Crime Library - A Serial Killer

Who Is Peter Sutcliffe ? : Peter William Sutcliffe (born 2 June 1946 in Bingley, United Kingdom) is an English serial killer who was dubbed The Yorkshire Ripper. Sutcliffe was convicted in 1981 for murdering 13 women, and attacking several others. He is currently serving life imprisonment in Broadmoor Hospital. Sutcliffe began using the name Peter William Coonan at some point after his conviction.

Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering the following 13 victims:

1. Wilma McCann ( Age 28 ) : Killed on 30 October 1975. Body found at Prince Phillip Playing Fields, Leeds

2. Emily Jackson ( Age : 42 ) : Killed On 20 January 1976. Body found at Manor Street, Leeds

3. Irene Richardson ( Age : 28 ) : Killed On 5 February 1977. Body found at Roundhay Park, Leeds.

4. Patricia Atkinson ( Age : 32 ) : Killed On 23 April 1977. Body found at Flat 3, 9 Oak Avenue, Bradford .

5. Jayne MacDonald ( Age : 16 ) : Killed On 26 June 1977. Body found at Adventure playground, Reginald Street, Leeds.

6. Jean Jordan ( Age : 20 ) : Killed on 1 October 1977. Body found at Allotments next to Southern Cemetery, Manchester.

7. Yvonne Pearson ( Age : 21 ) : Killed On 21 January 1978. Body found at Under a disused sofa on waste ground off Arthington Street, Bradford.

8. Helen Rytka ( Age : 18 ) : Killed On 18 January 1978. Body found at Timber yard in Great Northern Street, Huddersfield.

9. Vera Millward ( Age : 40 ) : Killed on 16 May 1978. Body found at Grounds of Manchester Royal Infirmary.

10. Josephine Whitaker ( Age : 19 ) : killed on 4 April 1979. Body found at Savile Park, Halifax.

11. Barbara Leach ( Age : 20 ) : Killed on 20 September 1979. Body found at Back of 13 Ashgrove, Bradford .

12. Marguerite Walls ( Age : 47 ) : Killed on 20 August 1980. Body found at Garden of a house called "Claremont", New Street, Farsley, Leeds

13. Jacqueline Hill ( Age : 20 ) : Killed On 17 November 1980. Body found at Waste ground off Alma Road, Headingley, Leeds

Early Life : Sutcliffe was the son of John and Kathleen Sutcliffe. Reportedly a loner at school, he left Silcoates School at the age of 15 and took a series of menial jobs, including two stints as a grave-digger during the 1960s. Sutcliffe worked at the factory of Baird Television Ltd. between November 1971 and April 1973 on the packaging line, but left when he was asked to go on the road as a salesman. After leaving Baird's, he worked nightshifts at the Britannia works of Anderton International from April 1973. In February 1975 he took redundancy, used the pay-off to gain an HGV licence on 4 June 1975, and began working as a driver for a tyre firm on 29 September of that year. However, he was sacked for poor time-keeping on 5 March 1976. He was unemployed until October 1976, when he found another job as an HGV driver for T & WH Clark (Holdings Ltd.) on the Canal Road Industrial Estate, between Shipley and Bradford.

Sutcliffe frequented prostitutes as a young man, and it has been speculated that a bad experience with one (during which he was allegedly conned out of money) helped fuel his violent hatred of women.

He first met Czech-born Sonia Szurma on St Valentine's Day in 1967 and they married on 10 August 1974. His wife suffered a number of miscarriages over the next few years, and eventually the couple were informed that she would not be able to have children. Shortly after this she returned to a teacher-training course. When she completed the course in 1977 and began teaching, the couple used the extra money to buy their first house, in Heaton, Bradford, where they moved on 26 September 1977, and where they were still living at the time of Sutcliffe's arrest for the murders in 1981.

THE notorious Yorkshire Ripper now has been classified low risk and recommended for release from a high-security psychiatric hospital, reports say.
Broadmoor Hospital’s doctors have told lawyers representing the Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, who murdered 13 women and tried to kill seven others that he is no longer dangerous.

Peter Sutcliffe Now : According to a source close to Sutcliffe, the medics will support his bid to get out of Broadmoor as they believe he is effectively cured as long as he keeps taking his medication.

And if the Ministry of Justice, headed by Jack Straw, agrees with their verdict, he will be moved to a medium-security unit.

That means he would skip the high-security step of the mental hospital process and be given much more freedom.He would then be allowed on to the streets to begin rehabilitation into society.The source said: “If Jack Straw rubber-stamps it Peter will be packing his bags.”Sutcliffe believed he was on a “mission from God” to kill prostitutes but not all of his victims were sex workers.His 13 victims were list above with their images..

He was jailed in 1981 but transferred to Broadmoor in 1984 after being ruled mentally ill. He refused treatment until 1993, when the Mental Health Act Commission said it should be given forcibly.