??/??/?? - The Ripper Exposed
Real-Life Crimes

Was Peter Sutcliffe a cold-blooded killer or a helpless psychotic, unable to control his vicious urges? Sutcliffe told the Old Bailey jury that he killed prostitutes because he had been receiving "messages from God" since he was a 20-year-old grave-digger, saying that he should go out and "clean up the streets" by killing vice girls.

Three eminent psychiatrists had interviewed Sutcliffe and each formed the view that he was a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered delusions he was on "a mission from God". But his defence could not explain why in 17 hours of interviews with the police after he admitted to being the Ripper, he never once mentioned the messages from God.

And at his trial, a prison officer who had been guarding Sutcliffe while he was on remand claimed that he had heard him telling his wife that he planned to con the court into believing he was "a raving loony" and thus spend only a short time in a psychiatric hospital.

The prosecution argued that Sutcliffe was a sex killer who carefully planned his attacks and had little remorse afterwards. Six of his murders showed clear signs of sexual sadism. Although Sutcliffe did not rape, he got his thrills by knifing and mutilating his victims - in effect, rape with a knife.

Although he had 'excused' his early crimes to himself by only killing prostitutes, his sadistic urges to kill and mutilate became so strong that in the end any female victim would do. After his conviction, Sutcliffe was sent to the maximum security wing of Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight.

He was a marked man, reviled by most other prisoners for his crimes against innocent women. In 1983 he was attacked by another inmate, who slashed his face with a broken coffee jar. It needed 84 stitches to repair the damage. In 1984 he got his wish to serve time in a 'loony bin'.

After prison staff noticed his mental condition was deteriorating he was moved to the maximum security mental hospital at Broadmoor, where he is still detained, with little prospect of ever being released back into society.