Peter Sutcliffe is an English serial killer, better known globally as 'The Yorkshire Ripper', who was convicted in 1981 for the murder of 13 women and attacks on several others. Sutcliffe was born in June 1946 in Bingley, West Yorkshire, the son of John and Kathleen Sutcliffe. A loner at school, Peter left at the age of 15, taking various jobs including that of a grave digger during the 1960s. He is also known to have worked at the Baird Television factory between November 1971 and April 1973, leaving after the company asked him to join the sales team; subsequent jobs included a stint as an HGV driver. Sutcliffe was a frequent user of prostitutes during his youthand is believed to have had a bad experience with one, during which he was conned out money; an incident which may have helped fuel his violent hatred towards women.

Peter Sutcliffe was a married man at the time of his arrest in 1981, having been married to Czech born Sonia Szurma on 10th August 1974. His wife suffered a series of miscarriages over the next few years and were subsequently informed that they would not be able to have children. As a result, Szurma returned to a teacher training course and began teaching in 1977; the couple used the additional money to buy their first house in Bradford in the same year. The couple were still living in this house in 1981 when Sutcliffe was arrested for the murders.

Sutcliffe's first known serious assault came in July 1975, when he attacked 36 year old Anna Rogulskyjby striking her witha hammer and slashing her stomach with a knife as she walked alone in Keighley. He left without killing her after being disturbed by somebody, she survived the attack after extensive medical treatment but was left severely traumatised by the events. In the following month, August 1975, heattacked 46 year old Olive Smelt in Halifax using the same method by striking her from behind witha hammer and slicing her buttocks witha knife, his victim was badly injured but survived; albeit also severely traumatised. In the same month, on 27th August, Sutcliffe attacked Terry Browne a 14 year old in Silsden; this time he struck the girl some five times with a hammer. Miraculously Browne survived to tell the tale, and he admitted this crime in 1992.

Peter Sutcliffe's first murder soon followed on 30th October 1975, the victim being 28 year old Wilma McCann from Chapeltown in Leeds. Sutcliffe struck the mother of four twice with a hammer before stabbing her some 15 times in the neck, abdomen and chest. It is believed that she may also have been sexually assaulted as traces of semen were found on the back of her underwear. A huge police investigation was undertaken involving 150 police officers and 11,000 interviews, but the police failed to uncover Sutcliffe. One of McCann's daughters committed suicide in December 2007 following years of struggle in coming to terms with the event.

It was just a few months before Sutcliffe killed again, this time he killed 42 year old Emily Jackson, a married woman from Leeds in financial difficulties; Jackson had been using her families van to make cash giving sexual favours. Sutcliffe used his usual technique of hitting his victim on the head with a hammer before stabbing her 51 times in the neck, chest and abdomen with a sharpened screwdriver. He also stamped on her thigh, leaving behind an impression of his boot which would further tease officers who were desperate to catch the unknown psychopath. Four months went by before his next attack, this time it was 20 year old Marcella Claxton who had been offered a lift home by Sutcliffe after he saw her walking home from a party. When Claxton got out of his car to urinate, he hit her with a hammer from behind. Claxton survived the attack and would later testify against Sutcliffe at his trial.

It is believed that Sutcliffe had a significant gap between killings, with the next known murder taking place in February 1977 when he attacked 28 year old Chapeltown prostitute Irene Richardson in Roundhay Park. Again he used a hammer, hitting her repeatedly with it before mutilating her dead body with a knife. Police were given a further clue, this time it was tyre tracks near the scene which provided a huge list of possible vehicles. It was just two months later that he would kill again, this time another prostitute on 23rd April 1977, this time it was 32 year old Patricia Atkinson who was killed in her flat. police found a boot print on the bedclothes.

It was just two months until his next murder in June 1977, again in Chapeltown. a 16 year old named Jayne MacDonald. MacDonald was not a prostitute and it was this murder that showed the women of Yorkshire that anybody could be a victim of this type of crime. In July, Sutcliffe attempted to murder 42 year old Maureen Long before he was interrupted by a passer by and fled. The witness identified the make of his car, but police could still not find Sutcliffe despite the number of policemen on the case being doubled to 300 and a further 12,500 statements being taken.

Peter Sutcliffe's next venture took him outside of Yorkshire, this time it was 20 year old Manchester prostitute Jean Jordan who was killed on 9th October. Police did not find her body for 10 days, but they noted that it had been moved several days after the killing. Sutcliffe later confessed that he realised that he was traceable to a new bank note that he had given her and so he returned to the body. He was unable to find her handbag so instead he tried to remove her head with a hacksaw and a large pane of broken glass to try and disguise the death as a trademark ripper attack. The police later recovered the handbag and £5 note, which was traced back to branches of the Midland Bank in either Shipley or Bingley - both towns close to Sutcliffe's home. Extensive police investigations into the banking process narrowed the possible recipients down to just 8000 local employees who were paid their wages through the banks. Police interviewed 5000 men over the following three month period, including Sutcliffe, but did not connect him with the murders. He went on to attack another prostitute, 25 year old Marilyn Moore, on 14th December. Moore survived and was able to provide police with a description of the attacker; police were also able to identify more tyre tracks which matched those previously found,

In January 1978 police ended their search for the recipient of the £5 note, with Sutcliffe being interviewed and disregarded several times by the Ripper squad. In that same month he was to kill again, attacking another Bradford prostitute - 21 year old Yvonne Pearson - hiding the body under an old discarded sofa; the body was not uncovered until March. He killed again at the very end of the same month, on 31st January, this time it was Helen Rytka an 18 year old Huddersfield prostitute. After a few months of inactivity, Sutcliffe was to kill yet again. 40 year old Vera Millward died in the car park of the Manchester Royal Infirmary on 16th May. It was almost a year before he killed again, when he killed 19 year old bank clerk Josephine Whitaker in Halifax after assaulted her as she walked home from work, Police gained new forensic evidence but were thrown off of the scent by a series of hoax taped messages from a man with a Wearside accent claiming to be the killer.

The search became focused on the Castletown area of Sunderland. The hoaxer, who had been dubbed 'WearsideJack' had sent two letters to the police in 1978 boasting of his crimes; both of which had been signed 'Jack The Ripper' and claimed responsibility for a murder which Peter Sutcliffe did not actually commit. It should perhaps be noted that John Samuel Humble was charged in 2005 of attempting to pervert the course of justice. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison on 21st March 2006. Sutcliffe's next murder victim was to be 20 year old Barbara Leach, a Bradford University Student, who was murdered close to her university lodgings. Whilst the media was pushing a wearside connection, Sutcliffe was actually interviewed again on at least two separate occasions in 1979. By this point he was still on a narrowed down list of just 300 possible recipients of the £5 note, and even matched certain forensic evidence, yet was still not strongly suspected by the police. Sutcliffe was interviewed on a total of nine occasions in relation to the crimes.

Sutcliffe was arrested in April 1980 of drink driving, and killed two more women whilst awaiting a trial on this charge, 47 year old Marguerite Walls and 20 year old Jacqueline Hill a student at the University of Leeds. He is also known to have attacked at least two other women, both of whom survived. He was reported in November 1980 as a suspect by one of his closest friends, however police were swamped with accusations from a worried public and this lead was lost amidst a sea of information. It was assumed by his friend that the police had followed up on the lead and cleared him of any involvement.

Sutcliffe was finally arrested on 2ndJanuary1981, after being found by police to have 24 year old prostitute Olivia Reivers in his car in the Broomhill area of Sheffield. He was arrested on the grounds of having false number plates on his car and was transferred to Dewsbury police station to be investigated for this offence. Officers at Dewsbury noticed that he met many of the characteristics of the Yorkshire Ripper and questioned him in relation to the case. The next day, the police found a knife, a hammer anda rope at the site of his arrest in Sheffield. They later found a second knife in the toilet cistern at the police station after telling officers that he needed to use the toilet. When Sutcliffe was strip searched at the police station, they found that he had been wearing a 'V neck' sweat top under his trousers with his groin exposed at the 'V' and with padded elbows to protect his knees - presumably because he knelt over the corpses of his victims. It was not until 2003 that the public were informed of the sweater, and the obvious sexual implications, in a book by Michael Bilton titled 'Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper'. After two days of questioning, Sutcliffe admitted that he was the Yorkshire Ripper on 4th January 1981, he said that he was told to murder by God; he was charged on the next day 5th January 1981.

Sutcliffe pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of murder, instead pleading manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility; the basis of the claim centered around his belief that god had told him to murder prostitutes whilst he was working as a gravedigger. The prosecution intended to accept a plea of manslaughter on the basis of four psychiatrists diagnosing him as a paranoid schizophrenic, however the trial judge rejected the plea and insisted that the case be decided by jury. In the subsequent two week trial he was found guilty of all counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment; he is entitled to apply for parole in 2011 at which time he will be 65 years old and would have served 30 years in prison.

Sutcliffe began his sentence at HMP Parkhurst on 22nd May 1981 and was soon diagnosed with schizophrenia, however attempts to transfer him to a secure psychiatric units were repeatedly blocked. He was attacked several times at Parkhurst and eventually sent to Broadmoor Hospital in March 1984. He has been attacked several times, and there have been attempts on his life on numerous occasions; including one incident where he lost the site in one of his eyes. He narrowly avoided losing the site in his remaining eye after an attempt by a fellow prisoner to blind him. It was reported on 17th February 2009 that Sutcliffe was fit to leave Broadmoor, leaving the Ministry of Justice to decide whether or not he can be moved to a medium-secure unit to continue his rehabilitation.