The “Yorkshire Ripper,” one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers, must spend the rest of his life in jail, the High Court ruled on Friday in a decision welcomed with relief by victims’ relatives.
Peter Sutcliffe was convicted in 1981 of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others in Yorkshire and Manchester, northern England, in an extremely high-profile case.
He received 20 life sentences and is detained at Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital in southeast England.
The 64-year-old, now known as Peter Coonan, applied to have a minimum term set to give him the chance of parole, but his bid was rejected.
Judge John Mitting ruled that “early release provisions” were “not to apply” in the case.
The judge said he had based his decision on the “moving accounts of the great loss and widespread permanent harm” made by relatives of six murdered victims.
“This was a campaign of murder which terrorized the population of a large part of Yorkshire for several years,” he said. “The only explanation for it, on the jury’s verdict, was anger, hatred and obsession. Apart from a terrorist outrage, it is difficult to conceive of circumstances in which one man could account for so many victims. Those circumstances alone make it appropriate to set a whole life term.”
Richard McCann, the son of the Yorkshire Ripper’s first victim Wilma, expressed relief at the verdict.
“We no longer have to live with that cloud of uncertainty over whether or not he would be released,” he told the BBC.
Freeing Sutcliffe “is just unthinkable,” he said.
The “Yorkshire Ripper” has been viciously attacked in jail, losing the sight in his left eye in one attempt to murder him and some believe he could become a potential target for violent ex-convicts looking for a trophy victim if freed.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS