The Yorkshire Ripper

Recently in the newspapers and news broadcasting channels there have been many stories about the Yorkshire Ripper who I originally knew was a 'copy cat' Jack the Ripper but I never knew a lot about the Yorkshire Ripper so I decided to research him.

When I was researching the Yorkshire Ripper there are differences as the Yorkshire Ripper got caught which led the police to his name which is Peter Sutcliffe. Whereas, Jack the Ripper never got caught this shows the development in Modern Forensic Technology as Sutcliffe was convicted of murder in 1981. Below is a picture of Peter Sutcliffe 'The Yorkshire Ripper'.:

I was very interested in the Yorkshire Ripper as I initally thought that the Yorkshire Ripper wanted to murder women to be like Jack the Ripper, however according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sutcliffe Sutcliffe murdered women as he had a hatred towards them 'Sutcliffe frequented prostitutes as a young man and it has been speculated that a bad experience with one (during which he was allegedly conned out of money) helped fuel his violent hatred against women' When re-reading this statement I was very confused as Sutcliffe had a wife so I was confused how he could hate women. Sutcliffe murdered thirteen women, he mostly hit his victims over the head with a hammer, then stabbed them and sometimes he would slash the victims stomachs. In 1975 the first two assaults Sutcliffe assaulted but did not murder two women 'Sutcliffe committed his first documented assault on the night of 5 July 1975 in Keighley. He attacked 36 year old Anna Rogulskyj who was walking alone, striking her unconscious with a ball-peen hammer and slashing her stomach with a knife. Disturbed by a neighbour, he left without killing her. Rogulskyj survived after extensive medical intervention but was emotionally traumatised by the attack.
Sutcliffe attacked 46 year old Olive Smelt in Halifax in August. He used the same modus operandi, striking her from behind and using a knife to slash her, though this time above her buttocks. Again he was interrupted, and left his victim badly injured but still alive. Like Rogulskyj, Smelt suffered emotional scars from the attack, including clinical depression. On 27 August, Sutcliffe attacked 14 year old Tracy Browne in Silsden. He struck her from behind and hit her on the head five times while she was walking in a country lane. Sutcliffe was not convicted of this attack, but confessed to it in 1992.' This may represent that Sutcliffe did not want to originally murder women. The most horrifying murder I found was 'A murder in Chapeltown, claiming his youngest victim, 16 year old Jayne MacDonald, on 26 June. She was not a prostitute. In the public perception her death showed that every woman was a potential victim.' I found this awful as he murdered a girl to show that he would murder anyone even though he mainly murdered prostitutes. Below is a list of the murders and the victims.:

The first murder was Wilma McCann in 1975 who died at the age of 28. In 1976 Emily Jackson aged 42. In 1977 Irene Richardson died at the age of 28, Patricia Atkinson died at 32, Jayne MacDonald died at 16, Jean Jordan died at 20. In 1978 Yvonne Pearson aged at 21, Helen Rytka died at 18 and Vera Millward died at 40. In 1979 Josephine Whitaker died at 19, Barbara Leach died at 20. In 1980 Marguerite Walls died at 47 and Jacqueline Hill died at 20.Most of the murders took place within West Yorkshire which leads to his name 'The Yorkshire Ripper'. However, victim six and nine were murdered in the South West. Below is a map showing where the murders took place.