Peter William Sutcliffe

[Machiavelli]

I started work as a 16 year old in the late autumn of 1980, just as the killings came into the national focus
Was frightened to death walking the 10 minutes from the bus stop to home in the dark. Everyone knew "he" was out there and that he had visited, and killed, in Manchester.
I'm not a person who normally feels frightened out and about, but the fear at that time was palpable.

I never realised you was a lady.

 

[Stoned Rose]

BBC Four has commissioned a new series, which will take a fresh look at Peter Sutcliffe’s murders.

In 1981, he was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting to kill 7 others. It was only after the biggest manhunt in British criminal history that the killer, nicknamed The Yorkshire Ripper, was brought to justice.

After the intense 6 year search, Sutcliffe was only caught, when stopped for a minor motoring offence. It later transpired that he’d already been questioned 9 times during the investigation.

The new box-set history series for BBC Four is being made by Liza Williams, who’ll examine the case from a new perspective. She’ll ask whether the prevailing attitudes of the time, towards women and prostitutes in particular, influenced the investigation.

During the 3-hour series, Williams will meet relatives and friends of those he murdered, as well as finding survivors of the attacks. She will talk to police officers, journalists and look at the story through “contemporary eyes.”

"We are keen to make contact with any family members or friends of victims in this case. Their memories will help us to reflect who these women really were, and the life long impact their loss has had on loved ones,” she said.

The Yorkshire Ripper (working title) is a Wall To Wall Media production.

It is due on air in 2019.

Can’t wait for the loons from the McCann thread to watch it and come bouncing about on here lecturing us all on risk and negligence.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I never realised you was a lady.

Having met @mackenzie , she is absolutely a lady.

 

[Magicpole]

Having met @mackenzie , she is absolutely a lady.

You know the rules fella...you are a fella?

 

[M18CTID]

I started work as a 16 year old in the late autumn of 1980, just as the killings came into the national focus
Was frightened to death walking the 10 minutes from the bus stop to home in the dark. Everyone knew "he" was out there and that he had visited, and killed, in Manchester.
I'm not a person who normally feels frightened out and about, but the fear at that time was palpable.

I was in primary school at the time and even at that young age it was the topic of conversation amongst many of the pupils. Kids being kids, all sorts of stories were being told. I remember someone in the year above who I saw as being quite a rational person one day claiming that they'd had an encounter with a bloke who they'd deduced was definitely the Ripper. It seemed like half the school fell for that particular story

 

[M18CTID]

One of the things highlighted by the fuck up of an investigation was the fact that one person (boss) could be so powerful. For instance, once he had decided the killer was the Geordie on the tape recording no one else was a suspect. If Sutcliffe had been caught stood over a dead woman with a hammer in his hand he would have been called a copycat killer.
Not only was Sutcliffe interviewed on many occasions because his car kept turning up in red light areas the £5 note found on one of the victims was traced back to the factory where he worked and was proved to have been put n one of the workers wage packets.

That said, with no computers the sheer volume of work they were doing made it very hard to put it all into any kind of evidence. That is not much of a defence though, it was appallingly handled. Did you see the programme last night ? a teenage girl was attacked but survived, her photofit was almost identical to that provided by a prostitute who survived but they ignored that attack as they were convinced the killer only targeted prostitutes !

No doubt there were many fuck-ups, and Oldfield's obsession that Wearside Jack was definitely the killer was right at the top of the list which, as you say, led to them ignoring witness accounts given by survivors, etc, simply because the accent of the attacker wasn't the same as that on the tape. There was nothing wrong with taking the tape and letters seriously but to put all their eggs in one basket to the point that they were rubbishing first-hand accounts was nothing short of astonishing. Not only that, they were ignoring concerns from their own officers as well. To that end, I'm surprised the programme hasn't included Andy Laptew's account. He was a junior detective who went round to interview Sutcliffe because his car had been flagged up as being spotted in 3 different red light areas. He wasn't happy with Sutcliffe and felt he bore many similarities to photo-fits given by some of the survivors, so much so that he took it up with Superintendent Dick Holland who wasn't interested because Sutcliffe didn't have a Geordie accent!

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/detective-who-warned-peter-sutcliffe-8665987

As for some of the other mistakes, I agree and do have some sympathy because I think the size of the investigation and the sheer amount of paperwork involved pre-computer days was beyond anything that any police force in the country had ever dealt with previously. They were doing the right things a lot of the time such as the £5 note enquiry, and trying to trace the tyre tracks. However, and this is covered in Michael Bilton's excellent book, just as they seemed to be narrowing down the suspect list through these various lines of enquiry another attack would happen and that meant abandoning these specific investigations as resources were needed elsewhere.

 

[m7mcfc]

I was in primary school at the time and even at that young age it was the topic of conversation amongst many of the pupils. Kids being kids, all sorts of stories were being told. I remember someone in the year above who I saw as being quite a rational person one day claiming that they'd had an encounter with a bloke who they'd deduced was definitely the Ripper. It seemed like half the school fell for that particular story

Same as mate I was in primary school and I remember it being spoken about.

 

[ancoats]

watched all 3 episodes and the police was shocking and clueless ??? and the ripper had a free run at doing his best and was never going to get caught unless a 1 in a million chance the police stumbled across a dodgy car ???

also
for me something was not right ??? and i don't think he was a lone ranger in this, and to many of the cases he had to move the body ?? and he must have had blood all over him and on his clothes and shoes and in the car so why did his wife not find something ?? it puzzles me to think about the killings and the stabbings and all that blood and mess and noise
and his wife being from old stock of being a house wife of the 1970s who would have done all the washing and cleaning and marks on his body ????

maybe a 2nd person was getting off on what he was doing (a watcher) then helped him clean up and move the body, also he must have had a lock up to keep the car hidden and change the numbers plates and hide the tools, so again somebody must know what was going on and helped him as i don't think the killings happen at the place of the body found

so yes the police fucked up big time and got lucky and the ripper knew somebody else was involved and took all the blame to hide the real truth, maybe his wife knew and was scared or just happy for it to happen, but never in a million years was it a long ranger ??? and to get away with what he did for so long somebody must have been look out or a (watcher)

 

[Magicpole]

watched all 3 episodes and the police was shocking and clueless ??? and the ripper had a free run at doing his best and was never going to get caught unless a 1 in a million chance the police stumbled across a dodgy car ???

also
for me something was not right ??? and i don't think he was a lone ranger in this, and to many of the cases he had to move the body ?? and he must have had blood all over him and on his clothes and shoes and in the car so why did his wife not find something ?? it puzzles me to think about the killings and the stabbings and all that blood and mess and noise
and his wife being from old stock of being a house wife of the 1970s who would have done all the washing and cleaning and marks on his body ????

maybe a 2nd person was getting off on what he was doing (a watcher) then helped him clean up and move the body, also he must have had a lock up to keep the car hidden and change the numbers plates and hide the tools, so again somebody must know what was going on and helped him as i don't think the killings happen at the place of the body found

so yes the police fucked up big time and got lucky and the ripper knew somebody else was involved and took all the blame to hide the real truth, maybe his wife knew and was scared or just happy for it to happen, but never in a million years was it a long ranger ??? and to get away with what he did for so long somebody must have been look out or a (watcher)

I’ve been watching that programme too. The attitude toward the women murdered was shameful and as cops, they were as thick as fuck. Truly horrendous level of competence. At least 8 women died because of those utter pricks leading the investigation.

The attitudes expressed by these Fucking cavemen are still held by the guys interviewed. Loose morals? No you ****, poverty. I wanted to punch fuck out of all of the useless bastards. Shameful.

 

[inchy14]

I was in primary school at the time and even at that young age it was the topic of conversation amongst many of the pupils. Kids being kids, all sorts of stories were being told. I remember someone in the year above who I saw as being quite a rational person one day claiming that they'd had an encounter with a bloke who they'd deduced was definitely the Ripper. It seemed like half the school fell for that particular story

Same as mate I was in primary school and I remember it being spoken about.

I also was just finishing primary school around that time, i remember the look of sheer relief cross my mums face when the radio announced he'd been caught, we were all playing table tennis on the kitchen table at the time it was announced, might have been a Sunday if my memory is correct.

Never forget her face that night.