Secret prison tapes & letters expose Yorkshire Ripper's monstrous path The Yorkshire Ripper: The Murders of Peter Sutcliffe - did you know? Birth date: June 2, 1946. The attitude in the West Yorkshire Police at the time reflected Sutcliffe's own misogyny and sexist attitudes, according to multiple sources. [9][10], Through his childhood and his early adolescence, Sutcliffe showed no signs of abnormality. Give yourself up before another innocent woman dies". [19], Sutcliffe is also known to have attacked eleven other women:[20] a woman of unknown name (Bradford 1969), Anna Rogulskyj (Keighley 1975), Olive Smelt (Halifax 1975), Tracy Browne (Silsden 1975), Marcella Claxton (Leeds 1976), Maureen Long (Bradford 1977) Marilyn Moore (Leeds 1977), Ann Rooney (Leeds 1979)[21] Upadhya Bandara (Leeds 1980), Mo Lea (Leeds 1980) and Theresa Sykes (Huddersfield 1980). He then disarranged her clothing and slashed her lower back with a knife. The tape contained a man's voice saying, "I'm Jack. [92] Because detectives firmly believed (and continue to believe) that McAuley, Cooney and Kenny's murders were committed by the same person, this appeared to also rule out the possibility of Sutcliffe also having committed the murders of Cooney and Kenny. [139], A three-part series of one-hour episodes, The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story, by filmmaker Liza Williams aired on BBC Four in March 2019. McCann, from Scott Hall in Leeds, was a mother of four children between the ages of 2 and 7. [143] To be titled The Long Shadow, it was expected to air in September 2022.[144]. Peter Sutcliffe is an infamous English serial killer, who was also known as the 'Yorkshire Ripper.' He was convicted for the murder of 13 prostitutes and attempt to kill seven more women. He ran off when he saw the lights of a passing car, leaving his victim requiring brain surgery. Namibia and Iceland caught in jaws of fish scandal. Ch 5, documentary "Born to Kill" broadcast 12.05am 21 September 2022 a profile of the serial killer. The murder of a woman who was not a prostitute again alarmed the public and prompted an expensive publicity campaign emphasising the Wearside connection. [126], In December 2015, Sutcliffe was assessed as being "no longer mentally ill". [2]:71, Sutcliffe reportedly hired prostitutes as a young man, and it has been speculated that he had a bad experience during which he was conned out of money by a prostitute and her pimp. Given that Sutcliffe was a lorry driver, it was theorised that he had been in Denmark and Sweden, making use of the ferry across the Oresund Strait. [118] The court decided that Sutcliffe would never be released. Anna's life. Claxton survived and testified against Sutcliffe at his trial. Paul Wilson, a convicted robber, asked to borrow a videotape before attempting to strangle Sutcliffe with the cable from a pair of stereo headphones. [2]:107, Ten days later, he killed Helen Rytka, an 18-year-old prostitute from Huddersfield. For other people named Peter Sutcliffe, see, Investigations into other possible victims, The neurosurgeon was Dr. A. Hadi Khalili at, George Oldfield and other senior individuals involved in the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper had consulted senior FBI special agents. Her body was dumped at the rear of 13 Ashgrove under a pile of bricks, close to the university and her lodgings. Although broadcast over two weeks, two episodes were shown consecutively each week. Peter Sutcliffe, later dubbed the Yorkshire.
Jan 2 1981: the Yorkshire Ripper is caught - Find it on YouTube I have the greatest respect for you George, but Lord! The Ripper was originally jailed for 20 years in 1981, with the sentence converted to a whole-life order in 2010. The so-called Yorkshire Ripper is finally caught by British police, ending one of the largest manhunts in history. [25] Disturbed by a neighbour, he left without killing her. [27] A witness misidentified the make of Sutcliffe's car, resulting in more than 300 police officers checking thousands of cars without success. 2,164. There, officers searched his car and discovered screwdrivers in the glove compartment. History of notorious killer who brutally murdered 13women", "How police caught Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe in Sheffield 37years ago this week", "Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe victims", "Looking back: The Yorkshire Ripper investigation", "Restoring reputations of Yorkshire Ripper's victims after decades of victim-blaming", "Yorkshire Ripper serial killer Peter Sutcliffe dies", "Women who survived Sutcliffe's attacks also had to survive institutional sexism", "The Yorkshire Ripper was not a 'prostitute killer' now his forgotten victims need justice", "Daughter of Ripper victim kills herself", "Yorkshire Ripper: Who were serial killer Peter Sutcliffe's victims?
How a serial killer inspired a feminist movement Stephen handed prison time over Georgia sex tape, Finding Michael: What happened to Michael Matthews, Alex Murdaugh has been found guilty of murder, Constance Marten charged with manslaughter, Physical 100 contestant accused of assault, Tory MP says families are 'abusing' food banks, Harry and Meghan react to eviction from Frogmore, The legal age you can get married has just changed, Charles & Camilla break major royal tradition, How the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe was finally caught. Sutcliffe struck the back of her skull twice with a hammer, then inflicted "a stab wound to the throat; two stab wounds below the right breast; three stab wounds below the left breast and a series of nine stab wounds around the umbilicus". [52] The jury rejected the evidence of four psychiatrists that Sutcliffe had paranoid schizophrenia, possibly influenced by the evidence of a prison officer who heard him say to his wife that if he convinced people he was mad then he might get ten years in a "loony bin". He struck Rytka on the head five times as she exited his vehicle, before stripping most of the clothes from her body (although her bra and polo-neck jumper were positioned above her breasts) and repeatedly stabbing her in the chest.
'The Ripper': How was Peter Sutcliffe caught? Here's how Yorkshire He had a number of underlying health problems, including obesity and diabetes. In August 2016, it was ruled that he was mentally fit to be returned to prison, and he was transferred that month to HM Prison Frankland in County Durham. [102][92], Following his conviction and incarceration, Sutcliffe chose to use the name Coonan, his mother's maiden name. Sutcliffe was interviewed nine times,[56] but all information the police had about the case was stored in paper form, making cross-referencing difficult, compounded by television appeals for information which generated thousands more documents. [92][102] Links were also made between Sutcliffe and the murder of 38-year-old Mary Gregson in Shipley in August 1977, but Sutcliffe was able to be ruled out with DNA after a profile of the killer was extracted in 1999, and in 2000 another man was convicted of the killing.
Yorkshire Ripper killings created 'culture of fear' - BBC News The Yorkshire Ripper was arrested in January 1981 The Ripper killings also brought the finger of suspicion to Leeds and the fear the killer was living among them. He repeatedly bludgeoned her about the head with a ball-peen hammer, then jumped on her chest before stuffing horsehair into her mouth from a discarded sofa, under which he hid her body near Lumb Lane. This serious fault in the central index system allowed Peter Sutcliffe to continually slip through the net". Information on suspects was stored on handwritten index cards. On 1 October 1977 Sutcliffe murdered Jean Jordan, a prostitute from Manchester. The 5 note, hidden in a secret compartment in Jordan's handbag, was traced to branches of the Midland Bank in Shipley and Bingley. I hasten to add that I feel sure that the senior police officers in the areas concerned are also mindful of this possibility but, in order to ensure full account is taken of all the information available, I have arranged for an effective liaison to take place.[69]. Police spent five years pursuing the elusive killer - but Peter Sutcliffe was actually caught on a trivial pretext.
Yorkshire Ripper: Peter Sutcliffe's timeline of terror across the He went on a killing spree and was even a suspect of the cops, but by the time they put 2 and 2. [5] This drew condemnation from the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), who protested outside the Old Bailey. He is confirmed to have brutally murdered 13 women between 1975 and 1980 before he was stopped. I'm Jack. A new Netflix series, The Ripper, uses archive footage from the 1970s to show detectives in West Yorkshire . [98] Investigators had taken DNA from Sutcliffe at Broadmoor Hospital in December 1997, in order to see if they could find links between him and unsolved crimes. On 17 June 1979, Humble sent a cassette to Assistant Chief Constable Oldfield, where he introduced himself only under the name "Jack" and claimed responsibility for the Ripper murders to that point. [45], Sutcliffe was charged on 5 January 1981. Detective George Oldfield's unshaken belief the 'Ripper' was a man from the North East possessing a 'Geordie' accent wasted valuable police time and resources searching for a man who fitted a profile matching the hoax recordings and letters that had been sent to Oldfield at the investigation headquarters in Leeds. [50][51], The trial lasted two weeks, and despite the efforts of his counsel James Chadwin QC, Sutcliffe was found guilty of murder on all counts and was sentenced to twenty concurrent sentences of life imprisonment. He was arrested when they discovered the car had false plates, and brought. [31] In dire financial straits, Jackson had been persuaded by her husband to engage in prostitution, using the van of their family roofing business. Ripper Notes Author: Dan Norder Publisher: Inklings Press ISBN: 0978911229 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 110 Get Book. It was decided that prosecution for these offences was "not in the public interest". Sutcliffe said he had heard voices that ordered him to kill prostitutes while working as a gravedigger, which he claimed originated from the headstone of a Polish man, Bronisaw Zapolski,[47] and that the voices were that of God. The hoaxer, dubbed "Wearside Jack", sent two letters to police and the Daily Mirror in March 1978 boasting of his crimes. He was interviewed by police nine times, his car was spotted 60 times in red light districts where the Ripper prowled for victims. On 16 July 2010, the High Court issued Sutcliffe with a whole life tariff, meaning he was never to be released. [46] At his trial, he pleaded not guilty to thirteen charges of murder, but guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The third book (and second episodic television adaptation) in David Peace's Red Riding series is set against the backdrop of the Ripper investigation. [86], Another suspected victim of Sutcliffe was Yvonne Mysliwiec, a 21-year-old student attacked by a man with a ball-peen hammer at Ilkley train station in October 1979.
Yorkshire Ripper's niece reveals seaside beauty spot where the killer's On 1 September, Sutcliffe murdered 20-year-old Barbara Leach, a Bradford University student. 7.1/10. [78] Even though his confession failed to include any details of the murder, and Ripper detective Jim Hobson testified at trial that he did not find the confession credible, Steel was narrowly convicted. Video, 00:01:18 The hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. [27], On 5 February, Sutcliffe attacked Irene Richardson, a Chapeltown prostitute, in Roundhay Park. After a two-hour representation by the Attorney-General Sir Michael Havers, a ninety-minute lunch break, and another forty minutes of legal discussion, the judge rejected the diminished responsibility plea and the expert testimonies of the psychiatrists, insisting that the case should be dealt with by a jury. Rogulskyj survived after neurological surgery[a] but she was psychologically traumatised by the attack. [112] In 2003, it was reported that Sutcliffe had developed diabetes. The 1982 Byford Report into the investigation concluded: "The ineffectiveness of the major incident room was a serious handicap to the Ripper investigation. Sutcliffe spent thirty years at Broadmoor Hospital before being moved to HMP Frankland in County Durham four years ago 2016. Harrison's murder had been linked to the Ripper killings by the "Wearside Jack" claim, but in 2011, DNA evidence revealed the crime had actually been committed by convicted sex offender Christopher Smith, who had died in 2008. The visit led to front-page tabloid headlines. [123] The hearing for Sutcliffe's appeal against the ruling began on 30 November 2010 at the Court of Appeal. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have look hundreds times for their favorite readings like this Listening About Jack The Ripper , but end up in malicious downloads. The BBC reports he refused treatment for COVID-19, and died in hospital in November 2020 as a result. Sutcliffe was finally arrested on January 2 1981, but it was several days before they revealed him to be the serial killer. [78] Yallop continued to put forth the theory that Sutcliffe was the real killer.
How was the Yorkshire Ripper caught? What happened to Peter Sutcliffe Episode 1", "Yorkshire Ripper 'has admitted more attacks', "Sutcliffe's 'secret murders': When Yorkshire Ripper was quizzed on unsolved Dundee killings", "Tayside murders 'bore hallmark of the Ripper', "Angus Sinclair: A lifetime of abuse, rape and murder", "The Bristol prostitute murdered as the Yorkshire Ripper hunted red light districts", "Wendy Sewell murder: Pathology report 'contradicts conviction', "Yorkshire Ripper moved back to prison after 32 years in Broadmoor", "Crime case closed: Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper", "Deranged killer admits Yorkshire Ripper blinding", "Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe 'fit to be freed from Broadmoor', "Summer date for hearing that could lead to parole for Ripper", "Yorkshire Ripper will never be released", "Yorkshire Ripper to remain locked up for life", "Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe challenges "whole life" ruling", "Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe challenges full-life jail sentence", "Yorkshire Ripper loses bid to appeal "whole life" term", "Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe loses life tariff case", "Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe 'facing Broadmoor exit', "Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe moved from Broadmoor to prison", "Yorkshire Ripper moved back to prison from psychiatric hospital", "Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe dies aged 74", "Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe cremated at secret funeral", "This is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper Awards", "Crimes That Shook Britain Series 4 | Crime and Investigation", "The Yorkshire Ripper Investigation, The Reunion BBC Radio 4", "The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story", "The Incident Room review Yorkshire Ripper retelling puts police in the spotlight", "Long Shadow Yorkshire Ripper drama cast includes some big names", "WELCOME TO CHAPELTOWN: COREY TAYLOR AND CLOWN DELVE INTO SLIPKNOT'S NEW 'BARNBURNER', https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Sutcliffe&oldid=1142141115, British people convicted of attempted murder, Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England, English prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, People convicted of murder by England and Wales, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by England and Wales, Prisoners who died in England and Wales detention, Serial killers who died in prison custody, Articles with self-published sources from January 2021, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from January 2021, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Articles with incomplete citations from June 2021, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from September 2022, Articles lacking page references from January 2021, Articles with dead external links from October 2022, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 22+ (13confirmed murdered, 7confirmed injured, 2suspected to be injured, at least 1 other officially suspected murder), This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 18:59. After an attack with a pen by fellow inmate Ian Kay on 10 March 1997, Sutcliffe lost the vision in his left eye, and his right eye was severely damaged. This feeling is reinforced by examining the details of a number of assaults on women since 1969 which, in some ways, clearly fall into the established pattern of Sutcliffe's overall modus operandi. Sutcliffe hid a second knife in the toilet cistern at the police station when he was permitted to use the toilet. He attacked Anna Rogulskyj, who was walking alone, striking her unconscious with a hammer and slashing her stomach with a knife. Richardson was bludgeoned to death with a hammer. In 2001, Angus Sinclair was convicted of the murder of Mary Gallagher on DNA evidence, and he was also convicted of the World's End murders in 2014 in a highly publicised trial. [92] South Yorkshire Police also interviewed Sutcliffe on the murder of Ann Marie Harold in Mexborough in 1980, but links to him were later disproved in December 1982 when another man was convicted of her murder. Drug kingpin Rehman was caught out after being identified as an Encrochat user who had facilitated the sale of drugs worth over 4million in an 11-week period. [66][34][67] Jim Hobson, a senior West Yorkshire detective, told a press conference in October 1979 the perpetrator: "has made it clear that he hates prostitutes. Birth Country: England. The hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. [75], Yallop highlighted that Steel had always protested his innocence and been convicted on weak evidence.
Yorkshire Ripper's 'warped obsession' with seaside town of Morecambe Peter Sutcliffe died in hospital aged 74 in . [40] Humble died on 30 July 2019, aged 63.[41]. . The search for Sutcliffe was one of the largest and most expensive manhunts in British history, and West Yorkshire Police was criticised for its failure to catch him despite having interviewed him nine times in the course of its five-year investigation. It was his sixteenth attack. [90] The other male listed as a possible Sutcliffe victim was John Tomey, who was attacked by a hammer by a man who matched his description in his taxi in 1967. [2]:112 Sutcliffe said of Rytka while in police custody in 1981: "I had the urge to kill any woman. That month, Sutcliffe killed again. Despite forensic evidence, police efforts were diverted for several months following receipt of the taped message purporting to be from the murderer taunting Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield of the West Yorkshire Police, who was leading the investigation. [38] Sutcliffe displayed regret only when talking of his youngest murder victim, Jayne MacDonald, and when questioned about the killing of Joan Harrison, he vehemently denied responsibility. The man who hoaxed detectives by claiming to be the Yorkshire Ripper has died, police have confirmed. Although Sutcliffe was interviewed about it, he was not investigated further (he was contacted and disregarded by the Ripper Squad on several further occasions). Sutcliffe was not convicted of the attack but confessed to it in 1992.
Netflix's The Ripper review: A riveting look at the notorious Yorkshire [75] In 2015, former detective Chris Clark and investigative journalist Time Tate published a book, Yorkshire Ripper: The Secret Murders,[84] which supported the theory that Sutcliffe had murdered Wilkinson, pointing out that her body had been posed and partially stripped in a manner similar to the Ripper's modus operandi. When the tape arrived it was a personal message to. [34]:188, The trial judge said Sutcliffe was beyond redemption, and hoped he would never leave prison. [15] Other analyses of his actions have not found evidence that he actually sought the services of prostitutes but note that he nonetheless developed an obsession with them, including "watching them soliciting on the streets of Leeds and Bradford". [86] Another case was the April 1977 murder of 18-year-old Debbie Schlesinger, who was killed as she walked home one evening in Leeds after a night out. We, as a police force, will continue to arrest prostitutes. Sutcliffe picked up Jackson, who was soliciting outside the Gaiety pub on Roundhay Road, then drove about half a mile to some derelict buildings on Enfield Terrace in the Manor Industrial Estate. [86] Most notably, Sutcliffe's work record also showed that he was delivering to an engineering plant 100 yards from Schlessinger's home on the day she was killed. Her body was found three days later beneath railway arches in Garrards timber-yard to which he had driven her. [2]:144 He was sentenced to twenty concurrent sentences of life imprisonment, which were converted to a whole life order in 2010. In that episode, Sutcliffe is played by Joseph Mawle. While awaiting trial, he killed two more women. Sutcliffe was charged with multiple counts of murder, and was found guilty at a trial in the Old Bailey later that year. [81] Furthermore, earlier on the day as Wilkinson's murder, Sutcliffe had gone back to mutilate Jordan's body before returning to Bradford, showing he had already gone out to attack victims that day and would have been in Bradford to attack Wilkinson after he come back from mutilating Jordan. The findings were made fully public in 2006, and confirmed the validity of the criticism of the force. Sutcliffe admitted he had hit her, but claimed it was with his hand. [84] As part of the research for the book, Clark and Tate claimed to have found evidence that pointed to the wrong man having been convicted for the Sewell murder, having unearthed a pathology report which allegedly indicated that the originally convicted Stephen Downing could not have committed the crime. [86] Detectives were able to eliminate Sutcliffe from forty of these cases with reference to his lorry driver's logs, leaving twenty-two unsolved crimes with hallmarks of a Ripper attack which were investigated further. [71] In 1969, Sutcliffe, described in the Byford Report as an "otherwise unremarkable young man", came to the notice of police on two occasions over incidents with prostitutes.
How They Were Caught: The Yorkshire Ripper - YouTube And how did he die? Like Rogulskyj, Smelt subsequently suffered severe emotional and mental trauma. Warning: This article contains details of violence some readers may find distressing. Initially, Peter Sutcliffe was only stopped by police in Sheffield because they suspected his car had false number plates. [63], In response to the police reaction to the murders, the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group organised a number of 'Reclaim the Night' marches. Sonia had several miscarriages, and they were informed that she would not be able to have children. [3][4] After his arrest in Sheffield by South Yorkshire Police for driving with false number plates in January 1981, he was transferred to the custody of West Yorkshire Police, which questioned him about the killings. [14] On 5 March 1976, Sutcliffe was dismissed for the theft of used tyres. Straw responded that whilst the matter of Sutcliffe's release was a parole board matter, "that all the evidence that I have seen on this case, and it's a great deal, suggests to me that there are no circumstances in which this man will be released".[117].
Sonia Sutcliffe, The Unknowing Wife Of Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe [72] Later that year, in September 1969,[73] he was arrested in Bradford's red light district for being in possession of a hammer, an offensive weapon, but he was charged with "going equipped for stealing" as it was assumed he was a potential burglar. [86][90] There were also two men on Hellawell's list of possible victims. Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 - 13 November 2020), also known as Peter Coonan and dubbed in press reports as the Yorkshire Ripper (an allusion to Jack the Ripper) was an English serial killer who was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980. This was the date and place of the Olive Smelt attack. Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe was finally caught in January 1981 with simple old-fashioned police work. [32] Sutcliffe hit her on the head with a hammer, dragged her body into a rubbish-strewn yard, then used a sharpened screwdriver to stab her in the neck, chest and abdomen. For five years, investigators had pursued every lead in an effort to stop. Smelt later told Detective Superintendent Dick Holland (later the Ripper Squad's second in command) that her attacker had a Yorkshire accent but this information was ignored, as was the fact that neither she nor Rogulskij were in towns with a red light area. [29] After two days of intensive questioning, on the afternoon of 4 January 1981, Sutcliffe suddenly declared he was the Ripper. The police obtained a search warrant for his home in Heaton and brought his wife in for questioning. [72], We feel it is highly improbable that the crimes in respect of which Sutcliffe has been charged and convicted are the only ones attributable to him. His 200-strong ripper squad eventually carried out more than 130,000 interviews, visited more than 23,000 homes and checked 150,000 cars. Owing to the sensational nature of the case, the police handled an exceptional amount of information, some of it misleading (including hoax correspondence purporting to be from the "Ripper"). Peter Sutcliffe, the convicted serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper, refused to be shielded in prison in the months before he died from the coronavirus, an inquest has heard. On 10 January 1983, he followed Sutcliffe into the recess of F2, the hospital wing at Parkhurst, and plunged a broken coffee jar twice into the left side of Sutcliffe's face, creating four wounds requiring thirty stitches. For some time the 1970 murder of hitch-hiker Barbara Mayo was listed as a possible Sutcliffe attack by investigators, but this was conclusively disproved by DNA in 1997. [40] The hoaxer appeared to know details of the murders which had not been released to the press, but which in fact he had acquired from pub gossip and his local newspaper. On 9 October, Jordan's body was discovered by local dairy worker and future actor Bruce Jones,[36] who had an allotment on land adjoining the site where the body was found and was searching for house bricks when he made the discovery. [69], Amongst other things, Byford's report asserted that there was a high likelihood of Sutcliffe having claimed more victims both during and before his known killing spree.
Yorkshire Ripper hoaxer Wearside Jack dies - BBC News The Yorkshire Ripper Is Finally Caught.
Yorkshire Ripper True Story - What Happened to 'The Ripper' Serial June 26, 1977 The Yorkshire Ripper kills 16 year old shop assistant Jayne MacDonald in Leeds, changing public perception of the killer as she was the first victim who was not a . [110] On 23 February 1996, he was attacked in his room in Broadmoor's Henley Ward.
Peter Sutcliffe refused to be shielded from Covid, inquest hears [65], The Inspector of Constabulary Lawrence Byford's 1981 report of an official inquiry into the Ripper case[69] was not released by the Home Office until 1 June 2006. Leeds was the epicentre of Ripper activity, with six murders and five attacks in the city. An application by Sutcliffe for a minimum term to be set, offering the possibility of parole after that date if it were thought safe to release him, was heard by the High Court on 16 July 2010. His first. [92] Sutcliffe was also linked to the 1975 murder of Lesley Molseed after a man was found to have been wrongly imprisoned for the crime in 1992, but Ronald Castree was convicted of his murder after a DNA match in 2007. The Netflix series reveals that the serial killer had murdered 13 women and attempted to murder seven more between the years 1975 and 1980. [2]:92 In a confession, Sutcliffe said he had realised the new 5 note he had given her was traceable. Name: Peter Sutcliffe. The investigation took a while to get off the ground because, at first, police didn't link the murders. Employing the same modus operandi, he briefly engaged Smelt with a commonplace pleasantry about the weather before striking hammer blows to her skull from behind.