Crime fiction , detective story , murder mystery , mystery novel , and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, often a murder. Most crime drama focuses on criminal investigation and does not feature the courtroom . Suspense and mystery are key elements that are nearly ubiquitous to the genre.
142-479: Red Riding is a British crime drama limited series written by Tony Grisoni and based on the book series of the same name by David Peace . The series comprises the novels Nineteen Seventy-Four (1999), Nineteen Seventy-Seven (2000), Nineteen Eighty (2001) and Nineteen Eighty-Three (2002), and the first, third, and fourth of these novels became three feature-length television episodes, Red Riding 1974 , Red Riding 1980 , and Red Riding 1983 . They aired in
284-490: A Yorkshire accent , but this information was ignored, as was the fact that neither she nor Rogulskyj were in towns with a red-light area. On 27 August, Sutcliffe targeted 14-year-old Tracy Browne in Silsden , attacking her from behind and hitting her on the head five times while she was walking along a country lane. He ran off when he saw the lights of a passing car, leaving his victim requiring brain surgery. Sutcliffe
426-612: A pimp and pornographer , and that she gave Hall's documents to Jobson. Jobson claims to have lost the files. Meanwhile, the former affair between Hunter and Marshall threatens to reignite. Hunter interrogates Inspectors Dickie Alderman and Jim Prentice, who lets slip that the Strachan murder was probably performed by Hall, covered-up to look like a Ripper murder. Hunter also visits the now debilitated Tommy Douglas who later phones him demanding that they meet at his house. However, Hunter arrives to find Douglas and his daughter killed. Hunter
568-451: A " whodunit " murder mystery with multiple plot twists . The story has detective fiction elements. Two other Arabian Nights stories, "The Merchant and the Thief" and "Ali Khwaja", contain two of the earliest fictional detectives , who uncover clues and present evidence to catch or convict a criminal, with the story unfolding in normal chronology and the criminal already being known to
710-560: A 25-year-old prostitute, in the back of his car on wasteland in Scott Hall. Sutcliffe lost his balance whilst delivering a blow to Moore with a hammer, allowing Moore to escape with severe head injuries. Tyre tracks found at the scene matched those from an earlier attack. The resulting photofit bore a strong resemblance to Sutcliffe, as had those from other survivors, and Moore provided a good description of Sutcliffe's black Sunbeam Rapier , which had been seen in red-light areas. Sutcliffe
852-521: A Chapeltown prostitute, in Roundhay Park. Richardson was last seen at 11:15 p.m. leaving a rooming house on Cowper Street, saying she was going to Tiffany's, a pub and disco in the centre of Leeds. Richardson was bludgeoned to death with a hammer, and stabbed in the neck and throat and three times in the stomach. Once she was dead, Sutcliffe mutilated her corpse with a knife and then arranged her body by neatly placing her knee-length boots over
994-561: A change in American crime fiction. There was a shift into hard-boiled novels and their depictions of realism. Dashiell Hammett and his work, including Red Harvest (1929), offered a more realistic social perspective to crime fiction, referencing events such as the Great Depression . James M. Cain contributed The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934). This novel includes a married woman trying to murder her own husband with
1136-466: A commonplace pleasantry about the weather before striking hammer blows to her skull from behind. He then disarranged Smelt's clothing and slashed her lower back with a knife. Again Sutcliffe was interrupted and left his victim badly injured but alive. Like Rogulskyj, Smelt subsequently suffered severe emotional and mental trauma. She later told Detective Superintendent Dick Holland that her attacker had
1278-455: A confection dubbed "Yorkshire Noir" by some critics. They offer a chronologically fractured narrative and do not present neat resolutions. 1974. Eddie Dunford ( Andrew Garfield ) is a cocky and naïve cub reporter for The Yorkshire Post . John Dawson ( Sean Bean ) is an unscrupulous local real estate developer , representing a group of investors. Their paths cross when Dunford investigates a series of murdered or missing schoolgirls, one of whom
1420-419: A crime. Readers speak of crime fiction as a mode of escapism to cope with other aspects of their lives. Crime fiction provides distraction from readers' personal lives through a strong narrative at a comfortable distance. Forensic crime novels have been referred to as "distraction therapy", proposing that crime fiction can improve mental health and be considered as a form of treatment to prevent depression. In
1562-433: A driveway. In order to move her twenty yards from the place of the attack up the driveway and into a high-walled garden, Sutcliffe first tied a length of rope around Walls' neck and tightened it. There he suffocated her and removed almost every piece of clothing save for her tights. He partially covered the body with grass and leaves before he left. On 24 September, a 34-year-old doctor from Singapore, Upadhya Bandara,
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#17327654276191704-626: A fence and stabbed her repeatedly with a knife. On the evening of 2 March 1979, 22-year-old Irish student Ann Rooney was attacked from behind at Horsforth College in Horsforth . She was struck three times on the head, probably with a hammer, according to Professor David Gee, who examined her at Leeds General Infirmary . Rooney's description of her attacker and his car closely matched that of Sutcliffe and his Sunbeam Rapier, which had been flagged by police numerous times in red-light areas in both Leeds and Bradford. In 1992, Sutcliffe confessed to
1846-604: A forerunner of Arthur Conan Doyle 's Sherlock Holmes , appeared in works such as " The Murders in the Rue Morgue " (1841), " The Mystery of Marie Rogêt " (1842), and " The Purloined Letter " (1844). With his Dupin stories, Poe provided the framework for the classic detective story. The detective's unnamed companion is the narrator of the stories and a prototype for the character of Dr. Watson in later Sherlock Holmes stories. Wilkie Collins ' epistolary novel The Woman in White
1988-527: A heavy locked chest along the Tigris River, and he sells it to the Abbasid Caliph , Harun al-Rashid , who then has the chest broken open, only to find inside it the dead body of a young woman who was cut into pieces. Harun orders his vizier , Ja'far ibn Yahya , to solve the crime and find the murderer within three days, or be executed if he fails his assignment. The story has been described as
2130-455: A journalist who had many conversations with Sonia, described her as "the most irritating, strangest and coldest person I've ever met. She's so incredibly prickly and demanding." Sonia had several miscarriages after marrying Sutcliffe, and the couple were informed that she would not be able to have children. Sonia eventually resumed her teacher training course, during which time she had an affair with an ice-cream van driver. When she completed
2272-400: A local hotel, taking along Sutcliffe and two of his siblings to witness him expose her infidelity . When Sutcliffe's mother arrived, his father pulled out a negligee from her purse as her children watched. In his late- adolescence , Sutcliffe developed a growing obsession with voyeurism and spent much time spying on prostitutes and their male clients. Reportedly a loner, he left school at
2414-433: A much-loved movie entitled The Lady Vanishes (1938), and Ira Levin 's (born 1929) science-fiction thriller The Boys from Brazil (1976), which was filmed in 1978 . Older novels can often be retrieved from the ever-growing Project Gutenberg database. Yorkshire Ripper Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020), also known as Peter Coonan , was an English serial killer who
2556-457: A number of other unsolved crimes. Sutcliffe was transferred from prison to Broadmoor Hospital in March 1984 after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia . The High Court dismissed an appeal by Sutcliffe in 2010, confirming that he would serve a whole life order and never be released from custody. In August 2016, it was ruled that Sutcliffe was mentally fit to be returned to prison, and he
2698-486: A packaging line. He left this position when he was asked to go on the road as a salesman. After leaving Baird Television, Sutcliffe worked night shifts at the Britannia Works of Anderton International from April 1973. In February 1975, he took redundancy and used half of the £400 pay-off to train as a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver. On 5 March 1976, Sutcliffe was dismissed from this employment for
2840-499: A party, Claxton accepted an offer of a lift from Sutcliffe. When she got out of the car to urinate, he hit her from behind with a hammer. Claxton survived and testified against Sutcliffe at his trial. At the time of this attack, Claxton had been four months pregnant and subsequently miscarried her baby. She required multiple, extensive brain operations and suffered from intermittent blackouts and chronic depression . On 5 February, Sutcliffe attacked 28-year-old Irene Richardson,
2982-467: A project for a shopping centre. It is also revealed that he knew about the innocence of Michael Myshkin ( Daniel Mays ), a learning disabled man who was accused of the serial killings in 1974. Jobson is aware of a conspiracy within the WYMP protecting high-profile figures, including Dawson, from public exposure. Jobson's pangs of conscience are brought upon by his investigation into the recent disappearance of
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#17327654276193124-421: A reform-minded young police officer. Dunford becomes romantically involved with Paula Garland ( Rebecca Hall ), mother of a missing girl. He learns from Paula that she is also sexually involved with Dawson, whom she has known all her life. Dunford ignores corrupt WYMP officers' threats, complete with beatings, to lay off the story. Dunford convinces Paula to leave town with him, then briefly leaves her to deliver
3266-442: A series in 1999 entitled "Pan Classic Crime", which includes a handful of novels by Eric Ambler , but also American Hillary Waugh 's Last Seen Wearing ... . In 2000, Edinburgh -based Canongate Books started a series called "Canongate Crime Classics" —both whodunnits and roman noir about amnesia and insanity —and other novels. However, books brought out by smaller publishers such as Canongate Books are usually not stocked by
3408-455: A sheet of asbestos , beneath the railway arches of the timber yard. Sutcliffe said of Rytka while in police custody in 1981: "I had the urge to kill any woman. The urge inside me to kill girls was now practically uncontrollable." Vera Evelyn Millward was a 40-year-old prostitute and mother of seven who left her council flat in Hulme at 10:00 p.m. on 16 May 1978, telling her boyfriend that she
3550-465: A steamy sex scene between Sharon Stone and William Baldwin straight from the 1993 movie , and again, Bret Easton Ellis 's American Psycho (1991). Bloomsbury Publishing PLC , though, have launched what they call "Bloomsbury Film Classics"—a series of original novels on which feature films were based. This series includes, for example, Ethel Lina White 's novel The Wheel Spins (1936), which Alfred Hitchcock —before he went to Hollywood—turned into
3692-412: A still from the movie on the front cover and the film credits on the back cover of the book—yet another marketing strategy aimed at those cinemagoers who may want to do both: first read the book and then watch the film (or vice versa). Recent examples include Patricia Highsmith 's The Talented Mr. Ripley (originally published in 1955), Ira Levin 's Sliver (1991), with the cover photograph depicting
3834-513: A story forward in order to unravel mysteries. Likewise, the feature of detectives was popularized by Edgar Allan Poe and Conan Doyle . Hard-boiled detective stories attracted a decent amount of attention to the genre in America and France as well. Within crime fiction, it can also be common to use dark themes from real life, such as slavery , organized crime , and more. Aside from general themes, referencing instances of crime in real life
3976-482: A young girl named Hazel Atkins, and lead him to open previous cases. He also starts an intimate relationship with a medium ( Saskia Reeves ), who seems to be in possession of valuable information concerning the more recent crimes. Meanwhile, John Piggott ( Mark Addy ), a solicitor and the son of a notorious WYMP officer, decides to explore the Atkins case himself. His inquiries lead him to Leonard Cole ( Gerard Kearns ),
4118-535: Is Agatha Christie , whose texts, originally published between 1920 and her death in 1976, are available in UK and US editions in all English-speaking nations. Christie's works, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple , have given her the title the Queen of Crime, and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre. Her most famous novels include Murder on
4260-491: Is Florida -based author Carl Hiaasen , who has been publishing books since 1981, all of which are readily available. From time to time, publishing houses decide, for commercial purposes, to revive long-forgotten authors, and reprint one or two of their more commercially successful novels. Apart from Penguin Books , which for this purpose have resorted to their old green cover and dug out some of their vintage authors. Pan started
4402-528: Is Helen Marshall ( Maxine Peake ), his former adulterous lover. The two cases – massacre and serial killings – are linked by Officer Bob Craven ( Sean Harris ), who behaves in an openly hostile manner to the new team. Hunter correctly deduces that the Ripper inquiry is being side-tracked by the Wearside Jack tapes, and feels that the real Ripper has been interviewed and missed. Hunter suspects that one of
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4544-514: Is also common in several works of crime fiction. These reflections of reality can be expressed in many ways. For instance, crime fiction in Spain expressed grievances with authority, which was opposite to the instances in Japan that credited the government's functionality. Espionage is another prominent inclusion in many works of crime fiction. It includes the use of political intrigue, morality, and
4686-408: Is also revealed that B.J. was the first child abducted by this criminal enterprise, and perhaps the only one who survived. He ends up returning to Laws' home to enact revenge, but in the last moment finds himself unable to do so due to Laws' mind-numbing, domineering influence on him. Seconds before Laws is about to drill into B.J.'s head with an electric drill , Jobson appears with a shotgun and shoots
4828-431: Is found on Dawson's property, tortured, raped, and strangled. Dawson has used a combination of bribery (small ownership shares in a new shopping centre) and blackmail to secure the support of the local councillors , allowing him to purchase land and gain zoning approval to construct the shopping centre. He has also used the same bribes and blackmail with the newly formed West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police (WYMP), who harass
4970-529: Is from 1827 ; another early full-length short story in the genre is The Rector of Veilbye by Danish author Steen Steensen Blicher , published in 1829. A further example of crime detection can be found in Letitia Elizabeth Landon 's story The Knife , published in 1832, although here the truth remains in doubt at the end. Better known are the earlier dark works of Edgar Allan Poe . His brilliant and eccentric detective C. Auguste Dupin ,
5112-480: Is implied that only when children with known, stable local families were abducted did the criminal structure run the risk of being made public. This was the main reason for the constables' indirect assistance in Dawson's demise, thereby solving the "two little problems" referred to by Angus (a nosy young journalist and a businessman with a dark secret) at the same time without compromising their million-pound investment in
5254-524: Is plagued by guilt over his reluctant participation in the corrupt activities within the WYMP. It is revealed that it was he who tipped off Dunford about the arson in the Roma camp near Hunslet , in which Jobson took part under pressure by Molloy. It is also revealed that the camp site had to be vacated to pursue a £100m joint investment between Dawson and the top echelons of the WYMP (including Jobson, Molloy, Angus, Alderman, Prentice, Nolan, Douglas and Craven) on
5396-434: Is seriously intimidated when he receives covertly taken photos of himself and Marshall in compromising positions. Near the end of Hunter's Christmas holiday, his Manchester house is burned down. Hunter then learns that his superiors have taken him off the Ripper case due to unspecified allegations of disciplinary breaches. He returns to West Yorkshire for a scheduled meeting with Jobson, but it appears, amid great fanfare, that
5538-439: Is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as historical fiction and science fiction , but the boundaries are indistinct. Crime fiction has several subgenres , including detective fiction (such as the whodunit ), courtroom drama , hard-boiled fiction, and legal thrillers . Proto-science and crime fictions have been composed across history, and in this category can be placed texts as varied as
5680-633: The Castletown area of Sunderland , Tyne and Wear . The hoaxer, dubbed " Wearside Jack ", sent two letters to police and the Daily Mirror in March 1978 boasting of his crimes. The letters, signed " Jack the Ripper ", claimed responsibility for the November 1975 murder of 26-year-old Joan Harrison in Preston . The hoaxer case was re-opened in 2005, and DNA taken from envelopes was entered into
5822-764: The Chapeltown area of Leeds, walking past the nearby Prince Philip Playing Fields. Like with the earlier attacks, Sutcliffe approached her from behind and struck the back of her skull twice with a hammer. An extensive inquiry, involving 150 officers of the West Yorkshire Police and 11,000 interviews, failed to identify Sutcliffe. Sutcliffe committed his next murder in Leeds on 20 January 1976, when he stabbed 42-year-old Emily Monica Jackson fifty-two times. In dire financial straits, Jackson had been persuaded by her husband to engage in prostitution, using
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5964-687: The Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia , the Mahabharata from ancient India , the Book of Tobit , Urashima Tarō from ancient Japan , the One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ), and more. One example of a story of this genre is the medieval Arabic tale of " The Three Apples ", one of the tales narrated by Scheherazade in the Arabian Nights . In this tale, a fisherman discovers
6106-535: The FBI in the United States and from dialect analysts Stanley Ellis and Jack Windsor Lewis , that "Wearside Jack" was a hoaxer. Indeed, the investigation had used the hoax tape as a point of elimination, rather than as a line of enquiry, allowing Sutcliffe to avoid scrutiny as he did not fit the profile of the sender of the tape or letters. The hoaxer was given unusual credibility when analysis of saliva on
6248-599: The Father Brown short stories, and Henry Christopher Bailey . The Golden Age also had roots in the US. As used by S. S. Van Dine , fictional character Philo Vance also took advantage of an inflated personality and a high-class background in a plethora of novels. In 1929, Father Ronald Knox wrote the ‘Detective Story Decalogue,’ mentioning some conditions of the era. Early foreshadowing and functioning roles for characters were discussed, as well as other items. Ellery Queen
6390-566: The Greater Manchester Police who headed an investigation into the shooting of suspected members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1982. The films won The TV Dagger at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards . At the 2010 British Academy Television Awards , the series was nominated for Best Drama Serial while Rebecca Hall won Best Supporting Actress . Columbia Pictures acquired
6532-500: The High Court issued Sutcliffe with a whole life tariff , meaning he was never to be released. After his trial, Sutcliffe admitted to two other attacks although he was not prosecuted for the offences. West Yorkshire Police were criticised for being inadequately prepared for an investigation on this scale. It was one of the largest investigations by a British police force and predated the use of computers. Information on suspects
6674-537: The National Coal Mining Museum for England in Wakefield , West Yorkshire, and Huddersfield , West Yorkshire. The television trailers for all three Red Riding episodes bore the tagline "Based on True Events". Nevertheless, none of the characters, nor the murder victims, bear the names of real people and only a few have obvious real-life models. The wrongful prosecution and imprisonment of
6816-508: The Romani people camping on the land he wants. Dunford is spurred on by comments from people, including his reporter friend Barry Gannon ( Anthony Flanagan ), who warns of trouble then dies in an accident. An elusive male hustler, B.J. ( Robert Sheehan ), gives Dunford incriminating materials gathered by Gannon (some provided by Dawson) about local officials. During his investigation of Gannon's death, Dunford believes that he has found an ally in
6958-652: The "Grand Master" of 20th-century Chinese detective fiction, translated Sherlock Holmes into classical and vernacular Chinese. In the late 1910s, Cheng began writing his own detective fiction series, Sherlock in Shanghai , mimicking Conan Doyle's style, but relating better to a Chinese audience. During the Mao era , crime fiction was suppressed and mainly Soviet-styled and anticapitalist. In the post-Mao era, crime fiction in China focused on corruption and harsh living conditions during
7100-518: The "Ripper." Following Sutcliffe's conviction, the government ordered a review of the Ripper investigation, conducted by the Inspector of Constabulary Lawrence Byford , known as the "Byford Report." The findings were made fully public in 2006, and confirmed the validity of the criticism of the force. The report led to changes to investigative procedures that were adopted across British police forces . Since his conviction, Sutcliffe has been linked to
7242-555: The 19th century was crucial in popularising crime fiction and related genres. Literary 'variety' magazines, such as Strand , McClure's , and Harper's , quickly became central to the overall structure and function of popular fiction in society, providing a mass-produced medium that offered cheap, illustrated publications that were essentially disposable. Like the works of many other important fiction writers of his day—e.g. Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens —Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories first appeared in serial form in
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#17327654276197384-770: The Connaught Rooms again, which was used multiple more times in the following weeks. The cast and crew were later spotted filming in Little Germany, Bradford . Filming also took place at the former Presbyterian Church on 1 Simes Street, Bradford, which was being used as the Koh-I-Noor Indian restaurant at the time, was used as The Karachi Club in the trilogy. The former Bradford Central Police Station on The Tyrls in Bradford city centre, which has since been demolished and built over with Bradford City Park ,
7526-565: The Gannon materials to his police officer friend. When he returns, Paula is missing, so he storms a large party at Dawson's palatial home, celebrating the signing of the shopping centre deal, to demand Paula be returned. Dunford is arrested by corrupt cops, brutally beaten and psychologically tortured, then shown Paula's dead body. His supposed ally policeman has given the Gannon documents to Detective Superintendent Maurice Jobson ( David Morrissey ), who has them destroyed. The only remaining threat to
7668-575: The Mao era (such as the Cultural Revolution ). The Golden Age, which spanned from the 1920s to 1954, was a period of time featuring the creation of renowned works by several authors. Many of these authors were British. Agatha Christie wrote The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and The Murder at the Vicarage (1930). These novels commonly prioritized the allure of exploring mysteries in
7810-524: The Orient Express (1934), Death on the Nile (1937), and the world's best-selling mystery And Then There Were None (1939). Other less successful, contemporary authors who are still writing have seen reprints of their earlier works, due to current overwhelming popularity of crime fiction texts among audiences. One example is Val McDermid , whose first book appeared as far back as 1987; another
7952-445: The Ripper's supposed victims, Clare Strachan, was not actually a Ripper victim. Hunter receives information on the murder from B.J., who is introduced through Reverend Laws ( Peter Mullan ). B.J. claims that Strachan was a prostitute working for Eric Hall, a now-dead WYMP policeman. Hall's wife requests that Hunter meet her, and after visiting her house – where Reverend Laws is also present – she provides Hunter with proof of Hall's work as
8094-592: The United Kingdom on Channel 4 beginning on 5 March 2009. The three episodes were released theatrically in the United States between 5 and 11 February 2010, by IFC Films . The context of the series uses fictionalized accounts of the investigation into the Yorkshire Ripper , a serial killer who stalked the Yorkshire area of England in the 1970s and 1980s. The name of the series is a reference to
8236-545: The V-neck exposed his genital area. The fronts of the elbows were padded to protect his knees as, presumably, he knelt over his victims' corpses. The sexual implications of this outfit were considered obvious, but it was not known to the public until being published in 2003. After two days of intensive questioning, on the afternoon of 4 January, Sutcliffe suddenly admitted that he was the Yorkshire Ripper. Over
8378-493: The West Yorkshire Police, who was leading the Yorkshire Ripper investigation. The tape contained a man's voice saying, "I'm Jack. I see you're having no luck catching me. I have the greatest respect for you, George, but Lord, you're no nearer catching me now than four years ago when I started." Based on the recorded message, police began searching for a man with a Wearside accent, which linguists narrowed down to
8520-495: The Yorkshire Ripper has been captured. The suspect confesses to all murders except that of Strachan, which he explicitly denies. Hunter tracks down B.J. and forces him to reveal that five masked policemen burst into the Karachi Club minutes after Eddie Dunford's revenge, killing all civilian survivors and finding Bob Craven and Tommy Douglas wounded by Eddie. Strachan was a barmaid at the club; she and her friend B.J. witnessed
8662-492: The age of 15 and had a series of menial jobs, including two stints as a gravedigger at Bingley Cemetery in the 1960s. Because of this occupation, Sutcliffe developed a macabre sense of humour — co-workers reported that Sutcliffe enjoyed his work too much and would even volunteer to do overtime washing corpses. Between November 1971 and April 1973, Sutcliffe worked at the Baird Television factory on
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#17327654276198804-576: The assistance of a potential suitor. This theme extends to his other work, Double Indemnity (1934). Such elements of the book were a reference to the Gray and Snyder trial. Raymond Chandler was a significant author who managed to see some works made into films. In 1944, he argued for the genre to be seen critically in his essay from ‘ The Simple Art of Murder .’ Crime fiction provides unique psychological impacts on readers and enables them to become mediated witnesses through identifying with eyewitnesses of
8946-631: The attack on Rooney, as well as the 1975 attack on Browne. Barbara Mills , QC , the Director of Public Prosecutions, decided at the time that it wasn't in the public's interest to add any additional charges against Sutcliffe for the attacks on Browne and Rooney. At 11:55 p.m. on 4 April 1979, Sutcliffe killed Josephine Anne Whitaker, a 19-year-old clerk, as she was walking home on Savile Park Moor in Halifax. Sutcliffe hit Whitaker from behind with his ball-peen hammer and hit her again as she lay on
9088-399: The audience. The latter involves a climax where titular detective protagonist Ali Khwaja presents evidence from expert witnesses in a court. " The Hunchback's Tale " is another early courtroom drama , presented as a suspenseful comedy. The earliest known modern crime fiction is E. T. A. Hoffmann 's 1819 novella "Mademoiselle de Scudéri". Also, Thomas Skinner Surr 's anonymous Richmond
9230-475: The back of her thighs. Tyre tracks left near the murder scene resulted in a long list of possible suspect vehicles. Two months later, on 23 April, Sutcliffe killed 32-year-old prostitute Patricia "Tina" Atkinson-Mitra in her Bradford flat, where police found a bootprint on the bedclothes. According to Sutcliffe, he picked Atkinson up in Manningham before driving to her residence. There he hit her on
9372-561: The back of the head four times to incapacitate her, then down her jeans and pants and exposed her breasts. Sutcliffe then stabbed her six times in the stomach with a knife. On 25 June 1977, 16-year-old Jayne Michelle MacDonald went to meet friends at the Hofbrauhaus, a German-style bierkeller in Leeds. She missed the last bus home and went back to a friend's house to wait for his sister to bring her home. After approximately forty-five minutes, MacDonald decided to walk home. During
9514-419: The backyard of 13 Back Ash Grove, behind a low wall into an area where dustbins were kept, before pulling up her shirt and bra to expose her breasts and unfastening her jeans and partially pulling them down. He then stabbed her with the same screwdriver that he had used to kill Whitaker. Sutcliffe covered Leach's body with an old piece of carpet and placed stones on top of it. The second murder of another woman who
9656-740: The body, but was unable to find the note. On 9 October, Jordan's body was discovered by local dairy worker and future actor Bruce Jones , who had an allotment on land adjoining the site and was searching for house bricks when he made the discovery. The five-pound note, hidden in a secret compartment in Jordan's handbag, was traced to branches of the Midland Bank in Bingley and Shipley . Police analysis of bank operations allowed them to narrow their field of inquiry to 8,000 employees who could have received it in their wage packet. Over three months,
9798-508: The case should be dealt with by a jury. The trial proper was set to commence on 5 May 1981. Sutcliffe's trial lasted two weeks, and despite the efforts of his counsel, James Chadwin QC, Sutcliffe was found guilty of murder on all counts and was sentenced to twenty concurrent sentences of life imprisonment . The jury rejected the evidence of four psychiatrists who gave testimony that Sutcliffe had paranoid schizophrenia, possibly influenced by
9940-474: The cast and crew were spotted filming at the Connaught Rooms on Manningham Lane, and a Victorian house on the corner of Selbourne Mount and North Park Road, just across the road from Cartwright Hall in Lister Park , Manningham, Bradford , West Yorkshire, which was also used. On 5 October Sean Bean, Paddy Considine, Jim Carter, Warren Clarke, Chris Walker, Sean Harris and James Weaver were spotted filming at
10082-452: The cells where Hunter enters to see Craven slouched back in a chair, shot through his head. He realises that Nolan was one of the five who took part in the Karachi Club shootings, but Nolan quickly shoots him dead. Alderman and Prentice plant the gun to make it look like Hunter and Craven shot each other. In a final scene, Joan Hunter is comforted by Reverend Laws at her husband's graveside. In 1983, Detective Chief Superintendent Maurice Jobson
10224-477: The character Michael Myshkin is a clear parallel to the real-life case of Stefan Kiszko , falsely accused of and convicted for the killing of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed in 1975. He was later proved innocent. The mission and subsequent official vilification of Assistant Chief Constable Peter Hunter in Red Riding 1980 are strongly reminiscent of the case of John Stalker , a real life Deputy Chief Constable of
10366-400: The commercial centre. It is clear that, at least after 1974, Laws counted on the complicity and even direct collaboration of high-ranking officials in the WYMP, although the extent of his grip on the police, the reasons why he did not share a fate similar to Dawson's and the degree of knowledge WYMP brass had of his and Dawson's activities prior to 1974 are left open to speculation. Finally, it
10508-454: The corrupt officials is that Dawson might talk, so police officers Tommy Douglas (Tony Mooney) and Bob Craven ( Sean Harris ) finish torturing Dunford, tell him that Dawson killed Paula (the viewer never knows for sure), then give him a loaded handgun to deal with Dawson. Bloody and frantic, Dunford seeks out Dawson, eventually finding him at his private club the Karachi. Dawson offers that he
10650-465: The country. The Spanish writers emphasized the corruption and ineptitude of the police, and depicted the authorities and the wealthy in very negative terms. In China, crime fiction is a major literary tradition, with works dating to the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. Modern Chinese crime fiction emerged from the 1890s, and was also influenced by translations of foreign works. Cheng Xiaoqing , considered
10792-547: The course in 1977 and began teaching, she and Sutcliffe used her salary to buy a house at 6 Garden Lane in Heaton , into which they moved on 26 September 1977, and where they were living at the time of Sutcliffe's arrest in 1980. Sutcliffe's first documented assault was of a female prostitute, who he had met while searching for another woman who had tricked him out of money. Sutcliffe left his friend Trevor Birdsall's minivan and walked up St. Paul's Road in Bradford until he
10934-470: The crimes are usually unsolved, and clues are left for the reader to decipher. Famous writers include Leonardo Sciascia , Umberto Eco , and Carlo Emilio Gadda . In Spain, The Nail and Other Tales of Mystery and Crime was published by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón in 1853. Crime fiction in Spain (also curtailed in Francoist Spain ) took on some special characteristics that reflected the culture of
11076-442: The evidence of a prison officer who heard him say to his wife that if he convinced people he was mad, he might get ten years in a "loony bin." Justice Boreham stated that Sutcliffe was beyond redemption and hoped he would never leave prison. He recommended a minimum term of thirty years to be served before parole could be considered, meaning Sutcliffe would have been unlikely to be freed until at least 2011. On 16 July 2010,
11218-542: The existence of spies. Prior media used the Cold War for inspiration and provided commentary on such events. Examples include numerous works by John le Carré and Gorky Park (1981), which was written by Martin Cruz Smith . Inspiration can be drawn from the legal system around the world, with varying degrees of realism. In these cases, a sense of morality and the more dubious parts of society are explored based on
11360-465: The failure to catch the Yorkshire Ripper , a "squeaky clean" Manchester police detective, Assistant Chief Constable Peter Hunter ( Paddy Considine ), is assigned to travel to West Yorkshire to head the WYMP investigation, much to the chagrin of the former head, Bill Molloy ( Warren Clarke ). Hunter had previously worked on the Karachi Club massacre, a case he had to abandon due to his wife Joan's miscarriage . One member of Hunter's new, hand-picked team
11502-460: The genre was baptized with the term libri gialli or yellow books. The genre was outlawed by the Fascists during WWII , but exploded in popularity after the war, especially influenced by the American hard-boiled school of crime fiction. A group of mainstream Italian writers emerged, who used the detective format to create an antidetective or postmodern novel in which the detectives are imperfect,
11644-517: The genre. Many stories often begin when the crime has already occurred. Such fiction also tends to draw from the cultural aspects in which the work originated, whether from recent events or from a general consensus and viewpoints. The use of serial killers and unreliable narrators exists in a decent variety of crime fiction as well. The plot-puzzle formula, which was frequent in the Golden Age, makes use of potential hints and solutions to drive
11786-451: The ground. He then proceeded to stab her with a screwdriver twenty-one times in the chest and stomach and six times in the right leg before also thrusting the screwdriver into her vagina . Whitaker's skull was fractured from ear to ear. Despite forensic evidence , police efforts were diverted for several months following the receipt of a taped message purporting to be from the murderer, taunting Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield of
11928-539: The grounds of diminished responsibility . The basis of his defence was that he claimed to be the tool of God 's will. Sutcliffe said he had heard voices that ordered him to kill prostitutes while working as a gravedigger, which he claimed originated from the headstone of a Polish man, Bronisław Zapolski, and that the voices were that of God. Sutcliffe pleaded guilty to seven charges of attempted murder . The prosecution intended to accept his plea after four psychiatrists diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia , but
12070-493: The head with a ball-peen hammer , then jumped on her chest before stuffing horsehair into her mouth from a discarded sofa, under which he hid her body near Lumb Lane. Ten days later, on 31 January, Sutcliffe killed Elena "Helen" Rytka, an 18-year-old prostitute from Huddersfield , striking her on the head five times as she exited his vehicle at Garrards timber yard before stripping most of her clothes, although her bra and polo-neck jumper were positioned above her breasts. Rytka
12212-468: The head, knocking her out. Long was suffering from hypothermia when found and was hospitalized for nine weeks. A witness misidentified the make of Sutcliffe's car, resulting in more than 300 police officers checking thousands of cars without success. On 1 October 1977, Sutcliffe murdered 20-year-old Jean Bernadette Jordan, a prostitute and mother of two from Manchester known to friends as "Scottish Jean." Shortly after 9:00 p.m., Sutcliffe
12354-425: The history of crime fiction, some authors have been reluctant to publish their novels under their real names. More recently, some publish pseudonymously because of the belief that since the large booksellers are aware of their historical sales figures, and command a certain degree of influence over publishers, the only way to "break out" of their current advance numbers is to publish as someone with no track record. In
12496-447: The hoax letters and tape. He was remanded in custody and on 21 March 2006 was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison. Humble died on 30 July 2019, aged 63. At approximately 1:00 a.m. on 1 September, Sutcliffe murdered 20-year-old Barbara Janine Leach, a Bradford University social psychology student who had earlier left a pub. Leach was attacked with a hammer after walking past Sutcliffe. He dragged her to
12638-474: The huge popularity of this genre. A precursor was Paul Féval , whose series Les Habits Noirs (1862–67) features Scotland Yard detectives and criminal conspiracies. The best-selling crime novel of the 19th century was Fergus Hume 's The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), set in Melbourne, Australia. The evolution of the print mass media in the United Kingdom and the United States in the latter half of
12780-422: The investigation concluded: "The ineffectiveness of the major incident room was a serious handicap to the Ripper investigation. While it should have been the effective nerve centre of the whole police operation, the backlog of unprocessed information resulted in the failure to connect vital pieces of related information. This serious fault in the central index system allowed Peter Sutcliffe to continually slip through
12922-605: The journey she was attacked by Sutcliffe in Reginald Street at around 2:00 a.m. MacDonald's body was discovered the following morning at 9:45 a.m. by children in the playground between Reginald Terrace and Reginald Street in Chapeltown. A post mortem was carried out by the Home Office pathologist Professor David Gee. The extent of her injuries was not revealed at the time by police, although it
13064-453: The killing of Joan Harrison, which he vehemently denied having carried out. Harrison's murder had been linked to the Ripper killings by "Wearside Jack," but in 2011 DNA evidence revealed the crime had actually been committed by convicted sex offender Christopher Smith, who had died in 2008. Sutcliffe was charged on 5 January 1981. At his trial that May, he pleaded not guilty to thirteen charges of murder, but guilty to manslaughter on
13206-437: The larger bookshops and overseas booksellers. The British Library has also (since 2012) started republishing "lost" crime classics, with the collection referred to on their website as the "British Library Crime Classics series". Sometimes, older crime novels are revived by screenwriters and directors rather than publishing houses. In many such cases, publishers then follow suit and release a so-called "film tie-in" edition showing
13348-663: The late 1930s and 1940s, British County Court Judge Arthur Alexander Gordon Clark (1900–1958) published a number of detective novels under the alias Cyril Hare , in which he made use of his profoundly extensive knowledge of the English legal system. When he was still young and unknown, award-winning British novelist Julian Barnes (born 1946) published some crime novels under the alias Dan Kavanagh. Other authors take delight in cherishing their alter egos ; Ruth Rendell (1930–2015) wrote one sort of crime novels as Ruth Rendell and another type as Barbara Vine ; John Dickson Carr also used
13490-514: The monthly Strand in the United Kingdom. The series quickly attracted a wide and passionate following on both sides of the Atlantic, and when Doyle killed off Holmes in " The Final Problem ", the public outcry was so great, and the publishing offers for more stories so attractive, that he was reluctantly forced to resurrect him. In Italy, early translations of English and American stories and local works were published in cheap yellow covers, thus
13632-556: The murders and to their location, the historic county of Yorkshire being traditionally divided into three areas known as ridings . The events take place between 1974 and 1983 and are set against the background of the Yorkshire Ripper killings. Set in Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, and the rest of West Yorkshire , both books and films follow several recurring fictional characters through a bleak and violent world of police corruption and organised crime. The novels and television versions blend elements of fact, fiction, and conspiracy theory into
13774-518: The national database. The DNA matched that of John Samuel Humble, an unemployed alcoholic and longtime resident of the Ford Estate in Sunderland — a few miles from Castletown — whose DNA had been taken following a drunk and disorderly offence in 2001. On 20 October 2005, Humble was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice for sending
13916-484: The net." The choice by Chief Constable Ronald Gregory of Oldfield to lead the inquiry was criticised by Byford: "The temptation to appoint a 'senior man' on age or service grounds should be resisted. What is needed is an officer of sound professional competence who will inspire confidence and loyalty". Byford found Oldfield's focus on the hoax tape wanting, and that Oldfield had ignored advice from survivors of Sutcliffe's attacks, from several eminent specialists, from
14058-402: The next day, he calmly described his many attacks. Several weeks later he claimed God had told him to murder his victims. "The women I killed were filth," he told police. "Bastard prostitutes who were littering the streets. I was just cleaning up the place a bit." Sutcliffe displayed regret only when talking of his youngest murder victim, Jayne MacDonald, and showed emotion when questioned about
14200-732: The others took place in West Yorkshire . Criminal psychologist David Holmes characterised Sutcliffe as being an "extremely callous, sexually sadistic serial killer." Sutcliffe initially attacked women and girls in residential areas, but appears to have shifted his focus to red-light districts because he was attracted by the vulnerability of prostitutes and the perceived ambivalent attitude of police to prostitutes' safety. After his arrest in Sheffield by South Yorkshire Police for driving with false number plates in January 1981, he
14342-574: The plot over in-depth character development. Dorothy L. Sayers contributed the Wimsey novels. Her work focused on the spectacle of crime deduction. She also displayed an exaggerated form of aristocratic society, straying from a more realistic story. Other novelists tapped into this setting, such as Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh ; Allingham, Christie, Marsh and Sayers are known as the Queens of Crime . Other British authors are G. K. Chesterton with
14484-434: The police interviewed 5,000 men, including Sutcliffe. The police found that Sutcliffe's alibi , the family party, was credible. Weeks of intense investigations pertaining to the origins of the note led to nothing, leaving investigators frustrated that they collected an important clue but had been unable to trace the actual firm to which or whom the note had been issued. On 14 December, Sutcliffe attacked Marilyn Moore,
14626-446: The pseudonym Carter Dickson . Author Evan Hunter (which itself was a pseudonym) wrote his crime fiction under the name of Ed McBain. As crime fiction has expanded, there have been many common tropes that emerge from this category of fiction. Such occurrences can appear in a variety of subgenres and media. While the format may vary across different forms of crime fiction, there are many elements that are generally consistent throughout
14768-434: The reverend three times, killing him. He then opens the hidden entrance to the mine shaft just in time for Piggott to emerge from it with a still-living Hazel Atkins in his arms. B.J. flees southward by train, reflecting on his upbringing, his experiences, and his "escape" from the past of West Yorkshire. Thus three characters – Jobson, Piggott and B.J. – achieve some measure of redemption in the end. On 8 and 10 September 2008
14910-864: The rights to adapt the novels and films into a theatrical film. The studio was negotiating with Ridley Scott in October 2009 to direct. The trilogy was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States by IFC Films on 5 February 2010. The series has been aired by Danish public broadcaster DR1 on two occasions under the title Pigen med den røde hætte (The Girl with the Red Cap). It has also been aired by SVT in Sweden, by Rai 4 in Italy, by ARD in Germany, and by SBS in Australia. Crime fiction It
15052-493: The rules that the work provides. Melville Davisson Post ’s Rudolph Mason: The Strange Schemes (1896) and Harper Lee ’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) are notable examples. Additionally, stories like Double Indemnity (1934) are based on cases from reality. Only a select few authors have achieved the status of "classics" for their published works. A classic is any text that can be received and accepted universally, because they transcend context. A popular, well-known example
15194-498: The services of prostitutes but note that he nonetheless developed an obsession with them, including "watching them soliciting on the streets of Leeds and Bradford." On 14 February 1967, Sutcliffe met 16-year-old Sonia Szurma , the daughter of Ukrainian and Polish refugees from Czechoslovakia , at the Royal Standard pub on Manningham Lane in Bradford's red-light district ; they married on 10 August 1974. Sonia
15336-603: The theft of used tyres. He was unemployed until October 1976, when he found a job as an HGV driver for T. & W.H. Clark Holdings Ltd. on the Canal Road Industrial Estate in Bradford . Sutcliffe reportedly hired prostitutes as a young man, and it has been speculated that he had a bad experience during which he was conned out of money by a prostitute and her pimp . Other analyses of Sutcliffe's actions have not found evidence that he actually sought
15478-469: The trial judge, Justice Sir Leslie Boreham , demanded an unusually detailed explanation of the prosecution's reasoning. After a two-hour representation by the Attorney-General , Sir Michael Havers , a ninety-minute lunch break and another forty minutes of legal discussion, Justice Boreham rejected the diminished responsibility plea and the expert testimonies of the psychiatrists, insisting that
15620-592: The unwitting getaway driver in his first documented assault in 1969, reported him to the police as a suspect. In total, Sutcliffe had been questioned by the police on nine separate occasions in connection with the Ripper enquiry before his eventual arrest and conviction. On 2 January 1981, Sutcliffe was stopped by police with 24-year-old prostitute Olivia Reivers in the driveway of Light Trades House on Melbourne Avenue, Broomhill , Sheffield , South Yorkshire . A police check by Probationary Constable Robert Hydes revealed that Sutcliffe's car had false number plates; he
15762-776: The van of their family roofing business. Sutcliffe picked up Jackson, who was soliciting outside the Gaiety pub on Roundhay Road, then drove about half a mile to some derelict buildings on Enfield Terrace in the Manor Industrial Estate. Sutcliffe hit Jackson on the head with a hammer, dragged her body into a rubbish-strewn yard, then used a sharpened screwdriver to stab her in the neck, chest and abdomen. He stamped on her thigh, leaving behind an impression of his boot. Sutcliffe attacked 20-year-old Marcella Claxton in Roundhay Park on 9 May. Walking home from
15904-491: The whole scene while hiding behind the bar, and were spotted by Angus and Craven as they fled the premises. B.J. is, therefore, the only surviving witness to the Karachi Club massacre, which forces him to flee town. Hunter's dialogue with B.J. also implies that Craven was the murderer of Strachan as well as Douglas. Hunter returns to Millgarth Station, Leeds , to reveal this new information to Detective Chief Superintendent John Nolan ( Tony Pitts ). Nolan takes Hunter downstairs to
16046-624: The young man who found the swan-stitched victim in 1974 and who is now being framed for Atkins' disappearance. Cole is tortured and murdered by the police, his death disguised as a suicide. Using information given by Myshkin, Piggott finds a mine shaft hidden in a pigeon shed near Laws' home, where it is revealed that a paedophile and child-murdering ring was run in West Yorkshire by Reverend Laws, and that clients of this ring included significant figures of society, among them businessmen such as Dawson and policemen such as Piggott's own father. It
16188-460: Was Catholic while his father was a member of the choir at the local Anglican church of St Wilfred's; their children were raised in their mother's Catholic faith, and Sutcliffe briefly served as an altar boy. Sutcliffe's mother was the victim of domestic abuse by his father, making it likely she struggled through her pregnancy under great emotional stress . Sutcliffe was born premature , having to spend two weeks in hospital. Sutcliffe's father
16330-457: Was psychologically traumatised by the attack. She later said: "I've been afraid to go out much because I feel people are staring and pointing at me. The whole thing is making my life a misery. I sometimes wish I had died in the attack." On the night of 15 August, Sutcliffe attacked 46-year-old Olive Smelt in Halifax . Employing the same modus operandi , he briefly engaged Smelt with
16472-477: Was "bursting for a pee." Sutcliffe hid a second knife in the toilet cistern at Dewsbury police station when he was permitted to use the toilet. Police obtained a search warrant for his home in Heaton and brought his wife in for questioning. When Sutcliffe was stripped at Dewsbury police station, he was found to be wearing an inverted V-necked jumper under his trousers. The sleeves had been pulled over his legs, and
16614-416: Was "no angel" and that he had "a private weakness", implying that he is somehow connected to the murdered and missing girls. Dunford shoots Dawson dead and flees in his car, but reverses course when he finds himself chased by police cars. Dunford deliberately drives toward the pursuing police cars. A vision of Paula appears to him before his death in the ensuing collision. In 1980, following public outcry over
16756-407: Was a heavy drinker who once smashed a beer glass over Sutcliffe's head for sitting in his chair at Christmas dinner. He also hated Sutcliffe's mother: "She was a bitch and the least said about her, the better." Sutcliffe's father would frequently dismiss his slightly built son as "a wimp, always hanging from his mother's apron, a mummy's boy." Sutcliffe's mother often lavished attention on her son and
16898-466: Was also used. Other locations included Seacroft Hospital and Brudenell Social Club in Leeds , West Yorkshire. The Brudenell was also used as The Karachi Club in the trilogy. HM Prison Leeds , Cookridge Hospital , and The Yorkshire Post's Wellington Street building which was demolished in 2014, in Leeds were also used. Filming also took place at Arden Road Social Club in Halifax, West Yorkshire ,
17040-456: Was arrested and transferred to Dewsbury police station in West Yorkshire. There, Sutcliffe was questioned in relation to the Ripper case as he matched many of the known physical characteristics. The next day, Sergeant Robert Ring decided on a "hunch" to return to the scene of Sutcliffe's arrest, where he discovered a knife, hammer and rope that Sutcliffe had discarded behind an oil storage tank when he briefly slipped away after telling police he
17182-453: Was arrested. Whilst awaiting trial for this, due in mid-January 1981, he killed 47-year-old civil servant Marguerite Walls on the night of 20 August. Walls left her office between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. to walk to her home in Farsley . Sutcliffe incapacitated her with a hammer blow to the back of her head as he continued to strike her while yelling "filthy prostitute" beside
17324-631: Was attacked as she hurried down a dark street to catch the bus home. She suffered from significant wounds when she awoke in the hospital, including a puncture hole to the back of her skull, a fractured skull, a fractured cheekbone, a broken jaw and numerous scratches and bruises. Theresa Sykes, aged 16, was attacked in Huddersfield on the night of 5 November. Sykes was going to a shop in Oakes when Sutcliffe hit her from behind. Her boyfriend heard her screams and ran out, scaring off Sutcliffe. Sykes
17466-524: Was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980. He was dubbed in press reports as the Yorkshire Ripper , an allusion to the Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper . Sutcliffe was sentenced to twenty concurrent sentences of life imprisonment , which were converted to a whole life order in 2010. Two of his murders took place in Manchester ; all
17608-497: Was cruising the area of Moss Side when he picked up Jordan. After they arrived in Princess Road near Southern Cemetery , he hit her once in the head before proceeding to hit her ten more times. In a later confession, Sutcliffe admitted he had realised the new five-pound note he had given to Jordan was traceable. After hosting a family party at his home, he returned to the wasteland behind Southern Cemetery, where he had left
17750-410: Was featured in several novels written by Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee , serving as both a character and pen name. In such novels, clues may be analyzed by the protagonist in tandem with the viewer, generating the possibility of understanding the narrative before it is revealed in the book. Past the Golden Age, events such as the Great Depression and the transition between World Wars ushered in
17892-559: Was going out to buy cigarettes. Sutcliffe picked up Millward and drove her to the parking compound of the Manchester Royal Infirmary in Chorlton-on-Medlock . After she got out of his car, Sutcliffe attacked Millward with a hammer. She was also slashed across the stomach and stabbed repeatedly with a screwdriver through the same wound in her back. After she died, Sutcliffe dragged Millward's body against
18034-457: Was interviewed on this issue. Police discontinued the search for the person who received the five-pound note in January 1978. Although Sutcliffe was interviewed about the matter, he was not investigated further and was contacted and disregarded by the Ripper investigation on several further occasions. That month, Sutcliffe killed Yvonne Ann Pearson, a 21-year-old prostitute from Bradford, on 21 January 1978. He repeatedly bludgeoned her about
18176-505: Was not a prostitute alarmed the public and prompted an expensive publicity campaign emphasising the Wearside connection. Despite the false lead, Sutcliffe was interviewed on at least two other occasions in 1979. Despite matching several forensic clues and being on the list of 300 names in connection with the five-pound note, he was not strongly suspected. On 26 June, Sutcliffe was stopped while driving, tested positive for drink driving and
18318-478: Was not convicted of the attack but confessed in 1992. Browne later said that she had been charmed by Sutcliffe at first: "We had walked together for almost a mile – for about 30 minutes and I never once felt intimidated or in danger." The first victim to be killed by Sutcliffe was 28-year-old Wilma Mary McCann, a mother of four from Scott Hall , on 30 October. McCann was last seen alive at 7:30 p.m. when she left her council house on Scott Hall Avenue, in
18460-493: Was one of the largest and most expensive manhunts in British history. West Yorkshire Police faced heavy and sustained criticism for their failure to catch Sutcliffe despite having interviewed him nine times in the course of their five-year investigation. Owing to the sensational nature of the case, investigators handled an exceptional amount of information, some of it misleading including hoax correspondence purporting to be from
18602-417: Was out of sight. When he returned, Sutcliffe was out of breath, as if he had been running; he told Birdsall to drive off quickly. Sutcliffe said he had followed a prostitute into a garage and hit her over the head with a stone in a sock. Police visited Sutcliffe's home the next day, as the woman he had attacked had noted Birdsall's vehicle registration plate . Sutcliffe admitted he had hit her, but claimed it
18744-419: Was published in 1860, while The Moonstone (1868) is often thought to be his masterpiece. French author Émile Gaboriau 's Monsieur Lecoq (1868) laid the groundwork for the methodical, scientifically minded detective. The evolution of locked-room mysteries was one of the landmarks in the history of crime fiction. The Sherlock Holmes mysteries of Doyle's are said to have been singularly responsible for
18886-522: Was recovering from brain surgery when Sutcliffe was arrested. Jacqueline Hill, a 20-year-old student at Leeds University, was murdered on the night of 17 November. Hill was returning home to her students' hall of residence in Headingley when Sutcliffe delivered a blow to her head before removing her clothes and stabbing her repeatedly in the chest and once in the eye with a screwdriver. On 25 November, Trevor Birdsall, Sutcliffe's friend and
19028-476: Was stored on handwritten index cards . Aside from difficulties in storing and accessing the paperwork, it was difficult for investigators to overcome the information overload of such a large manual system. Sutcliffe was interviewed nine times, but all information police had about the case was stored in paper form, making cross-referencing difficult, compounded by television appeals for information, which generated thousands more documents. The 1982 Byford Report into
19170-425: Was studying to become a teacher when she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia . Her relationship with Sutcliffe was later characterised by the writer Gordon Burn as domineering, with Sonia willing to slap down her husband "like a naughty schoolboy," while Sutcliffe even had to occasionally "contain her physically by pinning her arms to her side" during her common "unprovoked outbursts of rage." Barbara Jones,
19312-400: Was subsequently revealed she had been hit on the head three times with a hammer and had been stabbed in the chest and back; a broken bottle was found embedded in her chest. The following month, on 10 July 1977, Sutcliffe assaulted 43-year-old Maureen Long in Bradford. Long was leaving a nightclub when Sutcliffe offered her a lift home. Long stopped to urinate and Sutcliffe struck her on
19454-417: Was then sexually assaulted as she lay on the ground. Rytka was the sole victim that Sutcliffe had intercourse with. After Rytka staggered to her feet, Sutcliffe again struck her on the back of the head with his hammer a number of times before retrieving a knife from his car and stabbing her several times through the heart and lungs. Rytka's body was found three days later behind a stack of timber, placed under
19596-491: Was to become seen by Sutcliffe as "perfect." Sutcliffe's father habitually whipped his children with a belt as a form of punishment. Sutcliffe's siblings later described their father as "a monster" and, according to Sutcliffe's younger brother, "The atmosphere in our house would change as soon as he [John] walked in. His life revolved around playing football, cricket, singing in a choir—and womanising." In 1970, Sutcliffe's father posed as his wife's lover in order to lure her to
19738-493: Was transferred that month to HM Prison Frankland . Sutcliffe died in hospital from diabetes -related complications while in prison custody in 2020. Peter William Sutcliffe was born on Sunday, 2 June 1946 to a working-class family in Bingley , West Riding of Yorkshire . His parents were John William Sutcliffe (1922–2004) and his Irish wife, Kathleen Frances Coonan (1919–1978), a native of Connemara . Sutcliffe's mother
19880-471: Was transferred to the custody of West Yorkshire Police , who questioned him about the killings. Sutcliffe confessed to being the perpetrator, saying that the voice of God had sent him on a mission to kill prostitutes. At his trial he pleaded not guilty to murder on grounds of diminished responsibility , but was convicted of murder on a majority verdict. Following his conviction, Sutcliffe began using his mother's maiden name of Coonan. The search for Sutcliffe
20022-485: Was walking home from meeting friends when Sutcliffe followed her into an alley in Headingley . He struck her on the head, rendering her unconscious, then, when he was startled, dragged her along the street with a rope around her neck and fled. Maureen Lea, a 21-year-old art student at Leeds University , was attacked by Sutcliffe on 25 October. Lea had finished visiting a pub with friends in Chapeltown when she
20164-513: Was with his hand. Officers told Sutcliffe he was "very lucky," as the woman did not want to press charges. Sutcliffe committed his second assault in Keighley on the night of 5 July 1975. He attacked 36-year-old Anna Rogulskyj, who was walking alone, striking her unconscious with a hammer and slashing her stomach with a knife. Disturbed by a neighbour, Sutcliffe left the scene without killing her. Rogulskyj survived after brain surgery but
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