Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe dies
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.
His first victim's son, who was five when his mother was killed in 1975, said Sutcliffe's death would bring "some kind of closure".
The former lorry driver, from Bradford, died in hospital where he is said to have refused treatment for Covid-19. He also had other health problems.
Sutcliffe, who was also found guilty of the attempted murder of seven women, was convicted in 1981. He spent three decades at Broadmoor Hospital before being moved to HMP Frankland in County Durham in 2016.
Ex-police officer Bob Bridgestock, who worked on the case, said he "won't be shedding any tears" over the killer's death.
The murders, which spanned five years from 1975 to 1980, began with 28-year-old mother-of-four Wilma McCann, who was hit with a hammer and stabbed 15 times, in October 1975.
Sutcliffe was interviewed nine times during the course of a huge investigation but continued to avoid arrest and was able to carry on killing.
Ms McCann's son Richard 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.
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.
One of his surviving victims said that 40 years on she is still affected by the attack as she walked home from a pub in Leeds in October 1980.
Mo Lea, who was 20 at the time, said she had written Sutcliffe a letter while he was in prison.
"I was compelled to write to let him know how the fact that he was hanging on to the knowledge that he tried to kill me, was affecting me," she said.
"And I thought at least if I post it I'll know that in some way there'll be a level of understanding. I didn't expect a response and I didn't get one but it felt good to put it in the post box."
An inquiry held after his conviction said a backlog of case paperwork meant officers were unable to connect vital pieces of information.
The first two victims, Ms McCann and Emily Jackson, were killed in Chapeltown, which was known at the time for containing Leeds' main red light district.
Following the second murder, West Yorkshire Police announced they were looking for a "prostitute killer", leading to accusations key eyewitness evidence was being ignored as it did not fit detectives' narrative.
Wearside Jack
The investigation was also misdirected by one of criminal history's cruellest hoaxes, when John Humble tricked police into believing the serial killer was a man dubbed Wearside Jack because of his gruff Sunderland accent.
Police had believed he was the killer despite some survivors of attacks by Sutcliffe reporting he had a Yorkshire accent.
Humble, who died in 2019, never fully explained why he taunted detectives with letters and an infamous tape recording, in which he anonymously claimed to be the serial killer.
West Yorkshire Police detectives, headed by the then assistant chief constable George Oldfield, believed the letters and tape were genuine and diverted crucial resources to the north-east of England.
When Humble was eventually prosecuted, Leeds Crown Court heard claims the delays caused by the hoax left Peter Sutcliffe free to murder three more women.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-54874713