Peter Sutcliffe

Peter William Coonan (born Peter William Sutcliffe; 2 June 1946) is an English serial killer who was dubbed the "Yorkshire Ripper" by the press. In 1981, Sutcliffe was convicted of the murder of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven others. Sutcliffe initially attacked women and girls in residential areas but appears to have moved to red light districts, because he was attracted by the vulnerability of prostitutes. Sutcliffe had allegedly regularly used the services of prostitutes in Leeds and Bradford. When interviewed by authorities, he said that the voice of God had sent him on a mission to kill prostitutes. Sutcliffe carried out murders over five years, including murders of women who were not prostitutes. After his arrest for driving with false number plates in January 1981, the police questioned him about the killings, and he confessed to being the perpetrator. At his trial in 1981, Sutcliffe pleaded not guilty to murder on grounds of diminished responsibility after a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, but he was convicted of murder on a majority verdict. He is serving 20 concurrent sentences of life imprisonment. Following his conviction, Sutcliffe began using his mother's maiden name and became known as Peter William Coonan. West Yorkshire Police were criticised for the time taken in apprehending Sutcliffe, despite having interviewed him nine times in the course of their investigation. Because of the sensational nature of the case, the police handled an exceptional amount of information, some of it misleading (including the Wearside Jack hoax recorded message and letters purporting to be from the "Ripper"). The 1982 Byford Report of the official inquiry (made public in 2006) confirmed the validity of the criticism. The High Court dismissed an appeal by Sutcliffe in 2010, confirming that he would serve a whole life order and never be released from custody. He was transferred from prison to a high-security psychiatric hospital in March 1984. In August 20