The Yorkshire Ripper Files

[hackmum]

I haven't watched this documentary, but there's a very good review by Tim Dowling:

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/mar/27/the-yorkshire-ripper-files-a-very-british-crime-story-review-a-stunningly-mismanaged-manhunt

Some of it is so chilling. West Yorkshire Police's multiple errors were the result not just of staggering incompetence but deep misogyny.

And this quote from the attorney-general's speech at the trial is just extraordinary:

“Some were prostitutes, but perhaps the saddest part of the case is that some were not. The last six attacks were on totally respectable women.”

I'd love to say things were different now. But they're not.

One thing that caught me about the documentary was how grim the area looks in old news reels. I don't remember it being like that but it must have been. Surprised that the alibi's PS was given were not mentioned. This held the police investigation back a great deal. It was talked about in the area after his arrest and brought up at his trial but there was no mention in the documentary of any police investigation into the possibility of false statements given to alibi him during the manhunt.
The victims families came across as dignified. The documentary was well made and I thought respectful to the families. Strong people

The names they give them makes them sound like they're baddies in a comic

This is such an important point.

A catchy name serves to glamorise the man behind the crimes. It must never happen again.

I highly recommend the series and the excellent Joan Smith book Misogynies. It's £3.79 on kindle and it's electrical

www.amazon.co.uk/Misogynies-Joan-Smith/dp/1908906189?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I don't know whether it was mentioned in the documentary but Mrs Thatcher was instrumental in getting him caught. She had to be dissuaded from going up to Yorkshire to take over the investigation herself because she thought the police were so incompetent. She thought that nobody cared about the victims except her. Due to her intervention, a new team were brought in jto advise the investigation and were able to correctly identify who the police should be looking for.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1317190/How-Margaret-Thatcher-helped-catch-Yorkshire-Ripper.html

*electric

*electrically brilliant

take your pick

I've just spotted Joan's on twitter - and she has an upcoming book on men who commit terrorism and (almost inevitably) domestic violence

twitter.com/polblonde

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07D2G18CZ?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Those of you who have watched it - how upsetting is it to get through? It sounds like something I ‘should’ watch but feel so sickened by the whole thing.

Vashta it's infuriating, upsetting and moving but it's not grisly or unbearable IMO.

Another plug for Joan Smith's Misogynies. Not all the essays are as strong as the Sutcliffe piece but that one is phenomenal.

I know this is an old thread and I'm late on the up take but I was really impressed with this documentary. I came across it on iplayer last night and almost didn't watch it as I thought it would be the usual sensationalising of PS and violence against women but I think the film maker has done really well to shift the focus onto the women and the families left behind.

I have yet to watch episode three but so far I can only remember PS being referred to as 'the killer', I don't think his name has even been mentioned nor has his picture been shown. It's a real contrast to other reporting and documentaries of this type.

The death of a prostitute is not sad then, according to WYPol? Are prostitutes not daughters, sisters, mothers, friends etc?

Tinkerbell, I hope it would be reported differently now, even in West Yorkshire where they have a legalised prostitution zone which the police appear to have washed their hands of. I was a teenager in Leeds during the years this was happening and I can recall this was very much the tone of the reporting. However, the police's dismal failures over the various grooming gangs doesn't inspire confidence. Some people seem to write teenage girls off as soon as they enter puberty if they are found to be sexually active. No enquiry about why this might have happened, are they being groomed/abused, were they abused earlier in life, do they have decent family support, what's happening to their education. Just a shrug of the shoulders and a flip response of 'No better than she should be, she was asking for it, I blame the parents, no decent girl would do ...' etc etc etc ad nauseam.