Ripper reminders: Red-light link revives gruesome memories

More reports and background on Stephen Griffiths

Peter Sutcliffe killed 13 women between 1975 and 1980 and attacked at least seven more who survived despite being left for dead – a spree of murderous violence that shocked the nation and left many women in West Yorkshire afraid to go out at night.

The police investigation that led to Stephen Griffiths being charged with murdering three prostitutes revived grim memories, not least because his victims disappeared from the red light district – the same streets once stalked by the Yorkshire Ripper.

In another twist, Griffiths, a part-time PhD student researching 19th century homicides, was represented by Lumb and MacGill solicitors – the same Bradford firm used by Peter Sutcliffe during his case.

At his first court appearance in Bradford when the clerk asked Griffiths his name he replied "The Crossbow Cannibal."

Three decades ago in Dewsbury Magistrates' Court, just a few miles away, Peter Sutcliffe stood in the dock and clearly confirmed his name with a lynch mob outside.

Sutcliffe was born in Bingley in 1946, and was living in Bradford, working as a lorry driver, when his first documented assault on a woman took place in July 1975.

He attacked Anna Rogulskj in Keighley, and then a month later attacked Olive Smelt in Halifax, followed by Tracy Browne in Silsden. All three were hit with a hammer from behind and then slashed with a knife.

He killed for the first time on October 30 that year. Wilma McCann, 28, was a prostitute in Chapeltown, Leeds. Her body was found on playing fields near her home. The next murder came in January 1976, when he killed part-time prostitute Emily Jackson, again in Leeds, and attacked a woman in Roundhay Park.

Three women were to die in 1977 – Irene Richardson in Leeds, Patricia Atkinson in Bradford and Jean Jordan in Manchester, all of whom were working in the sex trade. Two other women were also attacked and left for dead.

The next killing was in January 1978– Yvonne Pearson, in Bradford – and then just weeks later, Helen Rytka in Huddersfield, followed in May by Vera Millward, in Manchester.

Almost a year passed until Sutcliffe's next murder. On April 4 1979, he killed 19-year-old bank clerk Josephine Whitaker in Halifax. She was the first victim who was not involved in prostitution. Her death deepened the alarm among women, which was further intensified in September that year when Bradford University student Barbara Leach was killed.

Sutcliffe's spree ended in January 1981. That May, he was convicted of 13 murders and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years.