The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire last night ordered an inquiry into the force╒s handling of the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper in the wake of the 20 life sentences passed on Peter Sutcliffe at the Old Bailey.
The need for an inquiry was taken up in the house of Commons by Yorkshire MPs, who also attacked the Attorney-General, Sir Michael Havers for his role in the prosecution of Sutcliffe.
Sir Michael opened the 15-day trial by telling the judge, Sir Justice Boreham, that he did not believe that Sutcliffe was guilty of murder. He told the judge that he accepted the view of doctors who diagnosed Sutcliffe as a schizophrenic.
But the judge refused to accept this and yesterday the jury decided that he had murdered 13 women in the Yorkshire area between 1975 and 1980.
The judge passed sentences of life imprisonment for each of the 13 murders as well as the seven attempted murders which Sutcliffe admitted at the start of the trial. He said he hoped that Sutcliffe would never be released and recommended that he should serve at least 30 years before release was even considered.
One of the defence psychiatrists was called into the witness box to confirm that the state of Sutcliffe╒s schizophrenia was such that ╥he should be in custody for the rest of his natural life.╙ The judge said that 30 years was an unusually long period, but added, ╥I believe that you are an unusually dangerous man.╙
After passing sentence the judge commended three of the officers from the Ripper Squad for their impeccable conduct. He also commended the two Sheffield officers who arrested Sutcliffe in January and later found weapons which he had tried to conceal.
The acting Assistant Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, Mr Jim Hobson who was at the Old Bailey, said that it was ridiculous to suggest that they could have caught Sutcliffe earlier. ╥The judge has answered most of these criticisms,╙ he said. ╥I am very pleased with what he has said.╙
But in Leeds his chief constable, Mr Ronald Gregory, said that some of his senior officers would start an internal inquiry. ╥There will be some reorganisation and some changes made in the light of our experience,╙ he added.
He said that Sutcliffe had been ╥extremely lucky and very clever╙. He added: ╥The truth is that we never had sufficient evidence to charge Sutcliffe. He was interviewed several times at home. His wife gave him alibis and nothing was found in his garage or car.╙ He had never been among the 60 top suspects.
Sutcliffe╒s wife, Sonia, was not in court to hear her husband sentenced. The back row was taken up with relatives of the dead and survivors of some of Sutcliffe╒s attacks. All said that they were glad the jury had agreed on a murder verdict. ╥If they╒d have said diminished responsibility, I would have exploded,╙ said one.
The jury of six men and six women took five hours and fifty-five minutes to reach their verdict and did so only after the judge, Mr Justice Boreham, told them that they need not be unanimous.
When they returned at 4.18 it took the jury foreman seven minutes to deliver the 13 verdicts of murder by a majority of 10 to two to the clerk of the court, Mr Michael MacKenzie.
The judge then turned to the dock: ╥Peter William Sutcliffe, the jury have found you guilty of 13 charges of murder, and, if I may say so, murder of a very cowardly quality.
╥It is difficult to find words that are adequate in my judgment to describe the brutality and the gravity of these offences and I say at once I am not
going to pause to seek those words. I am prepared to let the catalogue of your crimes speak for itself.╙
He told Sutcliffe that he would recommend to the Home Secretary that he should serve at least 30 years. ╥That is a long period,╙ he said, ╥an unusually long period, but I believe you are an unusually dangerous man.╙
