Michael Bilton

I come from Bradford - yes, I'm so proud - and wanted to learn more about Sutcliffe's five year reign of terror without the focus being on the sick and twisted killer himself. Bilton's book, and the 'major TV series' (ITV) based on his research, promises to put the victims and the police investigation first, which he does - but not without a considerable amount of repetition and padding. The final chapters after Sutcliffe's arrest and trial, covering the Byford report, Sutcliffe's appeals and association with Jimmy Savile (!), must add 200 pages. The text is also littered with typos - burgers/burghers, protected/protracted - and the weird use of American English in a book about a very British killer (women in Yorkshire do not wear slacks and panties). Bilton's descriptions of the murders felt very crude, too - referring to wounds on the women's 'trunks' and how their blood 'soiled' the ground around them.

The author's bloated narrative aside, reading about the botched investigation by the newly created West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police - and in particular George Oldfield - made me so angry! Sutcliffe might have wielded the hammer, but Oldfield gave the killer room to keep taking a swing, particularly after receiving the 'Wearside Jack' hoax letters and tape. Not only were the first victims dismissed as prostitutes, by the police and press alike, but possible suspects were eliminated because they didn't have a Sunderland accent. The lead detectives were so narrow-minded and literal-thinking throughout - later women who were attacked or killed with a slightly different method were called liars or the cases were hushed up purely to save face. And when interviewing men who had been spotted in multiple red light districts, the police were told to take a softly softly approach: 'Fear of sparking marital strife inhibited detectives from using their gut instincts about a potential suspect'. Incredible! Bilton's insistence on providing biographies for men like Oldfield and Hobson in a bid to make them more sympathetic didn't work - I merely started skipping whole sections.

I'm glad - or at least I hope - that the police and investigative procedures have improved considerably since Sutcliffe was interviewed on nine separate occasions and only arrested by chance in Sheffield because he was driving a car with stolen plates. Still, it's depressing to think that the hunt for a killer in the 1970s was almost like a continuation of Jack the Ripper 100 years earlier - and came close to ending the same way.… (meer)

This was my first book reading about the Yorkshire Ripper. Perhaps I should have read another book first cause this one was so detailed but all in all I did think it was very interesting. It was hard to read and read more murders and he still wasn't caught. To read about all the mistakes that were made and especially the mistake about the letters from someone who was not the ripper. I was also annoyed to find out how against the advice of the judge the psychiatrist still did what they wanted with Sutcliffe. Pissed me off. 3.6… (meer)