Peter Sutcliffe | Victims | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

Peter William SUTCLIFFE

Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering the following 13 victims:

1. Wilma McCann ( Age 28 ) : Killed on 30 October 1975. Body found at Prince
Phillip Playing Fields, Leeds

2. Emily Jackson ( Age : 42 ) : Killed On 20 January 1976. Body found at Manor
Street, Leeds

3. Irene Richardson ( Age : 28 ) : Killed On 5 February 1977. Body found at
Roundhay Park, Leeds.

4. Patricia Atkinson ( Age : 32 ) : Killed On 23 April 1977. Body found at Flat
3, 9 Oak Avenue, Bradford.

5. Jayne MacDonald ( Age : 16 ) : Killed On 26 June 1977. Body found at
Adventure playground, Reginald Street, Leeds.

6. Jean Jordan ( Age : 20 ) : Killed on 1 October 1977. Body found at Allotments
next to Southern Cemetery, Manchester.

7. Yvonne Pearson ( Age : 21 ) : Killed On 21 January 1978. Body found at Under
a disused sofa on waste ground off Arthington Street, Bradford.

8. Helen Rytka ( Age : 18 ) : Killed On 18 January 1978. Body found at Timber
yard in Great Northern Street, Huddersfield.

9. Vera Millward ( Age : 40 ) : Killed on 16 May 1978. Body found at Grounds of
Manchester Royal Infirmary.

10. Josephine Whitaker ( Age : 19 ) : killed on 4 April 1979. Body found at
Savile Park, Halifax.

11. Barbara Leach ( Age : 20 ) : Killed on 20 September 1979. Body found at Back
of 13 Ashgrove, Bradford.

12. Marguerite Walls ( Age : 47 ) : Killed on 20 August 1980. Body found at
Garden of a house called "Claremont", New Street, Farsley, Leeds.

13. Jacqueline Hill ( Age : 20 ) : Killed On 17 November 1980. Body found at
Waste ground off Alma Road, Headingley, Leeds.

Victims who survived

Name: Anna Rogulskyj
Age: 36 years-old
Date: July 05, 1975
Crime: Attempted murder

Walking home through Keighley in the early hours of Saturday 5 July 1975, Irish-born Anna
Rogulskyj was attacked from behind. Hit three times on the head with a hammer and left
for dead, she was found scarcely breathing about an hour later.

She was rushed to hospital, where it was discovered that she had also been slashed across
the stomach. This bizarre attack left police baffled, as there had been no sexual motive
for the assault and the victim's handbag was still intact.

A 12-hour operation saved Anna's life. She had survived the Ripper's first attack.

Name: Olive Smelt
Age: 46 years-old
Date: August 15, 1975
Crime: Attempted murder

Housewife and mother of two kids. Her attacker walked up behind her and overtook her.
The last thing Mrs. Smelt could remember was the attacker saying, "Weather’s letting us
down isn’t it?" before he dealt her a heavy blow to the back of her head. He hit her again
as she fell to the ground then slashed at her back with his knife just above her buttocks.
The attacker was again prevented from completing his task. A car was quickly
approaching, so he left the scene.

Again, the ripper had left another woman’s life in pieces. Mrs. Smelt would continue to suffer
from severe depression and memory loss. For months, she would wish that she were dead as
the repercussions of the attack took hold of her life. She was continually depressed and took
no interest in her life. She lived in fear, especially of men, and would sometimes look at her
husband and wonder, hadn’t he been a police suspect? Their relationship was permanently
altered and she rarely felt like having sex.

Name: Tracy Browne
Age: 14 years-old
Date: August 27, 1975
Crime: Attempted murder

Tracy Browne, a schoolgirl survived five blows from the Rippers hammer only after
neurosurgeons operated on her for four hours to remove a sliver of bone from her brain.

'Tracey had suffered extreme agoraphobia as a result of the attack. Because Sutcliff had
refused to confess to it she was terrified her attacker was still out there,'

Sutcliffe was not convicted of this attack, but later confessed to it.

Name: Marcella Claxton
Age: 20 years-old
Date: May 09, 1976
Crime: Attempted murder

He attacked Marcella Claxton a 20 year-old prostitute, in Roundhay Park in Leeds on May 9.
He struck her with a hammer. The gaping wound in the back of her head needed 52 stitches
and a seven-day stay in the hospital. She told police that she was attacked by a
dark-bearded man and that he ran off when she screamed.

Name: Maureen Long
Age: 42
Date: July 10, 1977
Crime: Attempted murder

Police received a report of a white Ford Cortina speeding away from the scene of the attack
that Maureen Long survived in July 1977.

This was a false lead: the Ripper actually drove a white Ford Corsair. Nevertheless, the fact
that his car had been seen frightened Sutcliffe, and he swapped it for a red Corsair.

Name: Marilyn Moore
Age: 25
Date: December 14, 1977
Crime: Attempted murder

On 14 December when Marilyn Moore left a friend’s home in Gathorne Terrace, near the Gaiety
pub at 8.00pm. As she walked along Gipton Avenue towards her home, she noticed a dark
coloured car drive slowly toward her. Sure that the driver was a potential client, she began to
walk to Leopold Street where she assumed his car would next appear. Her assumption proved
correct when she found his car parked near a junction known as Frankland Place. The driver was
leaning against the driver’s door. He was about thirty, stocky build, around 5’6" tall with dark,
wavy hair and a beard. He was wearing a yellow shirt, a navy blue/black zip-up anorak and
blue jeans, and appeared to be waving to someone in a nearby house.

He asked her if she was "doing business" and they set a price before she got into the car
with him. As he drove her to a vacant lot in Scott Hall Street, about a mile and a half away,
he told her that his name was Dave and that the person he had been waving to was his
girlfriend. When they arrived at their destination, "Dave" suggested that they have sex in
the back seat, but when Marilyn got out of the car she found that the back door was locked.
As "Dave" came behind her to open the door, Marilyn felt a searing, sickening blow on the
top of her head. She screamed loudly and attempted to protect her head with her hands.
As she fell to the ground, frantically grabbing her attacker’s trousers as she fell, she
felt further blows before losing consciousness.

A dog barked at the sound of Marilyn’s screams and "Dave" left before he could finish "the job."
Marilyn remembered hearing him walk back to his car and slam the door, and then she heard
the back wheels skid as he hurriedly drove away. Slowly, Marilyn managed to get herself to her
feet and stumbled towards a telephone. Before she could, a man and woman, noticing
the blood running from her head, stopped to help and called an ambulance.

She was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary for an emergency operation. She would stay there
until just before New Year's Eve, but it would be a long time before she could face returning
to Leeds. Back in Leeds again where she returned to work as a prostitute,
she continued to suffer from depression.

Name: Dr. Upadhya Bandara
Age: 34
Date: September 24, 1980
Crime: Attempted murder

It was 24 September when Dr Bandara made the long walk home after visiting friends in Headingley.
As she walked past the "Kentucky Fried Chicken" shop, she noticed a man inside. He was staring
at her. She walked on past North Lane, and then turned right into St Michael's Lane. As she turned
into Chapel Lane, an alley that cut through to Cardigan Road, she was hurled to the ground.

Peter Sutcliffe slammed his hammer into her head rending her unconscious. He held her around
the neck with a ligature to prevent her escape. Upadhya Bandara lay bleeding on the ground as
Peter picked up her shoes and handbag and took them several yards away. Before he could
resume his attack, he heard footsteps and fled.

Name: Theresa Sykes
Age: 16 years-old
Date: November 5, 1980
Crime: Attempted murder

The Theresa Sykes assault was not in the Ripper frame at the time of Sutcliffe's arrest.
However after his arrest and admission to this assault the police charged him with
it in their efforts to throw all they could at him and to close the case.

Theresa was attacked by him in Huddersfield as she walked home. She screamed for
help and Sutcliffe ran away but she gave a good description of him to police.

Peter Sutcliffe biography