INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Convicted Serial Killer In Yorkshire Areas Of Leeds- England Dies In Hospital
- Think News Online
- Nov 17, 2020
- 2 min read
A convicted serial killer in the Yorkshire areas of Leeds- England has died in hospital.
Who was the Yorkshire Ripper and how was he caught?
Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe murdered 13 women and tried to kill seven more.
Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe evaded police during his five-year killing spree.
The Yorkshire Ripper has died at the age of 74 - nearly 40 years after he was convicted of murdering 13 women across the north of England.
The notorious killer died in hospital after reportedly refusing treatment for coronavirus while serving a whole life jail term at HMP Frankland in County Durham.
His killing spree spanned five years before he was eventually caught and confessed to the murders.
But who was Peter Sutcliffe and how did the killer eventually get caught?
Sutcliffe was born on June 2 1946 in Bingley, West Yorkshire area of England.
He left education at the age of 15 before taking on a series of jobs including grave digging.
Sutcliffe's first murder victim, 28-year-old sex worker Wilma McCann, was battered to death in August 1975 - just over a year after he married his wife Sonia.
She was struck with a hammer and stabbed in the neck, chest, and stomach after Sutcliffe picked her up in Leeds.
He murdered 42-year-old Emily Jackson from Leeds just a few months later in similar circumstances.
It wasn't until he killed his fifth victim - 16-year-old Jayne MacDonald in April 1977 - that the public became aware a serial killer was on the loose.
The identity of the Yorkshire Ripper went unknown for years, partly due to police being hoaxed into thinking the killer was a man from Sunderland.
Sutcliffe was interviewed at least nine times during the course of the investigation but avoided being arrested - despite his likeness to a widely-circulated image of the prime suspect.
Officers, who were hunting a man with a Sunderland accent whose handwriting matched those of fake letters they had been sent, failed to connect vital pieces of evidence.
The Yorkshire Ripper was eventually caught in January 1981 when police pulled him over in a red light area of Sheffield.
The car Sutcliffe was in, with 24-year-old prostitute Olivia Reivers, was on false plates.
teen victims of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper. Top row (left to right) Wilma McCann, Emily Jackson, Irene Richardson, Patricia Atkinson, Jayne McDonald, and Jean Jordan. Bottom row: Yvonne Pearson, Helen Rytka, Vera Millward, Josephine Whitaker, Barbara Leach, and Jacqueline Hill.
Once at Dewsbury Police Station officers decided to question him in relation to the Yorkshire Ripper killings after noticing his physical likeness.
After two days of questioning, Sutcliffe admitted the killings and later claimed that he was on a 'mission from God' to kill prostitutes.
Although the majority of his victims were sex workers, not all of them were.
Sutcliffe pleaded not guilty to 13 charges of murder claiming manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
His case was put before a jury and the trial lasted two weeks.
He was found guilty of murder on all counts and was sentenced to 20 concurrent sentences of life imprisonment after also pleading guilty to seven counts of attempted murder.
Police believe he may have killed many more than the 13 women he was convicted of murder.
Below: pictures of 12 of the women killed by Sutcliffe
Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith
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