| The Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe
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20/01/05 - Home Office defends
Yorkshire Ripper's day visit
Adam Jay and agencies
The Guardian
The Home Office today defended its decision to allow the
Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, out of Broadmoor to
visit the site where his father's ashes were scattered.
Sutcliffe, who received 20 life sentences in 1981 for
the murder of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven
others, left the secure mental hospital to be taken to
Arnside, Cumbria on Monday.
The 58-year old had been refused compassionate leave
to attend his father's funeral last June, but was reportedly
allowed the day visit to allow him "closure"
in the grieving process.
"He had been told shortly after the ashes had
been scattered that, when the time was right, he would
be allowed to visit the spot when the publicity had
died down," a Broadmoor source told the Sun newspaper.
The decision to allow Sutcliffe out was initially taken
by the former home secretary David Blunkett, and was
reaffirmed by his successor, Charles Clarke. A statement
from the Home Office said Mr Blunkett had "felt
it was the right and proper thing to do".
"A full and comprehensive risk assessment was
made by the authorities, and the individual was closely
supervised at all times. At no point was there any danger
to members of the public," the statement said.
Travelling in a high-security van, Sutcliffe was accompanied
by four nurses during the 540-mile round trip. A spokesman
for West London Mental Health NHS Trust, which has responsibility
for Broadmoor, said the medical staff accompanying him
would have been trained in control and restraint techniques.
Home Office guidance states that permission for visits
such as that made by Sutcliffe should be granted only
after a thorough assessment of any safety risks and
the strength of any compassionate grounds. The "understandable
potential distress" of victims or victims' families
is also taken into account.
However, the decision was criticised by the Leeds MP,
Fabian Hamilton, who said: "I'm pretty upset about
it. I opposed the possibility of his release for his
father's funeral. It seemed harsh at the time, but he
didn't give any quarter or any sympathy to any of the
victims, many of whom were from my constituency. I think
that, for the families that survive, this is quite a
blow."
The Labour MP conceded that the home secretary would
only have acted on extensive advice. "He would
have been recommended to do this by a mental health
review tribunal that will have examined the facts and
the possibility of Sutcliffe being a threat to the public,"
he said. "So it would have been done on very strong
recommendation from legally qualified people."
However, he added: "The fact is that Sutcliffe
has been let out, it has been kept a secret, and it
has now come out through the Sun newspaper. And my worry
is this will cause further grief, further anger and
upset for the families that still remember very clearly,
as if it were yesterday, what happened 25 years ago.
"I don't think we should have any sympathy at
all with this man ... the fact is, he is the most brutal
murderer of modern times."
The former West Yorkshire chief constable Keith Hellawell,
who investigated the full extent of Sutcliffe's crimes
following his conviction, said he was surprised that
the trip had taken place.
"I think it is a little bizarre and also inconsistent
because they have, all the time I was involved with
Sutcliffe, refused him any concessions," he told
BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "I don't think it
is wrong, personally, because we don't have capital
punishment in this country, we do keep people in prison
for a long period of time.
"I think it would be inhuman, personally, not
to allow them to do things when there have been serious
incidents within their family, such as deaths."
Mr Hellawell said he believed the main concern of the
victims' families had been to see Sutcliffe arrested
and justice done. "Some of them will feel very
bitter and very hurt. Others will, I think, take it
in their stride," he told Today.
He said he did not believe the trip signalled a more
relaxed approach to Sutcliffe's detention, adding: "In
relation to release, I don't think there is any chance
at all in the lifetime of Sutcliffe of him being let
out of prison. So I don't think this is the thin end
of the wedge."
However, the Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride said she
was "outraged" by the visit. The MP for Bromsgrove,
who went to school with one of Sutcliffe's victims,
called Mr Clarke's decision "grossly insensitive
to the many families in West Yorkshire who are still
grieving over the brutal deaths of their loved ones
at the hands of this animal".
"I was a schoolgirl living in West Yorkshire when
the Ripper was carrying out his murders. He killed a
girl who was in my class at school, very close to my
house," she said.
"I don't think it's possible that the home secretary
understands the fear in which women in West Yorkshire
lived for many years, that they would be the Ripper's
next victim. As far as I'm concerned, being incarcerated
for the rest of his life is far too good for him."
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