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Photograph of Peter Sutcliffe (in 1946), an English serial killer who was nicknamed the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ by the press
Sutcliffe, who lived in Bradford, West Yorkshire, believed he had a ‘mission from God’ to kill prostitutes, although not all of his victims were.
His other victims, aged between 16 and 47, were two university students, a civil servant, a bank employee and a supermarket worker.
Sutcliffe was nicknamed the Yorkshire Ripper because he mutilated his victims with a screwdriver, hammer, and knife.
He was also convicted of seven counts of attempted murder in and around Yorkshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester.
Timeline:
Summer 1975: Peter Sutcliffe begins attacking women, two in Keighley and one in Halifax. All three survive and the police do not link the attacks.
October 30, 1975: Sutcliffe carries out his first fatal attack on Wilma McCann, a 28-year-old prostitute from the Chapeltown district of Leeds.
January 20, 1976: He murders Emily Jackson, 42, of Leeds, beating her with a hammer and stabbing her with a screwdriver.
February 5, 1977: Kill 28-year-old Irene Richardson, another prostitute from Leeds.
April 23, 1977: Sutcliffe strikes for the first time in his hometown of Bradford, murdering 32-year-old Patricia Atkinson.
June 26, 1977: The case draws the attention of the national press after Sutcliffe murders Jayne MacDonald, a 16-year-old shop assistant. The murder and the realization that a serial killer is on the loose in Yorkshire shocks the country.
The attacker is dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper by the press, and West Yorkshire Police Chief Ronald Gregory appoints his highest-ranking detective, Deputy George Oldfield, to investigate the murders.
October 1, 1977: Sutcliffe chooses Manchester for his next attack: Jean Jordan, 20. He dumps her body on an allotment and throws her purse, containing a new £ 5 note he gave her, into the nearby bushes.
Police find the bag and trace the serial number on the note to the payroll of Yorkshire carriers T and WH Clark, who employ Peter Sutcliffe.
Sutcliffe is interviewed by the police, but provides an alibi to locate him at a party.
January 21 to May 16, 1978: Sutcliffe murders three prostitutes: Yvonne Pearson, 21, of Bradford; Helen Rytka, 18, of Huddersfield, and Vera Millward, 40, of Manchester.
April 4, 1979: Sutcliffe kills 19-year-old Halifax Building Society employee Josephine Whitaker.
June 1979: A man calling himself Jack the Ripper sends a tape to the police and he has already sent a series of handwritten letters from Sunderland. Deputy Chief Oldfield mistakenly decides that these are the Ripper’s work. Wearside Jack, as he is known, is located in the Castletown district of Sunderland by voice experts. Detectives are told they can rule out suspects who don’t have a Wearside accent.
July 1979: Police interview Sutcliffe for the fifth time. Police officers Andrew Laptew and Graham Greenwood are suspicious, but their report is shelved because their voice and writing don’t match the lyrics and tape.
September 2, 1979: Sutcliffe murders 20-year-old Barbara Leach in Bradford.
October 2, 1979: A £ 1 million campaign is launched to catch the Yorkshire Ripper.
August 20, 1980: The Ripper claims another victim, Marguerite Walls, 47, of Leeds, followed by Jacqueline Hill, 20, a student at the University of Leeds, on November 17.
November 1980: Detective Chief Superintendent James Hobson replaces Oldfield. Hobson downplays the importance of the Wearside Jack tape and lyrics.
January 3, 1981: Sutcliffe admits that he is the Yorkshire Ripper after police arrested him with a prostitute. Police admit the killer does not have a Wearside accent.
May 22, 1981: Sutcliffe is jailed for life at the Old Bailey. The judge recommends a minimum sentence of 30 years. He is transferred to the safe Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire in 1984.
May 24, 1989: Sutcliffe’s wife wins damages.
March 21, 2006: John Humble, a former builder, is sentenced to eight years in prison after admitting to being the Yorkshire Ripper prankster known as Wearside Jack.
June 1, 2006: A report that has been kept secret for nearly 25 years reveals that Sutcliffe likely committed more crimes than the 13 murders and seven assassination attempts for which he was convicted.
April 2017: Sutcliffe is questioned by police officers on 17 unsolved cases that bear similarities to his past crimes. He is not being investigated for any murder and it is unknown which incident police believe is related to the serial killer.
May 2017: Sutcliffe is investigated for the murders of two women in Sweden. Detectives are said to have inquired about the murders of a 31-year-old woman found dead in Gothenburg in August 1980 and a 26-year-old woman found dead in Malmo a month later. Both bodies were found at construction sites.
