Woman who survived Ripper hammer attack dies at 82

Olive Smelt, then a 46-year-old office cleaner, was hit twice on the head with a hammer and slashed with a knife as she returned to her Halifax home after a night out.

She survived because Peter Sutcliffe was interrupted during the attack, which left her needing brain surgery.

Two months later, in October, Sutcliffe carried out his first murder, killing mother-of-four Wilma McCann, 28, in Leeds.

Mrs Smelt, who died on Wednesday, never fully recovered from the attack and relied on her family for support.

Her daughter Julie Lowry, of Boothtown, Halifax, said: “She never got over that night in 1975.

“She did well to survive and had to learn to accept what happened mentally. But physically her mobility was never the same.

“She has been through hell and suffered in pain in silence. She never complained.”

Mrs Smelt also leaves another daughter, Linda, and son Stephen, who also live in Halifax.

Sutcliffe, a lorry driver, was convicted of killing 13 women and seven attempted murders between 1975 and 1981.

Mrs Smelt was his second victim during his reign of terror. She had been drinking in the Royal Oak in Halifax and was targeted by Sutcliffe who was also in the pub.

Mrs Smelt told police that the man who attacked her had a Yorkshire accent.

When she heard a tape in 1979 she was sure the man behind the recorded voice, who had a North East accent, was not the man who attacked her. The tape was later revealed to have been a hoax.

In 1979 bank worker Josephine Whitaker, 19, was murdered by the Ripper in Savile Park, Halifax.

Sutcliffe, now known as Peter Coonan, has since lost appeals against his whole-life term.