Yorkshire Ripper



Peter William Sutcliffe, dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020), was an English serial killer between 1975 and 1980 who preyed on sex workers in the red-light districts.

Sutcliffe was one of the largest and most expensive manhunts in British history. West Yorkshire Police were criticised for their failure to catch Sutcliffe despite having interviewed him nine times in the course of their five-year investigation.

Peter Sutcliffe was born in Bingley in the West Riding of Yorkshire to a working-class family and was raised as a Catholic. Sutcliffe left school at aged fifteen.

Sutcliffe worked nightshifts at the Britannia Works of Anderton International from April 1973.

Scrutiny of his actions revealed that there was not found any evidence that he actually sought the services of prostitutes.

Any bases for hiring sex workers was based on speculations.

During his rampage, Sutcliffe was married to Sonia Szurma since 10 August 1974. Sonia suffered several miscarriages and they were informed that she would not be able to have children. She resumed a teacher training course, during which time she had an affair with an ice-cream van driver. When Sonia completed the course in 1977 and began teaching, she and Sutcliffe used her salary to buy a house at 6 Garden Lane in Heaton. They moved in on 26 September 1977, where they were living at the time of Sutcliffe's arrest.

On 2 January 1981, Sutcliffe was stopped by the police with 24-year-old prostitute Olivia Reivers in the driveway of Light Trades House in Melbourne Avenue, Broomhill, Sheffield. A police check by probationary constable Robert Hydes revealed Sutcliffe's car had false number plates and he was arrested and transferred to Dewsbury Police Station.