Families of Ripper victims tell of their relief at court ruling

THE decision that serial killer Peter Sutcliffe must spend the rest of his life behind bars has been welcomed by families of his victims.

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Several spoke of their immense relief after learning yesterday that the notorious murderer will never be freed.

Mr Justice Mitting said in his ruling at the High Court in London that he had read statements from relatives of six of the women murdered by Sutcliffe.

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He said: "They are each moving accounts of the great loss and

widespread and permanent harm to the living caused by six of his crimes. I have no doubt they are representative of the unspoken accounts of others who have not made statements.

"None of them suggest any term other than a whole life term would be regarded by them as appropriate."

Those came from the family of Wilma McCann, murdered in Leeds in October 1975, Irene Richardson, also murdered in Leeds two years later, Patricia Atkinson, who was killed in Bradford in 1977, Josephine Whitaker, murdered in Halifax, in April 1979, Barbara Leach, killed in September the same year in Bradford, and law student, Jacqueline Hill, his last victim, killed in Leeds in November 1980.

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The judge said in reaching his decision to order a "whole life tariff" he had taken into account Sutcliffe's conviction for the murder of 13 women and his attempt to murder eight more.

These included Caroline Tracey Browne, a 14-year-old attacked in Silsden for which Sutcliffe had not been convicted but "has unequivocally admitted".

"The brutality and gravity of the offences speak for themselves," the judge said.

He had also taken account of aggravating features such as pre-planning, Sutcliffe having armed himself before setting out to kill lone women.

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Sutcliffe's representatives had argued his degree of culpability was lowered by mental disorder or mental disability and included a lengthy report from Dr Kevin Murray, the consultant psychiatrist responsible for him at Broadmoor, which detailed his "successful" progress in custody on anti-psychotic medicine.

According to that report, Sutcliffe had been well-behaved and posed no threat to other inmates.

A First-Tier Mental Health Tribunal found only last week that his treatment had produced "complete remission of his positive symptoms" concluding prison would be harmful to his health and suggesting he be tested in conditions of "lesser security".

That transfer would lie within the remit of the Ministry of Justice which given yesterday's ruling now seems unlikely.

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The judge said Jehovah's Witnesses who had befriended Sutcliffe for more than 15 years were emphatic that he "now shows remorse for his crimes".

But Wilma McCann's son, Richard, spoke after the ruling and said the killer had shown no such sign of remorse.

"Four or five years ago I wrote to him to give him the opportunity of showing it to me, he did not take me up on it."

He said he felt relief at the whole life ruling but still feared it would not be the end of the matter. He added: "I was surprised how emotional I felt at the judgment, I didn't think I would, but it is quite a significant day in the lives of many people in the north of England, but mainly for us, the families."

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Neil Jackson's mother, Emily, was Sutcliffe's second murder victim, her mutilated body found in 1976. After the ruling, he said: "Until he dies, being locked up is the best place for him."

Harry Smelt, 85, the husband of Olive who needed brain surgery after surviving an attack in Halifax in 1975, said she now rarely thinks about him.

His disabled wife had "shrugged her shoulders" when she heard the news "but we do feel it is a relief for everybody".

Retired detective John Stainthorpe, who worked on the Ripper investigation, said Sutcliffe was a "thoroughly evil man", and added: "A man who is capable of that kind of thing should never be released."

Target of attacks by other inmates

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Peter Sutcliffe has been the target of several assaults in custody.

He was blinded in one eye and the other damaged when he was stabbed with a pen, having on an earlier occasion been slashed with a broken coffee jar.

Formerly slim and strong, he is now described at 64 as obese with his once neatly-clipped black beard replaced by grey straggly whiskers.

In spite of his crimes, since his divorce from wife Sonia, he has received hundreds of letters from women purporting to admire him.