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9780007169634

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A masterpiece that reads like a thriller.

Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, cast an evil shadow over the north of England in the 1970s. Like his Victorian predecessor, Jack, he had a powerful hold on the public imagination as rumours and theories spread like wildfire and the body count of women grew. Ideas as to what could drive a man to kill with such frenzied, perverted ferocity were ten a penny. So it's with some surprise that we find this latest addition to the huge library of books on the subject isn't based on some worthless interview with a madman, and isn't prepared to waste hundreds of pages on baseless speculation. This is, instead, the story of the hunt for Sutcliffe - the quarter of a million police interviews, the painstaking house-to-house searches, the hands and knees search for clues. Of course, much of that work was wasted and fruitless (Sutcliffe was interviewed several times, but vital clues were never pieced together), and many were quick to blame the police - among them Margaret Thatcher, who thought that those in charge shared the Ripper's contempt for women. Bilton (who covered the case for the Sunday Times for many years) uncovers witless blundering, missing files, seemingly blindingly obvious clues ignored and dunder-headed inter-police rivalries that thwarted the investigation and cost lives. He uncovers another dozen attacks (to add to the official toll of 13) that can reasonably be put down to Sutcliffe - including two on men. He also reveals Sutcliffe's killing wear - a V-neck jumper that stretched down to protect the knees and exposed the genitals to enable him to masturbate over the bodies. But for all the police failures, Bilton is remarkably fair with the men involved, portraying them as decent and honest men who were out of their depth and hampered by the failings of a cumbersome system. The sort of computer-based DNA checks we have now would have solved this in weeks. That, of course, is no consolation to the relatives of Sutcliffe's victims, but at least here, Bilton has produced a masterly overview of a police investigation that pinpoints failures with forensic precision and is a fascinating tale of a northern nightmare. (Kirkus UK)

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Michael Bilton is a former Sunday Times investigative journalist and an award-winning documentary film maker. He won an Emmy for his documentary on the My Lai massacre and got rave reviews for his book ‘Four Hours in My Lai’ which was published 8 years ago and which has sold over 350,000 copies so far.

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