Calls for permanent memorial to victims of Peter Sutcliffe in Leeds

The call was made after a commemorative plaque was installed at the site where Sutcliffe's final known victim was found to mark the 40th anniversary of her death.

Student Jacqueline Hill was killed on November 17, 1980, after Sutcliffe followed her when she got off the bus in Headingley.

Her body was found by the Arndale Centre the following day.

Sutcliffe, who was serving a life term for murdering 13 women across Yorkshire and the North West between 1975 and 1980, died last week.

He killed six women and Leeds and attacked at least four others.

Emma Dolan created a handpainted canvas plaque in memory of Jacqueline.

She said she had been researching the Managed Approach zone in Holbeck when she came across a man using Sutcliffe's notorious nickname on a sex worker review site.

Emma said: “This sparked absolute outrage in me. The disrespect for the murdered women, mirrored by the disrespect for the women now.

“I thought, 'how has it come to this, 40 years later, and women in Leeds are still worth so little?'

“I intended to make a plaque for all the women, but Jackie had the biggest effect on me.

“I was 14 at the time of her murder and my best friend and I would spend hours, hanging out, walking round the streets in Headingley, and why shouldn't we?

“I've thought about her for 40 years, every time I've passed the place.

"Finding out that her favourite song was Bridge Over Troubled Water, and her fiancé called her Silver Girl, was heartbreaking."

“I wanted to make a plaque for Jackie using only words from her family and friends, people to whom she wasn't another name attached to that grim grid of photographs constantly used beside his face, words about her as a person, not about him."

The plaque reads: "Sister, daughter, housemate, friend, fiance, gentle and caring person, lovely kind girl, endearingly silly sense of humour, funny, clever, English student, Sunday School teacher, probation service volunteer, brought only goodness to the world, she was everything people wanted their daughter to be. Silver Girl."

Emma is now making plaques for all Sutcliffe's victims, but knows the canvases will not last long.

She and other women are looking into how a more permanent memorial could be created, including a crowdfunding appeal.

She said: "Personally, I would like to see a memorial in a public space, for example Victoria Gardens or Millennium Square.

"Not necessarily a plaque, but a lovely landscaped seating area perhaps, for quiet reflection and, post-Covid, a focus for dates such as this Tuesday.

"I understand there is a new city park being planned near the Tetley in town, that would be perfect."

Claire Jones, who also marked the anniversary of Jacqueline's death on Tuesday, said: “Members of the public approached us and talked about their memories of that dreadful time.

"We received so many lovely comments.

"Every local person that lived through it has a story.

"We believe the council should create a permanent memorial for all the women that were victims and survivors of the terrorism perpetrated by Peter Sutcliffe.

"It should happen whilst the friends and family, and the women that lived through it, are still alive and provide a place for reflection and remembrance - a way for our community to heal.”

Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday on behalf of Jacqueline's family, her sister Vivienne described her sister as a "gentle and caring" person.

She said: "Not a day goes by that we don't think of her.

"The impact her loss had, and still has, on our family, friends and anyone who knew her is immeasurable.

"As she would now be 60 had she survived, we have always wondered what her promising future would have been like."