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.

Controversy

The Police investigation was criticized for being inadequately prepared for an investigation on this scale. Sutcliffe was interviewed numerous times but all information the Police had about the case was stored in paper form, making cross referencing a difficult task. This fact was compounded by the television appeal for information, which generated thousands more documents to process. The Police were also criticized for being too focused on the Wearside tape and letters, which allowed Sutcliffe to remain at large for longer, as he did not fit the profile of the sender of the tape or letters. The official response to these problems ultimately led to the implementation of the forerunner of the Police National Computer system.

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No individual has every been brought to justice for the hoax letters and tapes which allowed Sutcliffe to remain at large for 3 more years during which time he claimed another three lives. Olive Curry who used to work at a cafe called the Fishermens Mission based in North Shields claims that during the summer of 1978 Sutcliffe regularly visited the premises (always late in the afternoon) with a friend with a "geordie accent". On one such visit Sutcliffe had told her that they both worked as lorry drivers and that his friend, who he repeatedly referred to as "Col" (short for Colin), was from Sunderland. Olive recalls that "his friend" who she always refers to as "the little one" or "the little tramp" rarely spoke and never went to the counter to order their refreshments. Nevertheless, on one ocassion when Sutcliffe had gone to the toilet to relieve himself she asked "the little one" where "his mate" (who she now knows to have been Sutcliffe) had gone. She recalls that he answered the question oddly - placing his hand over his mouth in an attempt to mask his voice. Despite this, she was still able to discern that he had a "lisp". Curry is now convinced that Sutcliffe's drinking companion was indeed Wearside Jack - the infamous hoaxer -and believes that Sutcliffe had purposely requested that he write the letters and make the tape in order to "divert the attention" of the "Ripper investigation" away from him, leaving him free to kill.

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Despite Curry's theory, Sutcliffe has never indicated at any time that he ever acted other than alone and police sources have officially dismissed the suggestion that Sutcliffe had an accomplice as "nonsense". Nevertheless, Senior Police Officers have never made any secret of the fact that when questioned, a teasing Sutcliffe has a tendency to "provide an over load of information" (purposely to confuse and obscure) but that there is usually a little bit of truth buried somewhere in the middle of it. On one occasion, when questioned about the idenitity of the hoaxer Sutcliffe is reported to have replied (amongst other things) that "you might find the answer in a mission in North Shields".

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