Peter Sutcliffe Admits he’s Yorkshire Ripper
Sheffield, South Yorkshire The 4th of January 1981 AD
After a five-year killing spree during which Peter Sutcliffe murdered 13 women he was finally arrested in Sheffield on January 2 1981 because two junior police officers noted his parked car – in which he was found with a prostitute - had false number plates. Even then the arresting officers allowed him the time to dump evidence that he was the Ripper. When the sergeant involved in his arrest returned to the scene the following day and discovered his weapons the end was nigh for the notorious serial killer. The police intensified their questioning. On January 4 Sutcliffe admitted he was the Ripper.
The police too often receive unjustified criticism in doing what is a very difficult job. But in the case of the Ripper investigation such criticism was merited. They were led off the track by a hoaxer; Sutcliffe was fingered by an associate; was interviewed several times; was linked albeit among many others to a vital piece of evidence found with the body of one of his victims. Yet in the end it was intelligent observation by beat officers, and the imagination and curiosity of one of them, a uniformed sergeant, that captured this vile murderer, not the task force which had been working on the case for so long.
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