Peter Sutcliffe was born on June 2nd 1946 to parents John and Kathleen. The eldest of two brothers and three sisters they grew up in Bingley a small town north of Bradford. Peter was a shy and quiet boy who preferred to stay indoors with his mother than play with the other children.

School was no better and by the time he reached secondary school he was bullied severely resulting in truancy. He left school aged 15 and over the next two years drifted from job to job. At one stage working as a grave digger in Bingley Cemetery for a period of three years.

 

It was at this time that he met 16 year old Sonia Szurma, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia now living in Bradford. They married eight years later on August 10th 1974. After more job changes Peter found work as a lorry driver. In October 1975 he started work for T&WH Clark (Holdings Ltd.) on the canal road industrial estate. One month later he would claim his first victim.

On October 29th 1975 Wilma McCann a 28 year old from the Chapeltown district of Leeds, after a pub crawl was picked up by a man in a green Ford Capri and taken to the nearby Prince Phillip playing fields. She was attacked from behind with a hammer and then repeatedly stabbed. Her body was found the next morning by a milkman doing his rounds.

The next victim was claimed on January 20th 1976. Emily Jackson aged 42 was working on Roundhay Road in Leeds. Her body was found the next morning by a worker, she had been hit with a hammer and stabbed 52 times.

It would be over a year before he would strike again. On February 5th 1977, 28 year old Irene Richardson a prostitute from Leeds was on her way to a disco. She never arrived and the next morning her body was discovered by a jogger near the Sports Pavilion. Again a hammer and knife was used in the killing. By now the police knew that they had a serial killer on the loose. The press dubbed the killer “The Yorkshire Ripper”.

Two months later on April 23rd 1977 Patricia Atkinson aged 32 from Bradford was attacked in her own home. Friends discovered her body on the bed, four blows to the head and stabbed 7 times she became the Ripper’s 4th victim.

The case brought much media attention with the next victim. Jayne MacDonald aged 16, a shop assistant. She was walking home on the night of June 25th in the Chapletown Road. She stopped to speak to two prostitutes, maybe to ask directions. This may have sealed her fate, as Sutcliffe may have mistaken her for a prostitute. Her body was discovered the next morning in a playground by a group of children. Around this time West Yorkshire’s Police Constable Ronald Gregory gave command of the Ripper investigation to Detective George Oldfield.

Manchester was to be the setting for the next attack. On October 1st Jean Jorden aged 20 took a £5 note from a client, got into his vehicle and he drove to nearby allotments. He viciously attacked her with a hammer hitting her 11 times before stabbing and mutilating her body. Sutcliffe became concerned about the £5 note which could be traced back to his company. He returned to the body eight days later to find it. With no avail he continued to attack the body further to hide his signature killing. The next day police found the body and also the handbag containing a £5 note with the serial number AW1121565. The note was traced back to a company T&WH Clark. Peter Sutcliffe was an employee of the company and police interviewed him. Sutcliffe gave them a good alibi.

Four more murders took place over the next six months. January 21st 1978 Yvonne Pearson aged 22 murdered in Bradford. January 31st Helen Rytka aged 18 murdered in Huddersfield. May 16th Vera Millward aged 41 killed in Manchester. and April 4th 1979 Josephine Whitaker aged 19 a Building Society Clerk walking across Saville Park in Halifax. Sutcliffe was following any women out late at night.

In March of 1978 George Oldfield was sent a letter posted from Sunderland and claiming to be from “The Yorkshire Ripper” The letters appeared to contain details which led the police to believe they may be genuine. It was to be a huge mistake which would cost the lives of a further three women.

After a third letter was sent George Oldfield then received an audio tape in the post. The person on the tape provoked George with direct criticism of the police task force. The very distinctive accent was narrowed down to the Castletown district of Sunderland and gained him the nickname “Wearside Jack”. By relying too much on this recording the police eliminated Sutcliffe as a suspect.

A five month gap in the attacks ended on September 2nd 1979 when Barbara Leach aged 20 was walking down Ash Grove in Bradford. Her body was found the same day in someone’s backyard she had been stabbed eight times. Next was Marguerite Walls aged 47 on August 20th. She was strangled with a piece of rope and not considered a Ripper victim, Sutcliffe would later claim he did not have a knife with him at the time!The final Ripper victim was Jacqueline Hill aged 20 on November 17th 1980. This proved to be a particularly brutal murder. On January 2nd 1981 two policemen Robert Ring and Robert Hayes were patrolling in the Sheffield area. They recognised Olive Reivers as a local prostitute, she was getting into a car so they approached the couple on solicitation charges.

The man identified himself as Peter Williams and claimed Olive was his girlfriend. Sutcliffe asked if he could relieve himself. Upon checking his license plates they discovered that they were false. Both were arrested. On arriving at the Hammerton Road police station Sutcliffe again asked to use the toilet. Sutcliffe was questioned and revealed his full name Peter William Sutcliffe. When questioned he mentioned that he had been interviewed about the £5 note found in the Ripper case.

Officer Robert Ring on hearing this went back to the arrest site to search where Sutcliffe had relieved himself. He found a Ball Headed Hammer and a knife. Returning to the station he checked the men’s toilets and found another knife in one of the toilet cisterns. Over the next few days Sutcliffe confessed to all 13 murders. He claimed that when working at Bingley Cemetery he had heard voices ordering him to kill prostitutes.

The trial began on May 5th 1981, he pleaded not guilty due to reasons of insanity. Peter Sutcliffe was found guilty of murder on May 22nd and sentenced to life in prison, to be served at Parkhurst.