Man held over Yorkshire Ripper hoax

[emad]

Man held over Yorkshire Ripper hoax
19 October 2005

Detectives are continuing to question a man in connection with the so-called "Wearside Jack" hoax letters and tape sent to the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry team.

The 49-year-old man was arrested in the Sunderland area on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Officers from West Yorkshire Police travelled to Sunderland to arrest the man before taking him back to Leeds for questioning.

The hoax letters and tape featuring a man with a strong Wearside accent purporting to have carried out the Ripper murders and taunting officers, is widely believed to have diverted resources from the investigation which eventually led to the capture and conviction of Peter Sutcliffe.

A police spokesman said the arrest "relates to the hoax letters and tape that was sent to police during the Yorkshire Ripper murder investigation".

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/PA_NEWA19047911129666820A00001?source=PA%20Feed

[emad]

1. Ripper hoax police search house : BBC

Police investigating hoax letters and a tape sent to them during the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry in the late 1970s are searching a house in Sunderland.

Detectives from West Yorkshire travelled to Sunderland on Tuesday to arrest a 49-year-old man on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

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The house being searched in Sunderland on Wednesday is a two-bedroom council house in Flodden Road in the Ford area of the city.

Neighbours said two brothers in their late 40s or early 50s lived at the house which has been cordoned off while a forensic examination of the property takes place.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/4354952.stm

[...of J.Temperance]

2. The police should throw the book at this moron

Women died because the police were running around looking for him, looking in the WRONG area of Britain. Whilst Sutcliffe was always operating in Yorkshire, this moron had them on a wild goose chase in the North East.

[Mr Creosote]

3. It will be interesting to see

if he is just a moron, or something worse. The theory has been expounded over the years that the letters took the police in so much because he actually knew Sutcliffe and knew what he was up to. And I think I'm right in saying that there was a murder in Preston which formed part of the Ripper investigation but with which Sutcliffe wasn't charged.
I dont think the West Yorkshire police can escape blame, putting all their eggs in one basket was a colossal blunder. ANd it's worth remembering that West Yorkshire police didn''t catch Sutcliffe. It was a different force - South Yorkshire.

[...of J.Temperance]

4. Heck, sorry for jumping the gun

I wasn't aware of half the stuff that you posted there.

From his photo, he looks completely wired. Do you think he had something to do with the murder in Preston? Could he have been working along with Sutcliffe on some of the murders, like say Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi were accomplices in the Riverside Stranglers murders?