Detectivewins £50k Ripper libel

Mar 11 2008 by Neil Atkinson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A HUDDERSFIELD policeman has won £50,000 libel damages from a writer who said the Yorkshire Ripper hoaxer was framed.

Det Chief Supt Chris Gregg was accused by Noel O’Gara of “stitching up’’ John Humble, known as Wearside Jack.

Humble, 52, was jailed in 2006 after admitting sending hoax letters and a tape saying he was the 1970s mass murderer.

His actions made police concentrate their hunt in Sunderland while Peter Sutcliffe, from Bradford, carried on his killing spree.

Mr O'Gara, of Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland, alleged that Mr Gregg had improperly interrogated Humble for two days while Humble was drunk, tampered with DNA evidence and blackmailed him into pleading guilty.

Humble was trapped by DNA on an envelope.

Mr O’Gara also said the real Yorkshire Ripper was not Peter Sutcliffe but a man who used to work for him in Ireland and who was still at large and it was he who sent the letters and tape.

The allegations were made in four publications on the internet, in an email and in a letter.

Mr Justice King, sitting at the High Court in London, said Mr O’Gara had conducted a “persistent campaign of vilification’’ against Det Chief Supt Gregg.

Det Chief Supt Gregg, a former Huddersfield CID officer, is head of West Yorkshire’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team.

Mr Justice King entered summary judgement against Mr O’Gara, who wrote a book entitled The Real Yorkshire Ripper, on the basis that he had no real prospect of defending the case.

He said: “These were extremely serious libels on a senior serving police officer. They allege serious misconduct in bringing about the conviction of an innocent man and were wholly false.’’

Mr O’Gara was also ordered to pay £10,000 court costs.

Humble, of Flodden Road, Sunderland, was jailed for eight years after admitting four charges of perverting the course of justice.