Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Yorkshire Ripper” Pt. 2 - Peter Sutcliffe

Episode Date: September 3, 2018

From the years 1969 to 1981, a serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper freely roamed the streets of Yorkshire, England. Police were so determined to find him, they interviewed over 250,000 people. Sutcliffe had been brought in for questioning on nine separate occasions and each time he walked out a free man. How would they eventually catch him? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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And now, you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the Lonely Hearts Killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels. But you don't need to break any laws to find your. perfect business partner because you have Shopify. It's the commerce platform that can help you with literally everything, website design, marketing, shipping, and more. So start your business today with the best partner, Shopify, and get that.

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of elite benefits. A $2,000 value free. For your free quote, go toendurancewarranty.com. That's endurance warranty.com. Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. From the years of 1969 to 1981, a serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper, freely roam the streets of Yorkshire, England. As the body count rose, the entire country was desperate to find this violent murderer. So desperate were the British police that they would begin one of the largest and most expensive manhunts in history. It was an investigation that would cost more than four million British pounds.

That's equivalent to over 20 million U.S. dollars today. It took over one million hours of tiresome police work, investigative work that would be widely critiqued and ridiculed for years to come. The exhaustive effort led the police to interview over 250,000 people. And the worst part was, one of those people was the Yorkshire Ripper himself, a man named Peter Sutcliffe. Before arresting him, they questioned the notorious serial killer on nine separate occasions. Hi, I'm Greg Polson, and this is serial killers. Today, we're continuing our deep dive into the life of Peter Sutcliffe and how we managed to evade the police for so many years. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. We'd like to ask a

quick favor. Would you leave a five-star review of serial killers on your favorite podcast directory? It seems so simple, but it really helps us out. And don't forget to subscribe while you're there, because a new episode comes out every Monday. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and on Twitter at Parcast Network or in our website, Parcast.com. As we learned in part one, Peter Sutcliffe was born in 1946 in Bingley, England. He struggled through a difficult childhood as he witnessed his controlling father, abuse his mother. Throughout Sutcliffe's young adulthood, he followed in his father's footsteps as he manufactured a furious hatred toward women. Sutcliffe's sexism worsened after his wife Sonia allegedly had an affair.

He soon sought revenge by attempting to sleep with a sex worker in 1969. Due to Sutcliffe's intense and emotional rage, this plan failed miserably and left him with a great deal of shame. An irrationally enraged Sutcliffe proceeded to brutally attack a random innocent sex worker. She fortunately survived. Sutcliffe would later claim that he was not guilty of this and all his other crimes because he had schizophrenia. He said that the voices in his head directed him to attack these innocent women. As we continue to examine whether or not Sutcliffe was fabricating this mental illness, I'd like to enlist help from Vanessa. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show.

Thanks, Greg. As we hear direct quotes from Sutcliffe and all about his various experiences, we must remember to take each of his claims with a grain of salt. It is certainly possible that he developed an extensive web of lies in order to appear not guilty by reason of insanity to a jury. This week in part two, we'll continue questioning the believability of Sutcliffe's claim of schizophrenia. We'll also examine Sutcliffe's violent attacks and see how they escalated to murdering 13 women with hammers and screwdrivers. Where we left off last week, Sutcliffe had spent roughly six years between 1969 and 1975 in relative peace. He allegedly spent those years without seeing any sex workers or attacking anyone. Sutcliffe also married his wife, Sonia, in 1974,

and the two would maintain a relatively calm and happy-seeming marriage. Sutcliffe, however, said his schizophrenia only became more severe during this time. As he continued his work as a truck driver, Sutcliffe claims the voice began directing him to murder. His violent spree reignited in July of 1975 when Sutcliffe was 29 years old. According to Sutcliffe, the voice returned to his head. quote, during the time I worked on nights, they kept reminding me that I had a mission. The voice reminded me where I had to go next. I went in my car.

I was told again that this was the night to go. It was about two days after hearing the first voice, end quote. Sutcliffe learned from his work friends that the town of Keith Lee was a perfect place for him to find many sex workers. And so late at night, on July 4, 1975, Sutcliffe drove around the center of Keith Lee in search of sex workers. That's when Sutcliffe saw a 36-year-old Anne rolled Gouldskitch. She had been out for the night drinking with friends, and she was returning home to her boyfriend's house. Anne was not a sex worker, but Sutcliffe assumed she was. He approached her and asked for her name. According to Sutcliffe, quote, she had a funny name and I asked her if she fancied it. She said,

Not on your life, and went to try and get into a house. When she came back, I tapped her up again, and she elbowed me. I followed her, end quote. Clearly, Sutcliffe instantly and incorrectly judged Anne. In his own words, quote, I was certain she was a sex worker, scum. I was being given instructions on what was the best moment to attack. I waited until she turned to walk back home. Then I hit her on the back of her head with a hammer. I knew that was safest. I knew she wouldn't see me. It was all over in less than 10 seconds. I didn't mean her to suffer. I meant her to die. Specifically, Sutcliffe attacked her with a ball peen hammer. A hammer with a round ball on one side that's largely used for metalwork. He struck her with it on the head three times. And when she fell to the ground, he lifted up her

blouse and sliced her abdomen with a knife. But as he went to fatally stab her, a neighbor thankfully heard the noises. The neighbor shouted out, asking, what was happening. This caused Sutcliffe to flee before he could kill Anne. Anne was rushed to the hospital around two in the morning and suffered two depressed skull fractures and abrasions on her stomach. She would fortunately survive and make a good recovery from these injuries, but police were not able to discern who attacked her. Sutcliffe's account of this story is highly contradictory to the factual events. Sutcliffe claimed that he did not want Anne to suffer, but everything else in his story

points to the contrary. Slicing someone's stomach would surely not kill them instantaneously, but rather just cause them immense pain and damage. Similarly, if his intention was to quickly murder her, then surely a hammer would not be the most effective weapon. A hammer is obviously a close range weapon that would require several blows. Compared to a gun, a strike with a hammer would feel personal and up close. Given the close-up repeated violence of this awful attack, it's clear Sutcliffe enjoyed attacking her. This suggests that Sutcliffe was lying when he says he did not want her to suffer. Well, he certainly didn't stop his attacks.

Only 40 days later, on August 15, 1975, Sutcliffe would assault yet another innocent woman. 46-year-old Olive Smelt was an office cleaner, who was enjoying her Friday night by drinking and hanging out with friends in the town of Halifax. Likewise, Sutcliffe was out drinking with his friend, Trevor Birdsaw. This is the same friend that waited in the car during Sutcliffe's very first stone in sock attack back in 1969. Once again, Sutcliffe formed a quick judgment of a woman, as he saw Olive at a bar. According to Sutcliffe himself, quote, she annoyed me, probably in some minor way. I took her to be a sex worker, end quote. This is yet another example of Sutcliffe's

attacks stemming from his admitted annoyance and anger rather than a voice in his head. As he watched Olive, who he assumed to be a sex worker, Sutcliffe supposedly, quote, knew it was my mission. I heard voices, echoes. Sometimes it was the voice, sometimes an echo. Sometimes it was very clear, sometimes not. End quote. We're beginning to notice a repeated pattern throughout all of Sutcliffe's attacks. He's out for the night, seemingly in search of some sort of perverted fun, and that's when he makes a quick, often entirely incorrect judgment about a woman that incites his anger. Sutcliffe's murder style thus proves to be a unique mixture of premeditated murder, along with rage killing. On the one hand, he plans these murders by keeping weapons in his car

and carefully stalking sex workers. But on the other hand, he often waits to actually commit the attack until he feels anger and disgust. As Sutcliffe sat in his car with Trevor, he saw Olive walking in the distance and decided she would be his next target. So Sutcliffe exited the car and made sure that Trevor was out of eye shot as he followed Olive. In Sutcliffe's own words, quote, I kept a hammer down by the side of the driving seat. I stuffed it into my jacket pocket and ran down the alley parallel to where she were walking.

I caught up with her and said something about the weather. It had been raining real heavy. She didn't answer. I knew she was one of them, end quote. Similar to his prior attack on Anne, Sutcliffe then struck Olive on the head twice with his hammer. He used his knife to slash her buttocks, resulting in two slices, each about seven inches long. But before he could kill her, Sutcliffe was jolted by a distant car approaching. He fled the scene back to the safety of his car with Trevor.

In recounting this incident, Trevor. Trevor claimed that Sutcliffe appeared uncharacteristically quiet after returning to the car. Enough so that Trevor specifically remembered it. The next evening, Trevor read about the mysterious attack in the local paper. He admitted that he considered that Sutcliffe might have been the attacker. Unfortunately, Trevor did absolutely nothing about this suspicion. It's disturbing how Sutcliffe made small talk with both of these women before attacking them. According to science of people, diagnosable psychopaths often share several common traits, including a lack of empathy, a weak ability to control harmful behavior, and a superficial glibness.

Succliffe always tried to use charm and smooth-talking right before his attack, which shows how casually he treated these brutal assaults. Of course, most of the women rejected his attempts at flirtation, which only further sparked his anger. He also displayed a lack of control. During his trial later, an attorney asked Sutcliffe how he had felt about the physical act of these two attacks. Sutcliffe responded, quote, I found it very difficult and I couldn't restrain myself. I could not do anything to stop myself because it was God who was controlling me. Before doing it, I had to go through a terrible stage each time. I was an absolute turmoil.

I was doing everything I could to fight it off. and asked why it should be me, until I eventually reached the stage where it was as if I was primed to do it, end quote. Given the details of these attacks, this claim is hard to believe. Firstly, if it was really so painful for him, then why did he keep a hammer in his car?

And secondly, a man in the state of turmoil Sutcliffe describes surely would not be so casual only seconds before a gruesome attack. Rather, Sutcliffe chose to engage with these women and feel a connection all before he attempted to kill them. This is yet another example of how his violence began as a premeditated attack, but then quickly shifted into blind rage.

Moreover, his attempts to kill them consisted of knife slices, which would obviously just cause pain and not death. Put simply, his actions don't match his words. Sutcliffe was clearly a natural liar, who could not only create fake personas, but make elaborate excuses and tell fictional stories to investigators. According to Professor Aldert Brege's book, Detecting Lies and Deceit, there are certain characteristics that make someone a good liar.

Vreege explains that the best liars often don't experience guilt, and as we've seen, Sutcliffe clearly felt very little guilt about any of his actions. Other relevant personality traits include having a great memory and being a rapid thinker. Sutcliffe's above average intelligence enabled him to think quickly on his feet. Unfortunately, Sutcliffe's violent attacks would soon escalate. Only 12 days after his attack on Olive in August of 1975, Sutcliffe attacked Tracy Brown on a desolate farm. Tracy was only 14 years old when Sutcliffe struck her in the head with his hammer.

Thankfully, Tracy would survive this attack, Though the police would be alerted of Sutcliffe's numerous attacks, they unfortunately did not yet make a connection that they were all from the same assailant. Thus they had little evidence and no way of finding the attacker. However, Sutcliffe's next victim would not be as fortunate. In Sutcliffe's own words, quote, my desire to kill sex workers was getting stronger than ever. I had been taken over completely by this urge to kill, and I could not. fight it. Our story will continue in a moment after a brief message.

And now back to serial killers. During the summer of 1975, a 29-year-old Peter Sutcliffe viciously attacked three different women with his hammer. But he claimed the voices in his head became more demanding, and his desire to kill sex workers skyrocketed. Unfortunately, on October 30, 1975, about two months after his last attack, Sutcliffe successfully committed his first murder. Sutcliffe himself explained the events that led up to his murder of 28-year-old Wilma McCann. Quote, I was driving through Leeds at night. I had been having a

couple of pints, and I saw this woman thumbing a lift. She was wearing white trousers and a jacket. I asked her how far she was going, and she said, not far. Thanks for stopping, and jumped in. Just before we set off, she asked if I wanted to do business. I didn't. know what she meant and asked her to explain, and it seemed to me a scornful tone came into her voice. She said, bloody hell, do I have to spell it out? As though it were a challenge, end quote. There's a striking similarity between this instance and Sutcliffe's very first encounter with a sex worker back in 1969. In both cases, Sutcliffe claims the sex worker embarrassed him and treated him poorly. Just as his insecurities and perception of humiliation led to his first attack,

in 1969. This murder of Wilma seems to be preceded by similar emotions. Both instances were examples of Sutcliffe manufacturing his own hatred for sex workers in order to justify his violence towards them. In continuing to describe what happened after Wilma entered his car, Sutcliffe said, quote, I parked, and we sat there for a minute. All of a sudden her tone changed and she said, well, what are we waiting for? Let's get on with it. I was a bit surprised. I was expecting to be a bit romantic. I couldn't have intercourse at a moment's notice. I had to be aroused.

She said, I'm going. It's going to take you all day. You are useless. I felt myself seething with rage. It sounded as though she was taunting me, end quote. This story seems greatly exaggerated in order to make himself seem like a victim. It's also important to note how in this instance, Sutcliffe does not describe his violence as a result of the,

voices in his head. Rather, he admits that he desired to hurt her because of his uncontrollable anger. This is a significant contradiction from his other statements in which he claims he only attacked women because of a mental illness. In continuing to describe the attack, Sutcliffe said, quote, she stormed off up the field. I had a hammer in the toolbox and I followed her. I had the hammer in my right hand and she sat down and unfastened her trousers and said, Come on, get it over with. I said, don't worry, I will. I then hit her with the hammer on the top of the head.

She made a lot of noise and kept on making noise, so I hit her again. I hit her once or twice, and she started making a moaning noise. I felt, God, what have I done? I knew I had gone too far, end quote. Sutcliffe then dragged her body back to his car. He then describes, quote, I was in a numb panic. I half expected her to get up, and I realized I would be in serious trouble. I felt the best way to get out of the mess was to make sure she couldn't tell anyone.

To make sure she was dead, I would stab her in places like her lungs and throat, end quote. There seems to be two versions of Sutcliffe, a furiously angry and murderous version, and also a more sober, logic-driven version that attempts to justify his angry side. In this case, Sutcliffe continued justifying his post-mortal violence as, quote, I was in a blind panic when I was stabbing her, just to make sure she would not tell anybody. I was very frightened, and I can't remember driving back. I thought I was bound to get caught. I looked over my clothing before I went into the house.

Then I went straight upstairs to the bathroom, washed my hands, and went to bed, end quote. We now have heard several contradictory explanations from Suss. He has claimed that he did not want to commit violence, but that voices in his head forced him to. Yet he has also claimed that he attacked women out of hatred and anger towards sex workers. These are likely just rationalizations, or in other words, self-defense mechanisms used to justify bad behavior. According to Sykes Central, people can create these rationalization narratives in their mind subconsciously as a way of preserving their self-esteem and avoiding feelings of anxiety. anxiety. In this instance, he says that he actually followed through with killing a woman out of

fear being caught. This could likely be a story he created in his own mind to justify the murder. Rationalization techniques are not, all of these varying explanations clearly contradict his plea of not guilty as a result of mental insanity. After committing his first murder, Sutcliffe lost more control. He became more obsessed with killing and increasingly gruesome in his violence. In remembering this period of time, Sutcliffe has said, quote, I felt an inner compulsion to kill a sex worker. I could see how the first murder had unhinged me completely, end quote. As explained in psychology today, it's common for serial killers' violence to escalate over time

as they become bored with their original murderous fantasy. Once they've actualized that initial fantasy, they then enact more elaborate or violent fantasies in search of reaching that original adrenaline rush. When he approached his next victim, a woman named Emily Jackson in January of 1976, Sutcliffe described, quote, I remember there was an overpowering smell of cheap perfume, and this served all the more for me to hate the woman, even though I did not know her. I knew from the outset that I just wanted to get rid of her, end quote.

Clearly, Sutcliffe's anger can be set off by almost anything. even the smell of a cheap perfume could ignite his rage. It almost seems as if Sutcliffe actively looked for justifications to become angry, justifications to carry out his pre-planned attacks. And this anger often led to an attack, which he continued describing, quote, I pretended the car wouldn't start and told her I would have to look under the bonnet and asked her to help me. I took a couple of steps back and hit her over the head with my hammer. She fell down in the road.

I made sure she was dead by taking my screwdriver and stabbing her repeatedly. I pulled her bra up and pulled down her pants. It gave me some sort of sexual revenge on her as, on reflection, I had done with Wilma McCann. I stabbed her frenziedly, without thought, all over the body. I was seething with hate for her, end quote. After a pathologist examined her deceased body, it was determined that Emily suffered 52 stab wounds in her chest, abdomen, and back with a screwdriver. After the attack, Sutcliffe left the scene and saw a car stop nearby. After seeing the car,

Sutcliffe says that, quote, it scared me, so I put my hammer and screwdriver on the car floor and went straight home to my mother-in-law's house and had a feeling of satisfaction and justification. I didn't have any blood on my clothes, so I didn't have to dispose of them, end quote. January of 1976, Sutcliffe had attacked six women and killed two of them. On several occasions, people drove by and could have witnessed Sutcliffe's attacks. However, he was not any closer to being caught. This must have empowered him as he continued his horrific violence. Over the next year and a half, he would attack 20-year-old Marcella Claxton and would murder both Irene Richardson and Patricia Atkinson. His MO remained relatively consistent.

choosing victims that he perceived to be sex workers. He quickly formed harsh judgments about these women and then brutally hit them with his hammer and stabbed them with a screwdriver. As a result, the public became increasingly aware of this mysterious serial killer on the loose, and Sutcliffe developed his nickname, the Yorkshire Ripper. Investigators made this killer a top priority, and local Yorkshire residents feared this man's terrifying random attacks. But soon, the random nature of these attacks caught up to Peter Sutcliffe. His 1977 murder of Jane MacDonald gives a peculiar insight into Sutcliffe's true character.

McDonald was a 16-year-old girl. Sutcliffe had seen her walking in the Red Light District and mistakenly assumed she was a sex worker. He followed her and murdered her. The fact that she was actually not a sex worker should, of course, not make her murder any more tragic and disturbing than the rest. Nevertheless, upon learning that he killed a woman who was not who he thought she was, Sutcliffe became extremely distressed. Sutcliffe said, quote, when I saw in the papers that McDonald was so young and not a sex worker,

I felt like someone inhuman, and I realized that it was a devil driving me against my will, and that I was a beast. When the river came up in conversation at work or in a pub, I was able to detach my mind from the fact that it was me they were talking about, and I was able to discuss it normally. This amazed me at times that I was able to do this, end quote. According to Calm Clinic, this sort of emotional and mental detachment from a situation is likely a coping mechanism for dealing with extreme stress,

which Sutcliffe must have felt. However, this also reveals Sutcliffe's extreme prejudice against sex workers, while he was tormented by the idea of murdering a woman who was not a sex worker, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy murdering any woman who was. If we remember Sutcliffe's claim that the voices in his head convinced him that murdering sex workers was his mission, then we must wonder why this incident didn't make Sutcliffe's second guess is quote-unquote mission. If he truly felt God was dictating his actions, then how did he justify the fact that his God had misdirected him? This is yet another hole in Sutcliffe's story, especially since Sutcliffe never seemed to question the authenticity of these voices.

It's also important to note that this statement expressing sorrow over McDonald's murder could have been a lie in order to make him appear to be more humane to a jury, especially considering that Sutcliffe's next attack was only 14 days after this murder. If Sutcliffe was truly torn apart by what he called an accidental murder, then what he realistically is, been so quick to attack again. With so many similar attacks and murders flooding the news, it became increasingly clear that there was a serial killer on the loose in Yorkshire. Both the public and the Yorkshire police became very determined and active in their search for Sutcliffe. Despite their determination, the police had made little progress. They had a very basic physical description of the Yorkshire Ripper, that he was a white, mid-aged man. But otherwise, all they knew

was that he primarily targeted sex workers. However, they did receive their first big clue as a result of Sutcliffe's next murder. On October 1st of 1977, Sutcliffe approached 20-year-old Gene Jordan with the intent of killing her. Gene had been a sex worker, looking for clients that night. In order to get her off the main road, so he could attack her, Sutcliffe agreed to pay her five British pounds in advance, so he handed her a five-pound note, a British bill, and they drove off into an abandoned part of town. Sutcliffe proceeded to attack and kill Jean with a hammer,

but when he saw Carr's headlights approaching, he panicked. He quickly hid her body and ran back to his car. Later that night, Sutcliffe realized his mistake. Gene still had the five-pound note on her, and this particular five-pound note was a newly minted bill that Sutcliffe received from his work, as a truck driver, only two days earlier. If police were to find this note, it could likely be traced back to him.

Sutcliffe feared that he would be a clear suspect, along with his co-workers and the few other people that had used the bill. Eight long days went by, and Sutcliffe had still not heard any news about Gene's death. The police had yet to find her body. Finally, he couldn't bear the tension anymore, and he returned to the scene of the crime on October 9th. He searched her undiscovered body for the crucial five-pound note. But he could not find the note anywhere.

He tore off all of her clothes and frantically searched her surroundings. This infuriated him so much that he decided to take out his rage on her deceased body. After stabbing her repetitively with a knife and horribly mutilating her torso, Sutcliffe even cut off her head. This incredibly disturbing behavior further reveals that Sutcliffe, Sutcliffe's attacks were caused by his uncontrollable anger. As explained by psychology today, extreme anger-based violence is often induced by a deeper emotion of fear. In this instance, Sutcliffe was rightfully more scared than ever before. He knew that his missing five-pound note could be the police's best clue to date. Perhaps that fear-induced anger is why this attack

was by far the most gruesome and excessive of all of Sutcliffe's victims. Sutcliffe finally left the scene after failing to find the note. The police had more luck. They recovered the note only a few days later. It had been in Jean's handbag, which has dropped in the grass far away from the scene of the murder. With this key piece of evidence, the Yorkshire police stepped up their investigation

and were determined to connect the newly minted bill to the killer. However, two weeks had gone by between the moment Sutcliffe received the bill and the moment the police found it, Jean's body. That meant that the police could not be certain that Sutcliffe was the last man with the bill. It could have been any number of people who exchanged money in the two-week period. Nevertheless, the police traced the bill to Sutcliffe and brought him in for an interview. However, he was able to skirt blame by saying that he was not given that specific note.

Sutcliffe was clearly a successful liar to both his friends and the police. In hindsight, the Yorkshire police were deeply criticized for law. letting Sutcliffe go free, despite this piece of evidence. They continued to interview about 6,000 people regarding this five-pound note. But this lead ultimately proved to not be fruitful. 6,000 is clearly an excessive number of interviews. This demonstrates how desperate investigators were to find the Yorkshire Ripper and also how little evidence they had to work with. Despite this brief encounter with authorities, Sutcliffe continued murdering and attacking innocent women. After killing Jean in October of 1977, Sutcliffe tragically murdered three more

women throughout 1978. During this period, his anger and murderous desires only increased. Upon reflecting on this year, Sutcliffe said, quote, I had the urge to kill any woman. The urge inside me to kill girls was now practically uncontrollable, end quote. Notice how once again Sutcliffe's wording displaces blame, away from himself, he acts as though he couldn't control his urges and refuses to admit guilt. As Sutcliffe continued murdering throughout 1978, the police actually interviewed Sutcliffe on several more occasions. Investigators knew the killer frequented local areas with sex workers, and they found Sutcliffe looking suspicious in local red light districts. According to Sutcliffe,

quote, I can't remember how many times the police interviewed me. So many times, I've lost count, end quote. This is especially disappointing, considering how obvious of a suspect Sutcliffe must have been. As we heard last week, Sutcliffe had already been arrested a decade earlier for attacking a sex worker. Now the police had tangible evidence that linked Sutcliffe to the five-pound note, found near Jean's deceased body. On top of that, they caught Sutcliffe wandering around red-light districts on numerous occasions. This is a lot of circumstantial evidence that should have at least. least triggered investigators to keep a close watch on Sutcliffe. However, an unfortunate hoax

was about to send the police on a wild goose chase. It would lead the Yorkshire police a hundred miles off the trail and allow Sutcliffe to continue his savage murder spree. We'll return to our story in just a moment from the Parkast Network. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th. The powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th.

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By the end of 1978, Peter Sutcliffe had brutally attacked 16 women and murdered nine of them. police had a handful of damning circumstantial evidence against the serial killer, but for one reason or another, couldn't put the threads together. The biggest obstacle of the investigation was likely good record-keeping. At the time, all records of past arrests and interviews were taken by hand on paper. Since they had been conducting so many thousands of interviews to find this serial killer, it was extremely difficult for police to cross-reference past interviews and past arrests. Another factor that worked in Sutcliffe's favor was his wife Sonia.

Sutcliffe explained, quote, Sonia automatically gave me an alibi on the occasions I was questioned. These occasions were weeks, sometimes months after the event. My wife would agree that we were at home, as we were practically all of the time, end quote. We're unfortunately unsure why Sonia would lie about this, or even if she intentionally lied at all. In the past, we've seen Sutcliffe proved to be controlling and abusive, so it's not hard to imagine him manipulating Sonia once again.

It surely harmed the investigation. But perhaps the biggest detriment occurred in 1979. The lead investigator received several anonymous, taunting letters from a man claiming to be the Yorkshire Ripper, serial killer. These letters mocked the police and gave detailed specific knowledge of the murders. This led investigators. to assume that the letters were, in fact, written by the Yorkshire Ripper himself. However, when they tracked the mysterious letters,

they found that they had been sent from Sunderland, which was roughly 100 miles from where Sutcliffe lived. Not surprisingly, Sutcliffe did not send these letters. They were written by a hoaxer named John Humble from Sunderland. Humble was a 23-year-old unemployed man with alcoholism, who later claimed that his only motivation for this hoax was notoriety. and a general dislike for the police. While Humble's letters proved to be a huge distraction,

as they pulled investigators away from Sutcliffe's actual location and towards Sunderland. Then in June of 1979, the police received a tape cassette, also sent from John Humble and Sunderland. This tape contained a similarly taunting message, and the police incorrectly assumed it, too, must have been sent from the Yorkshire Ripper himself. And analyzing the voice on the tape, they concluded that the man had a northeast accent, and this reiterated their belief that he was from Sunderland. With both the letters and the accent on the tape confirming the same location,

the police felt very confident that Sunderland must be the home of the Yorkshire Ripper. For over a year, the police transitioned the vast majority of their energy and resources in the complete wrong direction. During this time, Sutcliffe would tragically murder four more innocent women. Sutcliffe believed that divine intervention was responsible for his luck in avoiding the authorities. In his own words, quote, God gave me the mission to kill. He got me out of trouble. I'm in God's hands. He misled the police.

Perhaps God was involved with the tapes, end quote. Thankfully, Sutcliffe would not remain free for long. On January 2nd of 1981, over 11 years after his very first attack, Sutcliffe left his house in search of yet another sex worker to murder. He knew that his car had previously been spotted in red light districts, and he was worried about the police seeing him. So he replaced his license plates with stolen ones. On this occasion, he drove out to Sheffield and picked up 24-year-old Olivia Revers.

The two of them drove half a month. mile down the road and parked in an area where sex workers often frequented customers. Before Sutcliffe could attack her, a police car passed by and suspected this might be an illegal sex worker. So the police approached Sutcliffe's vehicle and questioned the two of them. Sutcliffe lied to the police that Revers was his girlfriend, but the officers didn't quite believe him. And when they ran his license plates, they discovered that they in fact did not belong to Sutcliffe's car, but rather an entirely different vehicle. To make matters worse for Sutcliffe,

when the police began searching his car, they opened the glove compartment and found three screwdrivers that had been used for previous murders. All of this was, of course, enough evidence to arrest Sutcliffe. However, Sutcliffe was not ready to give up. The ball-peen hammer and knife

that Sutcliffe used as murder weapons were both hidden underneath Sutcliffe's seat. The police had yet to see them. Sutcliffe knew that if he was arrested, his car would be thoroughly searched and they'd find these incriminating murder weapons. So Sutcliffe acted on his feet. He slyly snatched the two murder weapons out of the car and told the police officers that he desperately had to pee. Right before the police could arrest Sutcliffe and place him in the back of their squad car, they allowed him to walk off to the side of the road and urinate.

As Sutcliffe did so, he was able to hide the two murder weapons. Nevertheless, the police did arrest Sutcliffe and brought him into the Dewsbury Police Station for extensive questioning. They quickly realized that Sutcliffe matched the reported physical characteristics of the Yorkshire Ripper. Sutcliffe only appeared more suspicious as he continued lying that Revers was his girlfriend and as he made phony excuses about why he taped stolen license plates onto his car. The next day, officers returned to the scene of Sutcliffe's arrest. and spotted the knife and hammer he had stashed while pretending to urinate. This crucial finding would surely seal the deal,

and investigators immediately felt very confident that after over a decade, they had finally caught the Yorkshire Ripper. They did, however, want to secure their case by getting more information out of Sutcliffe and possibly even a confession. Two days after his arrest in January of 1981, Detective Inspector Boyle questioned Sutcliffe as follows. Quote, When you were arrested in Sheffield,

you had a sex worker in your car which had false plates on it. I believe you put them on to conceal the identity of your vehicle in the event of it being seen in a sex worker area. End quote. Sutcliffe answered, quote, No, that's not true. To be honest with you, I've been so depressed that I put them on because I was thinking of committing a crime with the car,

end quote. Boyle revealed that he suspected Sutcliffe was going to harm a sex worker. Sutcliffe tried his usual lies and denial. And that's when Boyle brought up the moment before his arrest, the moment that Sutcliffe went to urinate. Boyle told Sutcliffe that he doesn't believe that he actually urinated, but that he walked away from the police for a different reason. It was at this precise moment that Sutcliffe realized that investigators must have found the murder weapons he had stashed. They clearly had extensive evidence against him. And that's when Boyle followed up with, Do you understand what I'm saying?

I think you're in trouble. Serious trouble. Sutcliffe responded, I think you've been leading up to it. And when he was questioned, leading up to what? Sutcliffe responded, The Yorkshire Ripper.

Well, it's me. And so, a decade-long manhunt had concluded after Sutcliffe had finally confessed to the 22 assaults and 13 murders of random innocent women. During his trial on May 5, 1981, Sutcliffe would plead not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. This plea is very similar to the plea of not guilty by reason of insanity in the American legal system. Even though he had admitted to killing and attacking many women,

Sutcliffe would argue that his schizophrenia was to blame for, the murders and that he should thus avoid prison. If the jury agreed with Sutcliffe that he was mentally insane and should not be guilty of murder, then Sutcliffe would be sent to a mental institution instead of prison, which he preferred for its nicer facilities. He also believed that he would be more likely to be released in the future if he was put in a mental institution. Sutcliffe's plea of not guilty by reason of insanity is not believable. As we've discussed, there were many instances in which Sutcliffe attacked people out of anger, vengeance, and a conscious obsession.

Whether or not he actually did hear voices, it does seem clear that Sutcliffe had many other motives for his brutal violence. In trying to cast doubt that Sutcliffe actually had schizophrenia, the prosecutors also brought up the fact that Sutcliffe's wife, Sonia, had struggled with schizophrenia herself. Sudcliffe clearly spent a lot of his time with someone diagnosed with schizophrenia, so he He knew the ins and outs of what the illness looked like up close. Sutcliffe, therefore, was in the perfect position to be able to masterfully pretend that he had schizophrenia as well. We can't be positive whether or not Sutcliffe fabricated his claims of hearing voices,

but it's extremely unlikely for two people in a relationship to independently develop schizophrenia. It's worth more closely examining Sonia's symptoms and behaviors in order to consider whether Sutcliffe's might have purposefully mirrored them. Like Sonia, Sutcliffe suspiciously also claimed to begin hearing voices when he was roughly 20 years old. However, that similarity could simply be coincidence, as most men with schizophrenia do first face symptoms in their early adulthood. Throughout the early stages of Sonia's illness, she faced drastic changes in her weight,

her prior personality seemingly disappeared, and she had noticeable mood changes filled with great excitement and agitation. Most significantly, she also heard voices and had grandiose ideas about the purpose and meanings of these voices. Specifically, she developed the delusion that she herself was Christ. Though Sutcliffe never believed that he was God, he did claim his delusions revolved around God. Dr. Hugo Milne, a psychiatrist who studied Sutcliffe and was interviewed for his trial,

was questioned about whether or not Sutcliffe could have found. feigned his mental illness by studying Sonia. Dr. Milne responded that, quote, if he knew the symptoms and signs of schizophrenia and he was cool and calculated as he might have been, then it is possible, end quote. Like we've seen, Sutcliffe is an adept liar and practice manipulator. As the jury considered Sutcliffe's plea, this clearly cast a shadow of doubt on Sutcliffe's insanity claim. And there was one other piece of evidence that was especially damning for Sutcliffe. She had been understandably torn apart by her husband's confession. She was, however, able to speak with Sutcliffe when he was awaiting trial.

On one occasion, police recorded Sutcliffe as he told her, quote, I'm going to do a long time in prison, 30 years or more, unless I can convince people in here I'm mad, and maybe then 10 years in the loony bin, end quote. This quotation alone is enough to reveal Sutcliffe's extensive motives for lying about his mental insanity. His wording that he hopes to convince people makes it clear that he intends to exaggerate, if not entirely fabricate his schizophrenia in order to appear not guilty of murder. The evidence of his fabrications continued flowing in. A prison officer who had spoken with Sutcliffe testified in court that,

quote, he told me he was going to the old Bailey for his trial, and he was very pleased with that news. He was saying to me that the doctors considered him disturbed, and he was quite amazed by this and was smiling broadly and leaning back in his chair. He was not protesting that the doctors were wrong about him. He appeared amused. He said to me, I'm as normal as anyone, end quote. Well, after a two-week-long trial, the jury was finally sent to consider all of the facts. They studied Sutcliffe's many brutal murders alongside these damning quotes that reveal that Sutcliffe worked to appear schizophrenic. Thankfully, Sutcliffe was ultimately found guilty of murder on all counts.

The jury, like us, did not believe his plea of mental insanity. Sutcliffe was sentenced to life imprisonment with 20 concurrent sentences. So after 11 years of uncontrollable rage against women perceived to be sex workers... And after 13 murders and many more attempted murders... This terrible man who caused an unthinkable amount of people... pain was finally put behind bars, never to see a free day again. He destroyed countless families throughout Northern England and incited fear in thousands of young women. It's hard to think that justice could ever be fully served. Nevertheless, today Sutcliffe is 72 years old and now blind

after being attacked by a fellow inmate. He remains in prison in Durham, England, and will stay behind bars for the rest of his life. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. If you want to listen to any previous episodes of serial killers, you can find them on Apple Podcasts, Tune-in, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify, or in our website, parcast.com, spelled p-a-r-c-s-t-t-t-com. If you like what you hear, please leave a five-star review, or tell us what you think on social media.

We're on Facebook and Instagram as at Parcast. and Twitter at Parcast Network. It seems simple, but it really helps our show. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler, is a production of Cutler media and is part of the Parcast Network. It is produced by Max and Ron Cutler,

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