Peter Sutcliffe

Peter Sutcliffe (born June 2, 1946), infamous as the "Yorkshire Ripper", was convicted in 1981 of the murders of thirteen women and attacks on seven more from 1975 to 1980.

Arrest and trial

In January 1981 he was stopped by the police in Sheffield while in his car with prostitute Olivia Reivers (aged 24); he was arrested. Having been found to have fitted his car with false license plates, he was transferred to Dewsbury police station in connection with this offence. At Dewsbury he was questioned in relation to the Yorkshire Ripper case, as he matched so many of the physical characteristics known. The discovery the next day of a knife, hammer and rope he had disposed of at the time and place of his arrest (he used the pretext of needing to urinate to absent himself briefly from the arresting officers) increased police interest, and they obtained a search warrant for his home and brought his wife in for questioning.

Related Topics:
Sheffield - Dewsbury

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After two days of intensive questioning, he suddenly declared he was the Ripper and, over the next day, calmly described his many attacks, claiming to have been told by God to murder the women. He was charged on January 6 and went to trial in May.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The basis of his defence was his claim that he was the tool of God's will. However, there was a twist to the tale that, had it been made public at the time, could have shattered this defence, and exposed Sutcliffe as the sexual killer many believed he was. When Sutcliffe stripped out of his clothing at the police station, he was discovered to be wearing a V-neck pullover under his trousers. The arms had been pulled over his legs, so that the V-neck exposed his groin; the elbows were padded to protect his knees as, presumably, he knelt over his victims' corpses. The sexual implications of this outfit were held to be obvious. But this fact was not communicated to the public until disclosure in a recent book, Wicked Beyond Belief.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At trial, Sutcliffe pleaded not guilty to thirteen counts of murder, but guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He also pleaded guilty to seven counts of attempted murder. On the basis of four psychiatrists' reports diagnosing paranoid schizophrenia, the prosecution proposed accepting the plea. However, the trial judge, Mr. Justice Boreham, demanded an unusually detailed explanation of the prosecution reasoning, and after a two-hour representation by the Attorney-General Sir Michael Havers, a ninety-minute lunch break and a further forty minutes of legal discussion, he rejected the diminished responsibilty plea, insisting that the case should be dealt with by a jury. The trial proper was set to commence on May 5 1981. (A fuller account of the trial is available at The Yorkshire Ripper Web Site).

Related Topics:
Murder - Manslaughter - Diminished responsibility - Paranoid schizophrenia - Attorney-General - Sir Michael Havers

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His trial lasting just two weeks, he was found guilty of thirteen counts of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of thirty years. His appeal was denied. Since incarceration, he has been informed that he will die a prisoner.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~