. He got the tip-off from O'Gara.
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After Sutcliffe's arrest, he offered him a deal for his admissions. He later told the Sunday Times journalist that a special squad should be set up to get the Irishman. Demoted and Resigned in 1983
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Assistant Chief Constable John Domaille. Bradford.
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In charge of the Atkinson murder and once in overall control
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He reissued the identikit photo of the bearded Irishman in 1977.Resigned in 1984
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Det.Chief Superintendent Peter Gilrain. Bradford.
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In charge of Leach murder and later in overall charge of enquiry.
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Resigned 1983
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Chief Superintendent Keith Hellewell.
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Interviewed Sutcliffe in Jail,
Sends him XMAS cards |
Moved to Humberside Police Force. Chief Constable of W. Yorks police since Feb 1993
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Det. Sgt. Peter Smith. Bradford.
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Conducted Sutcliffe's 3rd interview
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At Sutcliffe's interrogation. " Wrote down confession." Retired in 1985
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Det. Chief Inspector George Smith. Bradford
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Investigated Leach murder.
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Searched Sutcliffe's house on arrest. No evidence found Retired in 1981.
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Chief Superintendent Trevor Lapish. Bradford
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Investigated Pearson murder in 1978.
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Retired
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Detective Chief Inspector Wiseman. Bradford.
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Investigated the Atkinson and Pearson murders.
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Retired
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Detective Constable Andrew Laptew. Bradford.
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Interviewed Sutcliffe in 1979
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Named Sutcliffe as ''Ripper' suspect. His reports were shelved by Chief Supt. Holland
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Detective Inspector John Boyle. Bradford
(Click name for details)
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On Ripper squad.
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Recipient of Sutcliffe's "confession." Visited Tracey in 1983 in Ireland. Resigned July 1988. Now in jail!
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Detective Sgt. John Mason. Bradford.
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On ripper squad.
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Assisted John Boyle with Tracey in 1983 in Ireland and met O' Gara in 1988.
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Detective Superintendent Peter Penny. Bradford.
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Investigated the Rogulsky assault in 1975.
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Retired
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Chief Constable James Anderton. Manchester
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Jean Jordan and Vera Millward murders.
He was a Ripper suspect himself at one time because of his resemblance to Tracey and his lay preachers attitude towards prostitution. |
Doesn't want to be told about it.
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Chief Superintendent Jack Ridgeway. Manchester.
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Chief of Manchester C.I.D. in charge of the Jordan and Millward murders.
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Resigned.
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Chief Inspector Frank Atkinson Manchester.
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On Ripper squad.
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Got the tip-off "Ripper" identity from N O' Gara in November 1979. Resigned.
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Detective Sgt. Fletcher. Manchester.
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On Ripper squad
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Got the tip-off "Ripper" identity from N O' Gara in November 1979. Resigned.
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Deputy Chief Constable John Stalker. Manchester.
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Crime
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Investigated O' Gara's allegations in 1987 after his reinstatement as A.C.C. Resigned 1987
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Detective Constable Henderson. Manchester.
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Crime
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Met N. O' Gara at airport in November 1979.
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Detective Constable Page Manchester.
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Crime
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Met N. O' Gara in November 1979.
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Police Constable Webster.
Manchester. |
Investigated Jordan murder.
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Chief Constable A. Laugharne Preston.
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Control of the Harrison murder enquiry.
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Retired 1983.
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Deputy Chief Constable J.W. Moody. Preston.
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Responsible for the Harrison murder enquiry
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Retired 1984
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Detective Chief Supt. Wilfred Brooks. Preston.
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In control of the Harrison murder enquiry
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with Oldfield at Geordie tape press-conference. Resigned 1983
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Chief Supt. Ray Rimmer. Preston.
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Crime
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Informed in 1983 by O' Gara. Resigned.
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Detective Constable Frank Gardner. Preston
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Interviewed Sutcliffe after his arrest re : Harrison murder.
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Sutcliffe was eliminated by him.
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Detective Superintendent Graham Gooch. Lancashire Police HQ.
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In 2001 he officially dismissed all this evidence.
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Police Sgt. Robert Ring Sheffield.
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Crime
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Arrested Sutcliffe on suspicion in Sheffield. Retired.
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Sgt. John Oldham. Crewe
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Duty Sgt. When Richard Webb was charged with the
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Det. Chief Supt. Bert Spencer Congleton.
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Head of Cheshire C.I.D. Resigned. overall charge of murder of Josephine Gross- Nicklaus.
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Resigned.
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Det. Chief Inspector Neville Jones, Congleton.
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In charge of prosecuting court case for police.
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Resigned.
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Det. Sgt. John Evans Congleton.
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Gross- Nicklaus murder
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Arrested, interrogated and intimidated Webb. Resigned.
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Inspector Derek Edwin Farmer. Chester
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Gross- Nicklaus murder
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Arrested, interrogated and intimidated Webb.
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Commander Jim Neville Scotland Yard.
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Called in to assist ripper enquiry in December 1979.
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Resigned 1981.
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Detective Chief Supt. Joe Bolton. Scotland Yard.
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Called in to assist ripper enquiry in December 1979.
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Resigned.
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Assistant Chief Constable Brian Johnson. Northumbria.
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To trace the Geordie voice.
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With Oldfield at geordie tape press-conference in 1979. Now Chief Constable of Lancashire Police.
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Chief Constable James Brownlow Sheffield.
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Arrest of Sutcliffe in Sheffield.
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Knowing Sutcliffe was not the Ripper he ordered his men not to comment on the arrest
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Pete and Sonia
When Peter first brought her home to visit his family.
As the expected breakthrough with Sonia failed to happen, Peter's father, in common with the rest of the family, started to find his patience running out.
he'd wonder in exasperation at the end of another day in which Sonia would have done nothing but sit and twiddle her thumbs.
As the expected breakthrough with Sonia failed to happen, Peter's father, in common with the rest of the family, started to find his patience running out.
'How the devil is that girl going to make a school teacher? How is she going to do it?
he'd wonder in exasperation at the end of another day in which Sonia would have done nothing but sit and twiddle her thumbs.
'She just doesn't have any conversation.'
She didn't seem to want to talk, and when she did it was in a whisper, so that, half the time, you couldn't hear what she was saying.
What they had been prepared to overlook as shyness, after several months started to look like arrogance; the popular interpretation of the sullen reserve which Sonia so effortlessly maintained was that she was sitting in judgment on them."
What they had been prepared to overlook as shyness, after several months started to look like arrogance; the popular interpretation of the sullen reserve which Sonia so effortlessly maintained was that she was sitting in judgment on them."
Peter's sister, Maureen, had a baby, Rachel. "Unlike Peter, who bombarded her with baby-talk and wet-nursed Rachel 'like a woman', Sonia made her lack of interest plain, persuaded to hold the baby on one occasion, she simply opened her arms and dropped it when it started to cry, letting it fall heavily into a pram Peter's brother, Mick, said of her,
"Putting it crudely, he thought she 'looked like a fuckin horse.'
Mick took an instant dislike to Sonia and this, it became clear, was entirely mutual. An incident that took place on one of her earliest visits helped set the seal on what was always to be an uneasy relationship, no matter how badly Peter wanted them to get on.
"She said to me mother one day and she'd only been in house on three or four visits then, she says: 'Will you make me a cup of tea, without any sugar, please?
We all looked round, like. Is she talking to me? I thought,
"Bloody hell, what a pillock."
Any other lass'd probably say D'you mind if I put the kettle on, I'm a bit dry?"
But this was: "
Will you get up and make me a cup of tea?" Sort of, Now!
She was really highly strung.
At the heart of the problem - and it was a feeling that Mick shared to a greater or lesser extent with all the rest of his family - was that Sonia seemed to radiate disapproval.
"People tended to feel inhibited by her presence in a room."
"But she certainly thought she was well above everybody else."
"Sonia never really opened up. 'I am not a gushing person',
she would later say in the sort of tart understatement for which she had become renowned."
The Bisbys, Peter's neighbours, who used to be visited by Peter and Sonia, said
"He was particularly fond of the children, with whom he seemed 'on the same wavelength' although, as far as Sonia was concerned, they might as well not have been there. She was difficult and reserved."
"Sonia, previously mute on her visits to Cornwall Road, started to make her presence felt, albeit indirectly. 'Come here a moment', she'd say to Peter, ordering him out of the living-room and into the kitchen, where she could be heard 'quietly upbraiding' him for something that he had said or done which didn't meet with her approval.
Sometimes, though, she'd just slap him down without bothering to extricate him from the family which left his father open-mouthed in disbelief.
"But she'd just look at him when he was getting over-excited and say "Peter!" and he'd immediately calm down.
She could bring him down just like that. Just by the way she'd look at him. Just like a schoolteacher telling a naughty boy in the class to behave by saying his name out loud in front of everybody.
She could do that with him, quite effectively.
"But she'd just look at him when he was getting over-excited and say "Peter!" and he'd immediately calm down.
She could bring him down just like that. Just by the way she'd look at him. Just like a schoolteacher telling a naughty boy in the class to behave by saying his name out loud in front of everybody.
She could do that with him, quite effectively.
While in London, studying to become a teacher "Although still detached and uncommunicative in class, in private she had become prone to unprovoked outbursts of rage and agitation that would eventually be identified as symptoms of her schizophrenia.
Peter, on occasion, was forced to contain her physically by pinning her arms to her sides, but as well as being unpredictable and violent, she also seemed to be wasting away."
Peter, on occasion, was forced to contain her physically by pinning her arms to her sides, but as well as being unpredictable and violent, she also seemed to be wasting away."
"Convinced that 'all the machinery was stopping and the world was coming to an end,"
Sonia had wandered out into the street at night in her pyjamas where she had been apprehended and later admitted to a Bexley hospital.
The next time Peter saw her was after her transfer to the Linfield Mount psychiatric hospital in Bradford, and he was dismayed.
He thought she looked grey and 'terrible'; she thought he was an aeroplane.
Among her other delusions was that she was the 'second Christ' - she could 'see' the stigmata on her hands.
She was also restless and shrill and insistent that she wanted a 'bigger teddybear.'
But a few months after coming out of hospital, Sonia suffered a relapse; this time, part of the pattern of her generally disturbed and frenetic behaviour included tearing her clothes off in public or at odd times at home, such as in the middle of a meal."
Among her other delusions was that she was the 'second Christ' - she could 'see' the stigmata on her hands.
She was also restless and shrill and insistent that she wanted a 'bigger teddybear.'
But a few months after coming out of hospital, Sonia suffered a relapse; this time, part of the pattern of her generally disturbed and frenetic behaviour included tearing her clothes off in public or at odd times at home, such as in the middle of a meal."
Left alone with Peter's 15 year old sister Jean once, "I were just sitting quiet, reading, when Sonia stood up an' did a little twirl in front of the settee.
she said. She were just wearing a little summer cotton frock, a shawl an' these silver sandals.
she said. I thought, "Oh, bloody hell....... "
"Guess who I am today?"
she said. She were just wearing a little summer cotton frock, a shawl an' these silver sandals.
"Cinderella,"
she said. I thought, "Oh, bloody hell....... "
Peter started dating Sonia in 1967 when she was 16. Sonia's mental abnormality started in May 1972. She married Peter in August 1974.
"They lived with her parents in their back bedroom for the next three years in what were extremely difficult circumstances.
After 11 months of this life with the Szurmas Peter Sutcliffe cracked and took his hatred for Sonia out on a Mrs Anna Rogulsky by a vicious attack with a stone-loaded sock.
He clearly didn't intend to murder her or the other two.
On her attitude to children, Sonia said to Peter's sister,
"No, they just keep you poor, do kids."
The sexual side of the relationship can be judged by her putting a towel under her backside and telling him to get it over with so as not to soil the sheets.
Peter had saved for 3 years to put a deposit on a house in Heaton for Sonia.
The first Saturday night in his new home he went to Manchester and assaulted Jean Jordan, then hid her in a double hedge.
On 9th October 1977, 8 days after he had assaulted Manchester prostitute, Jean Jordan, Peter and Sonia gave a house warming party to his family.
The potatoes were so hard, his sister Jane knocked one off her plate as she tried to put a fork in it.
Everyone laughed heartily for 2 hours, except Sonia.
That night after leaving his family home, Peter drove to Manchester and pulled the dead body of Jean Jordan from a hedge and attempted to cut it up.
He placed a fresh £5 note in her handbag which led the Manchester police to him via his employers, on what was to be the first of 12 police interviews..
The Jordan murder was not regarded as a Ripper murder.
The next time Peter's parents were invited to Sonia's new home was Christmas week 1977.
"The only trouble was that it was under-heated. With the exception of Sonia and her mother, who were wearing layers of cardigans and jumpers and knitted 'leggings', everybody was freezing.
Kathleen (Peter's mother) was particularly susceptible to the cold because of the poor state of her health, and John was forced to bend down and switch on the electric fire in the living-room himself when neither Peter nor Sonia volunteered.
Within quarter of an hour, though, Kathleen, who had drawn her chair close to the only source of heat, was shivering again, the fire was off and they could only assume the reason it refused to relight was because the power had been turned off at the mains.
Kathleen spent what was left of the evening sitting huddled in her winter coat, and this time even Peter's customary 'daftness' couldn't rescue the situation. When she got home that night, his mother swore she would never set foot in Garden Lane again, and she never did."
"To see Peter and Sonia together in one of the local pubs at all after they were married was considered something of an event.
It wasn't unknown for her to sit outside in the car while he had a drink with one or other of his family, or for Sonia to come and get him if she felt she had been kept waiting too long.
'A boring woman' was her brother-in-law, Robin Holland's conclusion."
Peter's younger brother, Carl, used to visit him on weekends. He said
"it was a rare weekend he didn't sense an atmosphere. "She resented Peter being with him."
Those who only knew Sonia as the shy, softly spoken schoolteacher and they included Peter's father found it difficult to imagine her in this other, dominant role for a long time.
Listening to his complaints about her nagging, John once found himself saying as much to Peter, only to be assured that, at home, she was 'all mouth.'
Describing her mean nature. Carl said
"He assumed that was the reason they sat on hard chairs in the kitchen most of the time, ignoring the bigger, more comfortable rooms in the rest of the house.
'You'd go up, say in the morning, and you'd sit in there all through until 6.00. Then Peter might suggest having a look at what was on the telly but they would never put fire on an' it were freezing. Really cold. An' they'd have the telly on really quiet as well, You couldn't even hear it. You had to strain your ears.'"
When there was only the two of them at home, Sonia frequently took exception to Peter having the television on at all, and would snatch the plug from the wall.
She would also 'tease' him by refusing to let him read a newspaper, swiping at his head and kicking him, and screaming at him so hard sometimes that he was sure the neighbours must be able to hear.
But he would remain quite impassive, holding her arms at her side until she calmed down, but never hit her. He would leave the house rather than raise his voice.
There was always 'hell to pay' if Peter ever entered the house with his boots on or put any of his clothes in the washing machine: he had remained sensitive about the smell his socks made anyway, and was happy to wash all his own clothes by hand in the kitchen sink.
Sonia's obsession with cleanliness stretched to cleaning the carpets inch-by-inch with a brush and pan and working on the house at all hours of the day and night.
'I'd have buried her in back garden by now, if it were me', was a thought that Carl shared only with Mick. When Mick wanted to take Peter out for a drink Sonia would say
"He's not going anywhere. He's doing this, and when he's finished he's doing that and that.."
'Like he might be out three nights wi' wagon around country somewhere an' he'd come back bloody jiggered about four in the afternoon after driving all of the night and most of the day as well.
Obviously he wanted to go to bed, have a few hours sleep, like, but no, he had to come in an' start on bloody decorating.
She used to start first thing in the morning and go right through day practically non-stop and all through night till mebbe five in the morning. Then she'd expect him to get straight on it, soon as he came in. She were cleaning fanatic. There were always summat."
Regarding Sonia's cooking ability 'Wherever they were though, Mick noticed that his brother always tried to eat plenty of 'proper' food, before going home to whatever Sonia might have ready for him. 'She used to make him little bowls of spicy stuff an' that weren't fillin' or owt I've known him to have his dinner there then shoot out an' have fish and chips twice an' guzzle 'em like, in motor. Sometimes he used to come to me mother's in wagon starving."
From September 1978, Peter's assaults and 2 Copy-Cat murders were included in the Ripper frame by the police because of the Ripper's letters. He had been interviewed by the Ripper squad several times before 1980 commenced.
"Peter seemed to spend most of the time when he was round at Carl's place, which he tended to be increasingly, complaining about Sonia's incessant nagging.
'She'd been on at me again', were often his first words after he'd sat down. And it seemed to get worse as 1980 wore on, until Carl got the impression that
'he were fed up wi' whole job, fed up wi' whole affair completely.'
He had packed his bags on two separate occasions, intending to leave.
On the evidence of his own experience Carl had started to feel that maybe Sonia was 'cracking up.'
Always pernickety, by the beginning of 1980, she had started taking her obsession with cleanliness to 'weird' extremes:
'If she come to a chair. in a pub, the pictures, somebody's house, any chair, she wouldn't just sit down. She'd blow on it, an' start brushing and dusting it with her cuff. She'd spend a good two minutes going like that before she'd Plonk herself down."
In November 1980, the month Peter committed his last 2 attacks, Sonia announced her home was not for sale.
"This coincided with a change in her appearance that left Barbara Bowman, a neighbour, feeling stunned : Sonia come out of the house one day with the 'long, beautiful hair' that she had always worn down her back, crudely hacked off. 'I said at the time
"That wasn't done by any hairdresser." She'd obviously done it herself. "
While Peter was being held in custody, the police visited Sonia at her home. She was watching T.V.
"She lowered the sound but declined to give the police her undivided attention until Det. Chief Supt. Holland walked up to the set and turned it off.
She would eventually report him to his superiors for 'discourteous behaviour.'
They quickly embarked on a search of what one of them would later describe as 'one of the most meticulous - as well as one of the coldest' houses he had ever seen :
'There wasn't a thread out of place. Everything from the facecloths in the bathroom to worn-out clothes down to shoe rags, were folded to a sharp crease. There were crochet-covers over the covers over the living-room suite."
In Dewsbury police station, Peter Sutcliffe was waiting for an opportunity to confess. Inspector John Boyle was talking to him.
Boyle continued...
"I believe you put the false number plates on to conceal the identity of the vehicle in the red-light district."
Sutcliffe
"That is not true. To be honest with you, I've been so depressed that I put them on because I was thinking of committing a crime with the car."
Boyle
"Why did you leave your car and go to the side of that house?"
Sutcliffe
" To urinate."
Boyle
"I think you went for another purpose. Do you understand what I am saying? I think you are in serious trouble."
Sutcliffe
" I think you have been leading up to it."
Boyle
" Leading up to what?"
Sutcliffe
" The Yorkshire Ripper"
Boyle
"What about the Yorkshire Ripper?"
Sutcliffe
" Well, it's me. I'm glad its all over"
He made only one request - that he be the one, to tell Sonia. When she was brought to him, he said
"It's me."
She said,
"Is it? Is it really?"
She didn't cry or show emotion for an hour and a half when she was told of the huge press interest in the Ripper.
From there on Sonia concentrated on the financial Prospects of being the wife of the Yorkshire Ripper which culminated in the High Court in London in May 1989 as she sought damages for an alleged libel against Private Eye, who merely reported the press activities to sign her up for her story.
Four months after his arrest and while still on remand.
"Sonia was the only one still seeing her husband.
The family's verdict was that she had always wanted him to herself, and now, by 'poisoning his mind' against them, she had got him.
No member of his family ever saw Peter while he was on remand in Armley without Sonia also being present.
'I never got the chance to really talk to him in depth, because she kept this running commentary going all the time.'
'"What 'finally killed the pig' for Peter's father, though, was the morning he turned up outside Armley with Maureen and Maureen's two children, and waited for an hour and a quarter in the rain, only to be told that Peter had left instructions that he only wanted to see his wife that day.
As they turned to leave, Sonia brushed past them without speaking and rang the bell to be let in.
'That was when I realised she controlled him.'
It was the last time he was to see either Sonia or his son."
Sonia was there when Mick got a word in to Peter on his first visit:
'When you tell me, then I'll start taking it in. So have you done it or what?' An' he says,
'I haven't done 'em all. I'll tell you that now. But I've done six or seven of them, aye."
So I says, 'Well, that's it then," an' we sat down."
What Carl knew was mainly what his brother had told him on his first visit to see him in Armley.
"He said he hadn't done them all."
He said to me,
"They aren't really as bad as they say."
"He hadn't really ripped them to bits",
he said"
In July 1981 the Daily Star published a book entitled The Yorkshire Ripper. It was written by John Beattie. Quotes....
"Peter Sutcliffe wrote to his brother Mick.
"Don't take so much notice of any ignorant talk about me as the public in general know absolutely nothing about me or the type of person I am. It is all absolute rubbish that has been printed so far."
In another letter to Carl he says.
"Don't feel too bad because soon you will know the whole truth of this matter."
In every case the reaction was one of stunned disbelief.
Sonia's mother, Maria Szurma, told reporters:
"We just can't believe it. Peter is so loving, so generous, so thoughtful. He would do anything for anyone if he could. Nothing was too much trouble for him."
"I just can't believe Peter is the man who killed 13 women. It is not possible. I will not believe it. Even if it comes from his own mouth I will never accept that he is the Yorkshire Ripper. He was worried about the Ripper and used to drive me about when I had to go out at night so I would be safe."
The foregoing is only a small sample of published accounts which give an insight into the quality of married life with Sonia in the back room of her strict parents home.
The offer of a private room in a luxury mental home with T.V. and choice of menu as well as room service, albeit with limited freedom, was an option Peter Sutcliffe grasped when it presented itself later.
He was going to prison for his own murders, so any deal he could do by "confessing" to murders he hadn't done could only be to his advantage.
"The purpose of opening this thread was to notify the people of Leeds and Bradford that something is horribly wrong with the Peter Sutcliffe conviction.
The body of evidence assembled by Noel O'Gara is cumulative in its effect on the impartial reader and it piles up so high as to amaze the reader and to sow grave doubts in the mind and to change the way we think of the English police.
Peter Sutcliffe's blood type is of huge importance.
I was satisfied by Noel O'Gara's statement that John Sutcliffe (Peter Sutcliffe's father) and a certain police officer told him that Peter Sutcliffe has blood type O.
The fact that the West Yorkshire Police, who have been hugely embarrassed by Mr O'Gara for twenty-five years, never hit back with independently verified proof that Sutcliffe's blood type is B - suggests strongly that no such proof exists. How do we prove anything in the present civilisation?
Most people now place little or no trust in governments, police and media.
So what is truth and what is proof?
If we have to reduce it to a balance of probabilities on account of the impossibility at times of acquiring 100% reliable information in this type of civilisation - well then I'd say that Noel O'Gara's quoting John Sutcliffe and a certain police officer as saying that Peter Sutcliffe's blood type is O, combined with the West Yorkshire Police's silence on the matter for twenty years, despite the acute embarrassment caused to them by Mr O'Gara....
Gives something like a 95% probability that Peter Sutcliffe's blood type is O, and places an obligation on the West Yorkshire Police, Prison Service and Home Office to settle this matter, which is bringing them into increasing disrepute, by supplying independently verifiable proof of Peter Stucliffe's blood type. "
Prison for detective who nailed ripper
West Yorkshire Police Inspector John Boyle
First published on Tuesday 21 November 2000:
by Joanne Earp
The detective who extracted a confession from Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, was behind bars today.
Retired West Yorkshire Police Inspector John Boyle was jailed for six months after admitting conspiracy charges.
He had been involved in a chain which saw secret police information passed on for bottles of spirits and cash.
Passing sentence at Leeds Crown Court yesterday, Judge Stephen Gullick, told Boyle it was a “total tragedy” that at his age and with 31 years distinguished police service he now found himself in the dock.
He said: “You are regarded by fellow officers as a model of professionalism, integrity and loyalty. You gave a lifetime of service which now, regrettably, has been thrown away.”
Boyle, who left the force in 1988 as an Inspector, was a member of the Ripper investigation team and the officer to whom Sutcliffe eventually confessed.
The court heard how Boyle was working as a private investigator in Bradford in 1998 when he became the link in a chain of illegal information.
The 64-year-old, of Whitehall Road, Wyke, Bradford, asked Wakefield-based police officer PC James Burrell to carry out checks on the Police National Computer (PNC). Boyle supplied vehicle registration numbers in return for personal details about the owner. He also requested information from the Criminal Record Office – which holds personal details on individual criminals, victims and witnesses.
Boyle then sold the information for £20 a time to Javed Mahmood Butt, his boss at JMB investigating agency in Bradford.
The court heard how Butt, 36, of Sorrin Close, Idle, Bradford, sold the information to the last man in the chain – Manchester-based investigating agency boss Nitin Kumar Patel.
All four pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office. Butt was jailed for four months, Burrell 15 months and Patel two months.
A police investigation revealed that between January 1998 and January 1999 Burrell carried out 121 unauthorised checks on vehicles and 32 checks on individuals. The court heard the former PC, who resigned from his post earlier this month, passed the information onto Boyle in return for bottles of spirits.
In January 1998 an undercover police officer, known as Micky, visited Patel posing as a criminal wanting information.
Prosecuting, Richard Newbury, said: “Patel told Micky he’d done work for armed robbers and explained he had two police officers on the pay role – who he described as `bent’.”
An undercover police officer from Bradford, known as Mike, also visited the JMB office in Peckover Street, Bradford, and spoke to Butt.
He told Butt he was trying to find a man who owed him ?20,000 and gave him a registration number. Butt phoned Boyle, who passed on the details to Burrell, and within an hour information from the PNC check was given to the undercover officer.
From then on the Chief and Assistant Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police authorised Burrell’s office phone to be tapped.
In November, 1999 Boyle phoned Burrell and told him he had a job from a team in London who were wanting to trace a West Indian prisoner. Mr Newbury said Boyle told Burrell he thought the clients wanted information to “get stuck into the guy”.
In return for a name and date of birth details were given about which prison he was in and for how long, previous convictions and the name of the arresting officer.
In January 1999 all four men were arrested. A book was recovered from the offices of JMB listing car registration numbers supplied and details obtained by Boyle.
Detectives interviewed some of the people checked out by Boyle. The court heard how some had suddenly found themselves being followed by ex-partners.
Mr Newbury said: “One lady had been the victim of an argument in a supermarket car park. A while after she received intimidating visits from strangers attempting to influence her from giving evidence in a subsequent court case.”
Mitigating, Roger Thomas QC, said Boyle felt shattered when he discovered the information he had passed on was for “low key” domestic matters. Mr Newbury said: “He has become something of a recluse…because of the real shame he has genuinely felt.”
Speaking after the case, Detective Chief Superintendent Brian Taylor, said: “We take allegations of this nature, where information has been leaked, very seriously.”
“We must now face the very real possibility that there is a second man preying on women.
It may be that he is jealous of the Ripper.
There is no doubt that some sick people do get unhinged when they read about killers like the Ripper and they decide to jump on the bandwagon.”
“It could be a person jealous of the publicity the Ripper is getting .
As a result of Professor Gee’s post mortem we are able to say that this killing is not in all probability one of the killings already under investigation.
The injuries do not coincide.”
