Country Gripped by Fear

This is a brief article I wrote when I was on work experience with the Chronicle. I thought I'd pop it on here with my other stuff. It wasn't the main article, it was just a column on the side. It was in The Sunday Sun on the 7th of March 2010

COUNTRY GRIPPED BY FEAR

When officers arrested Peter Sutcliffe on January 2 1981 for driving offences, little did they know that they had finally managed to capture Britain's most wanted man.

Peter Sutcliffe, known as The Yorkshire Ripper, was responsible for the brutal deaths of Wilma McAnn, Emily Jackson, Irene Richardson, Patricia Atkinson, Jayne McDonald, Yvonne Pearson, Helen Rytka, Vera Millward, Josephine Whitaker, Barbara Leach, Maguerite Walls and Jacqueline Hill.

The hunt for Sutcliffe was one of the largest investigations ever run by a British police force and was hindered by many hoax letters and voice recordings received by the police.

In May 1981 he was found guilty of the attacks and was given 12 life sentances. It was recommended that he serve a minimum of 30 years, which meant that he was unlikely to be freed until next year.

In 2006 it came to light that John Humble of Sunderland had been behind the hoax tapes. He was sentanced to eight years in jail.

Had John Humble not sent in the tape, it is believed that the rippers final three victims would not have died.