Ripper hoaxer jailed for eight years
Staff and agencies
Tuesday March 21, 2006
The hoaxer known as Wearside Jack was sentenced to eight years in prison today and told his actions had added to the likelihood of three of the Yorkshire Ripper's murders.
Delivering sentence at Leeds crown court, the judge said Peter Sutcliffe's final victims would have had a "better chance" of avoiding attack had it not been for John Humble's hoaxes.
Humble, 50, of Flodden Road, Sunderland, admitted four counts of perverting the course of justice yesterday and told police that what he had done was "evil" when he was caught last year.
He said he was probably drunk when in his early 20s he sent three letters and one audiotape to police in the late 1970s, diverting police attention to Sunderland and away from Sutcliffe, who was caught in 1981.
Sutcliffe, who killed 13 women, murdered three of them in the period after Humble sent his hoax material, and had told officers after his eventual arrest that the hoaxes had made him feel "safe".
Today, the recorder of Leeds, Judge Norman Jones QC, said Sutcliffe had told police the hoaxes had given him "confidence" while police searched for a man with a Wearside accent.
The judge said: "The least that could be said was these victims would have stood a better chance of not being attacked had these police resources been directed in West Yorkshire."
The judge noted that at one point in the inquiry, police had rejected Sutcliffe as a suspect because he did not have a Sunderland accent.
He said: "It is likely that Sutcliffe, who had already come to the attention of police, might have been placed much higher in the list of suspects had police not been looking for someone with a Geordie accent."
The tape had been "cleverly contrived", was delivered in a "sinister, flat and ominous" manner, and had "warped and bent" the inquiry away from Sutcliffe, the judge said.
He told Humble he had acted with an "indifference to the potentially fatal consequences, which was breathtaking".
The judge said: "In the late 1970s the murders of the so-called Yorkshire Ripper drove fear into the hearts of all women living in Yorkshire and across the border into Lancashire. I'm satisfied that one of the factors that may well have contributed to him remaining at large for so long was your behaviour."
Humble, an unemployed labourer fascinated by Jack the Ripper, was caught 27 years after creating the hoaxes when his DNA was matched with a sample found on one of the envelopes he used.
His hoax messages were sent to the Daily Mirror and to West Yorkshire police's assistant chief constable, George Oldfield, who was leading the inquiry, in 1978 and 1979.
In the 257-word tape, Humble said: "I'm Jack. I see you are still having no luck catching me."
In mitigation today before sentencing, Humble's lawyer said it was not certain that Sutcliffe would have been arrested earlier.
Simon Bourne-Arton QC said Humble was a "50-year-old hopeless alcoholic" who had lived for 27 years with a secret. He said he was "less than bright" after years of abuse, and had led an otherwise "spectacularly inadequate life".
"Up until yesterday, the only notoriety he would have had in Sunderland was to be known in the cemeteries and park benches as John the Bag," Mr Bourne-Arton said.
The lawyer said Humble disliked the police after he was arrested as a teenager for assaulting an off-duty police officer after a disturbance in a nightclub.
He said Humble had wanted only to embarrass the police and did not want the killer to remain free. He had not imagined the police would react in the way they did to the tape, and he became "extremely frightened", Mr Bourne-Arton said.
He said Humble had twice tried to phone the incident room and tried to tell police the letters and tape were hoaxes.
He said Humble had also attempted to commit suicide on a number of occasions, in November 1979, shortly after the tape was made public, jumping off a 90ft bridge over the river Wear with his pockets filled with stones.
But the judge said the hoaxes had amounted to the "very top" of the offences of perverting the course of justice, an offence for which there is no maximum sentence but which has never been punished with a term of more than 10 years.
"It's almost impossible to imagine more serious acts of this type," the judge said.
Humble was jailed for a total of eight years - six years for each of the three letters and eight for the tape - with all sentences to run concurrently.
Speaking after today's hearing, Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Gregg said he hoped today's sentencing would help bring "closure" on the "final chapter of this case".
Sutcliffe was found by chance while with a prostitute in Sheffield in 1981, and confessed to the murders.
He murdered 13 women in Leeds, Bradford, Manchester, Halifax and Huddersfield, and attacked at least seven more.
(article from The Guardian, where most of my news posts originate)
Tuesday March 21, 2006
The hoaxer known as Wearside Jack was sentenced to eight years in prison today and told his actions had added to the likelihood of three of the Yorkshire Ripper's murders.
Delivering sentence at Leeds crown court, the judge said Peter Sutcliffe's final victims would have had a "better chance" of avoiding attack had it not been for John Humble's hoaxes.
Humble, 50, of Flodden Road, Sunderland, admitted four counts of perverting the course of justice yesterday and told police that what he had done was "evil" when he was caught last year.
He said he was probably drunk when in his early 20s he sent three letters and one audiotape to police in the late 1970s, diverting police attention to Sunderland and away from Sutcliffe, who was caught in 1981.
Sutcliffe, who killed 13 women, murdered three of them in the period after Humble sent his hoax material, and had told officers after his eventual arrest that the hoaxes had made him feel "safe".
Today, the recorder of Leeds, Judge Norman Jones QC, said Sutcliffe had told police the hoaxes had given him "confidence" while police searched for a man with a Wearside accent.
The judge said: "The least that could be said was these victims would have stood a better chance of not being attacked had these police resources been directed in West Yorkshire."
The judge noted that at one point in the inquiry, police had rejected Sutcliffe as a suspect because he did not have a Sunderland accent.
He said: "It is likely that Sutcliffe, who had already come to the attention of police, might have been placed much higher in the list of suspects had police not been looking for someone with a Geordie accent."
The tape had been "cleverly contrived", was delivered in a "sinister, flat and ominous" manner, and had "warped and bent" the inquiry away from Sutcliffe, the judge said.
He told Humble he had acted with an "indifference to the potentially fatal consequences, which was breathtaking".
The judge said: "In the late 1970s the murders of the so-called Yorkshire Ripper drove fear into the hearts of all women living in Yorkshire and across the border into Lancashire. I'm satisfied that one of the factors that may well have contributed to him remaining at large for so long was your behaviour."
Humble, an unemployed labourer fascinated by Jack the Ripper, was caught 27 years after creating the hoaxes when his DNA was matched with a sample found on one of the envelopes he used.
His hoax messages were sent to the Daily Mirror and to West Yorkshire police's assistant chief constable, George Oldfield, who was leading the inquiry, in 1978 and 1979.
In the 257-word tape, Humble said: "I'm Jack. I see you are still having no luck catching me."
In mitigation today before sentencing, Humble's lawyer said it was not certain that Sutcliffe would have been arrested earlier.
Simon Bourne-Arton QC said Humble was a "50-year-old hopeless alcoholic" who had lived for 27 years with a secret. He said he was "less than bright" after years of abuse, and had led an otherwise "spectacularly inadequate life".
"Up until yesterday, the only notoriety he would have had in Sunderland was to be known in the cemeteries and park benches as John the Bag," Mr Bourne-Arton said.
The lawyer said Humble disliked the police after he was arrested as a teenager for assaulting an off-duty police officer after a disturbance in a nightclub.
He said Humble had wanted only to embarrass the police and did not want the killer to remain free. He had not imagined the police would react in the way they did to the tape, and he became "extremely frightened", Mr Bourne-Arton said.
He said Humble had twice tried to phone the incident room and tried to tell police the letters and tape were hoaxes.
He said Humble had also attempted to commit suicide on a number of occasions, in November 1979, shortly after the tape was made public, jumping off a 90ft bridge over the river Wear with his pockets filled with stones.
But the judge said the hoaxes had amounted to the "very top" of the offences of perverting the course of justice, an offence for which there is no maximum sentence but which has never been punished with a term of more than 10 years.
"It's almost impossible to imagine more serious acts of this type," the judge said.
Humble was jailed for a total of eight years - six years for each of the three letters and eight for the tape - with all sentences to run concurrently.
Speaking after today's hearing, Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Gregg said he hoped today's sentencing would help bring "closure" on the "final chapter of this case".
Sutcliffe was found by chance while with a prostitute in Sheffield in 1981, and confessed to the murders.
He murdered 13 women in Leeds, Bradford, Manchester, Halifax and Huddersfield, and attacked at least seven more.
(article from The Guardian, where most of my news posts originate)
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