Who is Peter Sutcliffe and is the Yorkshire Ripper still alive?
IN the late 70s, Yorkshire was gripped by a terrifying wave of women being attacked and murdered by Perter Sutcliffe. Dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe‘s crimes took place over a five year period between 1975 and 1980. Who is Peter Sutcliffe? Peter Sutcliffe grew up in Bingley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in […]
IN the late 70s, Yorkshire was gripped by a terrifying wave of women being attacked and murdered by Perter Sutcliffe.
Dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe‘s crimes took place over a five year period between 1975 and 1980.
Who is Peter Sutcliffe?
Peter Sutcliffe grew up in Bingley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in a Catholic working class family.
He was born on June 2, 1946, and was said to be a loner.
He left school at 15 – working a series of menial jobs such as a grave digger, factory worker, door-to-door salesman and HGV driver.
In his teens, Peter Sutcliffe was said to have an obsession with voyeurism – and he spent his days spying on prostitutes, and the men using their services.
After his arrest, Peter Sutcliffe took on his mother’s maiden name – and now likes to be known as Peter Coonan.
He is also known as the Yorkshire Ripper.
Peter Sutcliffe married Sonia Szuma on August 10, 1974.
They lived in Heaton, Bradford, but were unable to have any children.
Is Peter Sutcliffe still alive today?
Peter Sutcliffe is still alive.
The Yorkshire Ripper is now blind and needs a white stick to stop him stumbling around in prison.
The 73-year-old convict lost the sight in his left eye in 1997 after being attacked with a pen by a fellow inmate.
However, he has now lost the vision in his right eye after an injection supposed to clear the blurriness caused by diabetes went wrong.
He is now totally blind, often uses a wheelchair and requires a “jail buddy” to help him get around the prison.
In September 2018, it was revealed that Peter Sutcliffe had been taken to hospital suffering from ill health.
How long has the Yorkshire Ripper been in jail?
Peter Sutcliffe is currently serving 20 concurrent life sentences, and therefore will never be released from jail.
The 73-year-old was jailed in 1981, after police caught Sutcliffe with a 24-year-old prostitute called Olivia Reivers on January 2.
Peter Sutcliffe was arrested when police realised his car had false number plates, and officers soon noticed that he shared many physical characteristics with the Yorkshire Ripper.
The following day police returned to the scene of Sutcliffe’s arrest – where they found a knife, hammer and rope which the killer had dumped the previous day.
After two days of intensive questioning, Sutcliffe finally admitted he was the Yorkshire Ripper.
His wife, Sonia Szurma, was also brought in for questioning by police.
Peter Sutcliffe had previously been questioned over the murders nine times, and West Yorkshire Police was heavily criticised for its handling of the case.
In 2010, the High Court dismissed an appeal by Sutcliffe – and confirmed that he will never be released from custody.
Since August 24, 2016, he has been held in HM Prison Frankland, in Durham.
It emerged on October 2, 2018, that Sutcliffe has been in agony since returning from hospital and fears he may have testicular cancer.
How many women did the Yorkshire Ripper kill?
Peter Sutcliffe was convicted for the murder of 13 women, and attempting to kill seven others.
His victims were named as Wilma McCann, Emily Jackson, Irene Richardson, Patricia Atkinson, Jayne McDonald, Jean Jordan, Yvonne Pearson, Helen Rytka, Vera Millward, Josephine Whitaker, Barbara Leach and Jacqueline Hill.
The Yorkshire Ripper regularly used prostitutes in Leeds and the nearby areas, and his violence was thought to have been sparked after he was swindled out of money by a prostitute and her pimp.
He told police that God had sent him on a mission to kill prostitutes, and in his trial he pleaded not guilty to murder on grounds of diminished responsibility, after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
How many times has Peter Sutcliffe been attacked in jail?
Peter Sutcliffe began his sentence at HMP Parkhurst, on the Isle of Wight, on May 22, 1981.
On January 10, 1983, he was attacked by career criminal James Costello – who plunged a broken coffee jar into the left side of Sutcliffe’s face twice.
Sutcliffe required 30 stitches and was sent to Broadmoor Hospital, in Berkshire, a year later, in March 1984, under Section 47 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
On February 23 ,1996, Sutcliffe was attacked in his room by convicted robber Paul Wilson – who attempted to strangle him with the cable from a pair of headphones.
MORE ON THE YORKSHIRE RIPPER
Two other murderers, Kenneth Erskine and Jamie Devitt, intervened after hearing Peter Sutcliffe’s screams.
Sutcliffe lost vision in his left eye after being attacked with a pen by inmate Ian Kay, on March 10, 1997.
Kay admitted trying to kill Sutcliffe, and was detained in a secure mental hospital.
On December 22, 2007, Sutcliffe was attacked by fellow inmate Patrick Sureda, who lunged at him with a metal cutlery knife while shouting: “You f***ing raping, murdering b******, I’ll blind your f***ing other one”.
Sutcliffe flung himself backwards and the blade missed his right eye, stabbing him in the cheek instead.