The murder of 13 women in the North of England between 1975 and 1980 by Peter Sutcliffe, who became known as the âYorkshire Ripper â, can be viewed as a significant criminal event in terms of the level of fear generated and the impact on local communities. The case represents an âiconic criminal eventâ or set of events, assuming the notoriety of other high profile cases involving serial murder and becoming the stuff of numerous popular criminological texts (Rafter 2007). Writing about the growing popularity of historical analyses of crime and high profile criminal events specifically, Gilman Srebnick and Levy (2005) have noted how, alongside exploring âcultural meaningâ, focusing on crime in this way also offers âa window into issues and themes in the history of society, culture and politicsâ (p. 3). Likewise, Brown (2003) refers to the utility of crime as a means of reading culture and history .
In essence, these observations on what the academic can extract from particular crime happenings is reflected in the discussions which make up this book where the purpose of the project is to interrogate the murders and use them as a reference point from which to explore a range of related criminological concerns. The following discussions draw upon research findings from oral history interviews alongside analysis of popular criminological texts and academic commentary. The use of the âYorkshire Ripper â as a case study may appear somewhat narrow in terms of its criminological potential beyond an analysis of explaining motivation for the violence and the mythologizing and cultural production surrounding the case. However, a closer examination of the case reveals a wider range of interconnected criminological possibilities relating to crime, history and place, violence against women, feminist history , struggles over the representation of prostitution/sex work , as well as a closer meditation on the figure of the victim as represented across a range of texts. Indeed, the nature of this case has much to tell us about feminism, fear of crime, violence against women and serial murder , representations of victims and sex workers, and the relationship between violence, culture and the social imaginary. In addition, I argue that excavating our ârecent criminal history â, looking to âdiffering spheres of representation â (Brown 2003) and reading across texts presents new ways for understanding crime, violence, gender violence and victimization, which remain relevant within the contemporary context. I present further detail on these themes in the latter part of this introductory chapter. Prior to this, the chapter will provide a summary of the case and discuss themes relating to methodology.
Background to the Sutcliffe Case
There are a number of thorough overviews of the Sutcliffe case from academic and popular criminology , which provide detailed chronologies of the murders and attacks on women, and the various stages of the infamously flawed police investigation (Yallop 1993; Bilton 2006; Burn 2004; Wilson 2007; Kinnell 2008; Smith 2013; Bland 1992). In addition, David Yallopâs (1993) true crime polemic offers sympathetic and in-depth accounts of victimsâ lives. I have drawn on the aforementioned summaries to provide the following chronology of the murders and attacks for those not familiar with the case:
In August 1975, 14 year-old school girl Tracey Browne was attacked with a hammer by Sutcliffe on a country lane on the outskirts of Halifax, but was excluded from the police investigation to follow because she did not fit the police profile of victims which assumed attacks were linked to prostitution and developed to include women whose behaviour marked them as non-respectable or âgood-time girlsâ. Upon arrest however, Sutcliffe admitted to the attack. Moreover, Browne provided an accurate description of Sutcliffe, which may have helped apprehend Sutcliffe earlier on in the investigation. Joan Smith (2013) identifies this as a key failing of the investigation.
In July 1975, Anna Rokuljski was attacked in Keighley, but survived; Olive Smelt was then attacked in Halifax in August 1975. In October 1975, Wilma McCann, a Scottish mother of four who lived in the Chapeltown area of Leeds was murdered by Peter Sutcliffe after being picked up in Chapeltown. In January 1976, Emily Jackson a suburban mother of four from a South Leeds village suburb, who began selling sex to manage financial problems, was murdered. Marcella Claxton survived an attack in May 1976. All three women were attacked in Chapeltown, the red-light area of Leeds. Following the discovery of Irene Richardsonâs body in Roundhay Park in Leedsâagain not far from the red-light area, the idea that the police were dealing with a serial killer targeting women connected to prostitution became explicit and henceforth, came to define the investigation. The murder of Patricia (Tina) Atkinson at the hands of Peter Sutcliffe, in her flat not far from Manningham Lane (Bradfordâs red-light area) in April 1977 likely lent further support to this view of the killer.
It was around this time that the âRipperâ moniker was applied to the case by police and media . Taking their cue from a number of newspaper reports, police began to draw parallels with the Nineteenth Century White Chapel murders involving five women linked to prostitution by the still unknown killer who signed himself off as âJackâ in anonymous letters sent to the Central News Agency. The comparisons made between the two cases further established the mythology of âprostitute-killerâ in the context of the Yorkshire murders.
Sixteen year-old shop assistant Jayne MacDonald was attacked and murdered by Peter Sutcliffe walking home from a night out in Leeds city centre to her home in Chapeltown in June 1977. Jayne worked as a shop assistant for a local supermarket chain in Chapeltown and was a well-known face in the area. As the first murder victim not linked to prostitution, her death provoked considerably more police, press and public concern and outrage than the preceding murders. Moreover, Kinnell (2008) notes that the outrage was likely intensified because of Jayne Macdonaldâs youth and physical attractiveness, which frequently shapes representation and responses to victims (Greer 2007).
Two more women would be attacked and survive in 1977âMaureen Long, who was a well-known face around the pubs in the Manningham Lane area of Bradford, and Marilyn Moore in Chapeltown. Scottish mother of three Jean Jordan was murdered in Manchester in October 1977. In a statement following his arrest, Sutcliffe admitted that the murder of Jean Jordan in Manchester was in response to heightened surveillance in Leeds and Bradford from the summer of 1977 onwards. Following her attack, Marilyn Moore provided an accurate photo fit description of Sutcliffe, which prompted Tracey Browne to return to the police and insist this was the same man who had attacked her, but again the police dismissed her as she did not fit their assumed victim profile (Kinnell 2008).
Yvonne Pearson was a well-liked and well-known face in the red-light area of Bradford. She was experienced and well aware of the risks involved working on the streets, having had a friend murdered in London. Yvonne went missing in January 1978. Friends became concerned when she failed to pick up her childrenâsomething they claimed she would never do, but when her disappearance was reported to the police, they dismissed it, labeling her as a feckless mother and assuming that Yvonne had left the area to avoid a court appearance for soliciting (Kinnell 2008). Her body was found stuffed under a disused sofa on wasteland in Bradford two months after she had disappeared. In January 1978, Sutcliffe murdered nineteen year-old Helen Rytka, who had only been involved in street soliciting for ...