??/??/?? - TIMETABLE OF TERROR
Real-Life Crimes

1969
Sutcliffe stalked a prostitute in Leeds, and coshed her with a sock full of shingle. The same year he had also gone out armed with a hammer, intending to kill, and had been arrested - but was only fined £25 for being "equipped for burglary".

5 July 1975 Anna Rogulskyj, aged 34, was attacked with a hammer by an unknown man in Keighley.

15 August 1975 Another attack took place, on 46-year-old office cleaner Olive Smelt.

30 October 1975 Sutcliffe killed his first victim, Wilma McCann, a 28-year-old prostitute, in Leeds, near her home in Scott Hall Avenue.

20 January 1976 The second victim, 42-year-old Emily Jackson, was found dead in the Chapeltown area of Leeds. Police realised that they had a potential serial killer on their hands.

9 May 1976 Twenty-year-old Marcella Claxton was attacked by a dark-bearded man in Roundhay Park, Leeds, but he ran off when she screamed.

6 February 1977 A part-time prostitute, 28-year-old Irene Richardson, was found dead on open ground, at Soldiers Field, part of Roundhay Park. Newspaper reports began to dub the killer The Yorkshire Ripper'.

23 April 1977 Leeds prostitutes were terrified and many of them moved. The Ripper moved to - he killed 32-year-old Tina Atkinson in Bradford.

25 June 1977 The next murder victim was 16-year-old Jayne MacDonald, who worked in a shop in Leeds. The Ripper stalked her as she walked home from a night out.

27 July 1977 The next victim survived. Maureen Long was propositioned and struck with a hammer, but the Ripper ran off. Her recollection of a blond-haired attacker confused police efforts for some time - one of a series of conflicting descriptions.

1 October 1977 The Ripper crossed the Pennines to Manchester, and killed 20-year-old prostitute Jean Jordan. He left her body in a cemetery but realised that he had given her a new £5 note, which could potentially be traced to him. He returned to the body but could not find it.

14 December 1977 Marilyn Moore was attacked with a hammer in Leeds but her assailant fled, and she survived.

21 January 1978 The Ripper killed 22-year-old prostitute Yvonne Pearson. Her body was not found for two months.

31 January 1978 Only 10 days later the eighth victim, Helen Rytka, was murdered in Huddersfield. She was an 18-year-old prostitute.

In March 1978 the body of Yvonne Pearson was found. A newspaper that was dated a month after she had been killed was found under her arm.

16 May 1978 In Manchester once more, the Ripper killed Vera Millward, a 41-year-old Spanish-born prostitute. This murder was followed by an 11-month pause in the killings.

4 April 1979 The next victim was 19-year-old Josephine Whitaker, a building society clerk.

In April and June of the same year, police were sidetracked by hoax letters and a cassette tape, which caused them to divert their investigation to Sunderland.

1 September 1979 Barbara Leach, a student at Bradford University, was murdered on the way home from an evening with friends. Another long break in the killings followed.

18 August 1980 Another murder took place in Farsley, between Bradford and Leeds. The victim was 47-year-old civil servant Marguerite Walls.

Two more women were attacked - Dr Upadhya Bandara in October, and 16-year-old Theresa Sykes in November - but both survived.

17 November 1980 The Ripper's last murder. Student Jacqueline Hill was killed in Otley Road, Leeds.

2 January 1981 The Ripper picked up Olive Reivers in Sheffield, but passing police officers were suspicious about his car and he was arrested, but not before he had dumped his weapons.

He was taken to Dewsbury police station as part of a round-up in which the West Yorkshire police had asked to be informed of men arrested while consorting with prostitutes. The arresting officers, realising that their suspect was now part of the Ripper enquiry, returned to the scene and found the weapons. Also, a knife was found in a lavatory cistern at Hammerton Road police station, where Sutcliffe had hidden it. Faced with the evidence, Sutcliffe confessed.

22 May 1981 After his trial at the Old Bailey, in which he pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder, Sutcliffe was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.