It took me ages to find this quote, not least because I couldn’t remember the exact words, nor who said it. So, many thanks to Google and the WWW. Of all the terrible things that happened during Sutcliffe’s reign of terror, this is a particular lowlight.
I hated the Yorkshire Ripper nickname. It was hardly complimentary nor glamorous but it did illustrate a level of mystery, of notoriety. Hobson was part of a shambolic police investigation which must surely have lengthened Sutcliffe’s killing spree. The deaths, in the eyes of the leading coppers of the day, were only prostitutes and not ‘innocent’ girls or women. It was almost as if the early deaths were not quite so important. Hobson may as well have said they brought it upon themselves.
Social networks today reflect Sutcliffe’s passing with a variety of emotions. Some said they were pleased, others said he should have swung years ago, presumably at the hands of the hangman. I felt nothing, except that I was pleased COVID-19 had at last done something worthwhile and killed someone so worthless.
I am glad that Sutcliffe didn’t hang. He spent the last 40 years of his life within the confines of a high security prison. He was attacked on numerous occasions, once losing the sight in one eye. The days must have been long, dark and very slow. I don’t waste my time or energy imagining how it affected him. I was merely grateful that he was kept alive in order to serve his time, knowing he would never be free. Hanging was too good for him. He would not have suffered. Now he has had 40 years of abject misery.
Hopefully, the police are wiser than they were back then. A murder is a murder, a woman is a woman; what she does with her life does not determine her innocence.
Obviously, he was evil. If only there was a hell for him to go to. Hopefully, his long prison sentence was the next worst thing.
