Yorkshire Ripper serial killer Peter Sutcliffe has died

[MenInG]

Britain has had their own fair share:

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The Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has died at the age of 74.

The serial killer was serving a whole life term for murdering 13 women across Yorkshire and north-west England.

He died in hospital where he is said to have refused treatment for Covid-19. Sutcliffe also had a number of other underlying health problems.

He was convicted in 1981 and spent three decades at Broadmoor Hospital before being moved to HMP Frankland in County Durham in 2016.

Sutcliffe's first victim was mother-of-four Wilma McCann, 28, who was hit with a hammer and stabbed 15 times, in October 1975.

Her son Richard, aged five at the time, said the serial killer's death would bring "some kind of closure".

Former police officer Bob Bridgestock, who worked on the hunt for Sutcliffe, said he "won't be shedding any tears".


Victims:

Wilma McCann, 28, Leeds, October 1975
Emily Jackson, 42, Leeds, January 1976
Irene Richardson, 28, Leeds, February 1977
Patricia Atkinson, 32, Bradford, April 1977
Jayne McDonald, 16, Leeds, June 1977
Jean Jordan, 21, Manchester, October 1977
Yvonne Pearson, 22, Bradford, January 1978
Helen Rytka, 18, Huddersfield, January 1978
Vera Millward, 41, Manchester, May 1978
Josephine Whittaker, 19, Halifax, May 1979
Barbara Leach, 20, Bradford, September 1979
Marguerite Walls, 47, Leeds, August 1980
Jacqueline Hill, 20, Leeds, November 1980

Mr McCann said: "The attention he's had over the years, the continuous news stories that we've suffered over the years, there is some form of conclusion to that.

"I am sure a lot of the families, surviving children of the victims may well be glad he has gone and they have a right to feel like that."

He explained that in about 2010 he had decided to let go of his anger and "forgive" Sutcliffe.

"I am sorry to hear he has passed away. It's not something I could have said in the past when I was consumed with anger," he said.

Sutcliffe was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper because he mutilated his victims' bodies using a hammer, screwdriver and knife.

'Mission from God'
The former lorry driver, from Bradford, was convicted of murdering 13 women between 1975 and 1980 and the attempted murder of seven others.

He is said to have believed he was on a "mission from God" to kill prostitutes, although not all of his victims were sex workers.

A huge police operation was launched in the 1970s, with 150 officers conducting more than 11,000 interviews.

Sutcliffe was interviewed nine times during the course of the investigation but continued to avoid arrest and carried on with his killings.

An inquiry held after his conviction said a backlog of case paperwork meant officers were unable to connect vital pieces of information.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-54874713

 

[MenInG]

Thirty thousand statements, a quarter of a million names, millions of car number plates, but not one computer. They’d barely been invented.

All the information detectives gathered was recorded and stored manually on handwritten index cards - was it any wonder the Ripper squad was overwhelmed by paperwork?

The floor of the incident room in Leeds city centre's Millgarth police station had to be reinforced to cope with the weight of the files in their cardboard boxes. Imagine if there had been a flood or a fire.

Peter Sutcliffe, then 35, being taken into court to be charged with murder
Over five years, as more women were mutilated and killed, the clues that pointed to Peter Sutcliffe grew within that vast pile of evidence.

He was interviewed by police nine times, his car was spotted 60 times in red light districts where the Ripper prowled for victims. It was all there in that clogged up system.

West Yorkshire Police were clearly not prepared for the scale of the investigation as the elusive serial killer wielded hammers, knives and screwdrivers across the north of England

But don't take my word for it, read the damning words of the late Sir Lawrence Byford in his 1982 report into the police handling of the investigation, in which he wrote: "The ineffectiveness of the major incident room was a serious handicap to the Ripper investigation.

"While it should have been the effective nerve centre of the whole police operation, the backlog of unprocessed information resulted in the failure to connect vital pieces of related information.

He continued: "This serious fault in the central index system allowed Peter Sutcliffe to continually slip through the net."

But it wasn't just the avalanche of paperwork that engulfed detectives and delayed them for so long in identifying the murderer.

They were also blindsided by a troublemaker known as "Wearside Jack'", who pretended to be the killer on the loose and led them - for more than a year - on a wild goose chase that gave Sutcliffe time to kill three more women before he was caught.

John Humble, for reasons best known to himself, sent hoax letters and an audio tape that convinced police they should be looking for a man with a Sunderland accent, despite contradictory evidence from some Ripper survivors.

Sutcliffe should have been rising to the top of the suspect list, but instead he was slipping down it because of his West Yorkshire accent, and carried on killing.

It took an FBI criminal profiler and the squad's own dialect analysts to finally persuade senior detectives that "Jack'" was a blatant hoaxer. Humble was unmasked years later and jailed.

The Ripper case was also damned by allegations of misogyny with police convinced Sutcliffe was attacking only prostitutes. Victims who were not sex workers were initially disregarded.

That thought was carried into Sutcliffe's trial by prosecutor Sir Michael Havers, the attorney general, who said of the victims: "Some were prostitutes, but perhaps the saddest part of the case is that some were not.

"The last six attacks were on totally respectable women."

Sir Lawrence Byford's hard-hitting report led to big changes in policing, notably the development of a computer system that much better collated information and eased cross-referencing.

It also gave all police stations access to various databases.

https://news.sky.com/story/yorkshir...r-sutcliffe-to-kill-three-more-women-12131186

 

[Robert]

The Ripper case was also damned by allegations of misogyny with police convinced Sutcliffe was attacking only prostitutes. Victims who were not sex workers were initially disregarded.

That thought was carried into Sutcliffe's trial by prosecutor Sir Michael Havers, the attorney general, who said of the victims: "Some were prostitutes, but perhaps the saddest part of the case is that some were not.

"The last six attacks were on totally respectable women."

https://news.sky.com/story/yorkshir...r-sutcliffe-to-kill-three-more-women-12131186

As though sex workers somehow are less human than non-sex workers.

Anyway, Sutcliffe is gone and the world is no poorer for it.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

As though sex workers somehow are less human than non-sex workers.

Anyway, Sutcliffe is gone and the world is no poorer for it.

Times have changed and views have changed with them. Back then if you called them sex workers British people would have looked at you as if you had a screw loose. But the sheer horror of the attacks meant the general public still felt revulsed regardless of their profession. Not surprised that the police didn't take it seriously though. It was a very macho and male dominated establishment back then.

 

[Robert]

Times have changed and views have changed with them. Back then if you called them sex workers British people would have looked at you as if you had a screw loose. But the sheer horror of the attacks meant the general public still felt revulsed regardless of their profession. Not surprised that the police didn't take it seriously though. It was a very macho and male dominated establishment back then.

Also they didn't have a distributed database - it was all done on handwritten cards and some Forces didn;t talk to others, so clues weren't followed up.

 

[MenInG]

Downing Street described Sutcliffe as a "depraved and evil individual" and said it was right that he died behind bars.

"The prime minister's thoughts today are with those who lost their lives, the survivors and with the families and the friends of Sutcliffe's victims," Boris Johnson's official spokesman said.

"Peter Sutcliffe was a depraved and evil individual whose crimes caused unimaginable suffering and appalled this country.

"Nothing will ever detract from the harm that he caused, but it is right that he died behind bars for his barbaric murders and for his attempted murders."

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Downing Street rightly describing him as depraved and evil, but I can't help feeling tax payers money shouldn't go towards feeding and caring for the likes of Sutcliffe. Would be cheaper and a more apt form of justice if there was a death penalty for cases like this where there is no doubt as to the guilty verdict.

 

[sweep_shot]

Downing Street rightly describing him as depraved and evil, but I can't help feeling tax payers money shouldn't go towards feeding and caring for the likes of Sutcliffe. Would be cheaper and a more apt form of justice if there was a death penalty for cases like this where there is no doubt as to the guilty verdict.

I fully agree.

I also support death penalties for convicted serial killers.

 

[Markhor]

Watching the ITV drama The Long Shadow about the Ripper killings.

The police interviewed him 9 times in 5 years. They had the sketches from survivors - who said the guy clearly had a Yorkshire accent. Yet police didn't follow up, spent years pursuing the author of what turned out to be a hoax letter from Sunderland, and only caught him on a fluke.

The guy's house and garage by the way is still there in Bradford. It's a listed building so they can't knock it down.

 

[jameskindon]

For the loved ones of his victims, Peter Sutcliffe's passing signals the end of a terrible and painful chapter in their lives. Even though justice was done during his lifetime, the wounds he left behind are a constant reminder of the importance of providing assistance to survivors and working to stop similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

 

[sophia16]

For the loved ones of his victims, Peter Sutcliffe's passing signals the end of a terrible and painful chapter in their lives. Even though justice was done during his lifetime, the wounds he left behind are a constant reminder of the importance of providing assistance to survivors and working to stop similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

Peter Sutcliffe’s passing may bring a sense of closure to his victims’ families, but the lasting impact of his crimes will never be forgotten. It’s crucial to continue supporting survivors and ensuring that justice and prevention remain at the forefront of our efforts to stop such tragedies.

 

[sophia16]

Peter Sutcliffe’s death marks the end of a dark chapter in criminal history. His actions left a trail of grief and pain for countless victims and their families. While his passing brings no closure, it serves as a reminder of the resilience of those affected and the ongoing need for justice and healing in society. Nulls Brawl APK Download

 

[sweep_shot]

Good riddance.

Serial killers are scumbags.