10/03/03 - Yorkshire Ripper
should be in jail says MP
Daily Post Liverpool
THE Yorkshire Ripper is "wicked not mad'' and should be
in prison rather than Broadmoor high-security hospital
according to a Labour MP.
Fabian Hamilton, MP for Leeds North East,has written
to Home Secretary David Blunkett asking him to "re-examine''
Peter Sutcliffe's imprisonment at Broadmoor.
Mr Hamilton said a new book,Wicked Beyond Belief by
Michael Bilton, "proves conclusively that Sutcliffe
worked hard to fabricate the story that he heard `voices
from God' instructing him to murder his victims''.
In the book,Bilton said there was evidence that Sutcliffe
violently attacked and may have murdered men in the
1960s.
Sutcliffe stood trial at the Old Bailey in London in
May 1981 for the murders of 13 women.
On his first day in the witness box he told the jury:
"Voices kept saying I had a mission to get rid of prostitutes.
"God told me it was prostitutes who were responsible
for all these problems.''
Doctors diagnosed Sutcliffe as a schizophrenic, but
the judge,Sir Justice Boreham,did not accept the diagnosis
and gave him 20 life sentences. In his book,Mr Bilton
also said Sutcliffe wore a specific piece of clothing
for every murder, suggesting he pre-planned them.
The clothing was kept by former Detective Constable
Alan Foster who said he was ordered by his seniors to
destroy it 20 years ago.
Mr Hamilton noted in his letter that DC Foster held
onto it "in the belief that at some point a scientific
breakthrough might yield further clues as to other crimes
committed by Sutcliffe.
"Mr Foster returned this garment to West Yorkshire
Police in the belief that it should be subjected to
the most rigorous scientific analysis.''
A spokeswoman for West Police said she was unable to
confirm at the present time if a piece of clothing had
been handed in by DC Foster.
Mr Hamilton said the fact a piece of ritual clothing
was used showed that Sutcliffe "is wicked not mad''.
He said: "The use of the same piece of clothing proves
premeditation. If there's a piece of clothing he has
worn every time, then it shows he is bad and wicked
rather than mad.
"Sutcliffe's plea that he was mad was rejected in court
and he was convicted of the wilful murders of these women.''
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