Most people the Peter Sutcliffe (who later changed his name to Peter Coonan), for committing a series of gruesome murders in the 1970s.
If you believe that this is the whole story, then perhaps you haven’t met women."
The 1981 Byford report, which was the product of an inquiry into the Ripper police investigation, described the “standard Ripper trademark”, where Sutcliffe would hit his victims in the head with a hammer, stab them, and then leave part of the victim’s body naked and on display in a public space.
The killings were a brutal display of a hatred of women which left a deep impression on the nation. After five long years at large, at his trial Sutcliffe received 20 life sentences for killing 13 women and attempting to kill seven more.
Initially his actions were thought to be limited to women who were, according to the Byford report, “prostitutes or women of loose morals”. Later, the police reluctantly abandoned this belief when women whom they believed to be “innocent” were also murdered.
The press coverage, and the language used in the police reports around this time, showcase deeply troubling ideas regarding the kinds of lives that society values protecting.
The folklore goes that while the Yorkshire Ripper was terrorising the neighbourhood, women were terrified of going out. Meanwhile, the police were bravely on their manhunt. But, if you believe that this is the whole story, then perhaps you haven’t met women.
