HE should never get out.
That was the message today from two former top Huddersfield detectives as reports suggested Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe had taken a step nearer freedom.
Both Chris Gregg and John Stainthorpe played key roles in the huge hunt for the mass killer in the 1970s and both agree he should stay locked up.
Mr Gregg said: “I was staggered at the suggestion that Sutcliffe could be considered for release. It is an affront to common sense if that does ever happen. He killed 13 people and attempted to kill seven others. If that doesn’t warrant serving a whole life behind bars I don’t know what does.”
And Prime Minister Gordon Brown weighed into the argument, insisting that Sutcliffe, currently detained in Broadmoor secure hospital, should not be released.
TWO former Huddersfield detectives today insisted: Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe should never be released.
Both Chris Gregg and John Stainthorpe were closely involved in the massive hunt for the notorious killer, who terrorised the north of England for five years.
And both are horrified at the suggestion that the convicted serial killer may eventually be released.
Doctors at top security hospital Broadmoor, Berkshire, have claimed that Sutcliffe, who murdered 13 women and tried to kill seven others is no longer dangerous.
If Justice Secretary Jack Straw agrees to classify him as low risk, he could be moved to a medium security prison and eventually released back into society.
But Chris Gregg, a retired detective chief superintendent with West Yorkshire Police, who worked on four of the Ripper murders in the 1970s and ’80s, said surviving victims would be “aghast” at the thought.
He said: “Like many people, I was staggered at the suggestion that Peter Sutcliffe could be considered for release.
“It is an affront to common sense if that does ever happen.
“He killed 13 people and attempted to kill seven others. If that doesn’t warrant serving a whole life behind bars I don’t know what does.”
Mr Stainthorpe headed Huddersfield CID for many years and was involved in several Ripper murders – including the slaying of teenage prostitute Helen Rytka in Huddersfield.
He said today: “I don’t think he should ever be released.
“Sutcliffe is one of the most dangerous men convicted in this country in the past 50 years.
“Anyone who has killed as many times and on such an horrific scale as Sutcliffe should never be out of custody.
“I can remember other occasions during my career when murderers came out of jail and killed again within a short space of time.
“Those people who said they were no longer a risk would then hang their heads and say lessons would be learned.
“We are talking here about a man who killed 13 women and attacked others, possibly more than we knew about.
“Under no circumstances should he be allowed out”.
Sutcliffe, from Bradford, was jailed in 1981 at the Old Bailey for his murder spree across Yorkshire and in Manchester.
He was given 20 life sentences and was told by the judge he would serve a minimum of 30 years.
He began his sentence in prison but three years later was diagnosed with schizophrenia and transferred to Broadmoor.
Doctors treating Sutcliffe are allegedly more concerned with the threat posed to his safety by members of the public than the threat he could pose to them.
The husband of Olive Smelt, one of Sutcliffe’s surviving victims, agreed the killer would be at risk of attack if he was ever released.
Harry Smelt, 84, said: “There are people out there who would be happy to accept the notoriety gained from topping him.
“I think he would be at terrible risk from some of those nutters.”
Mr Smelt said personally he thought Sutcliffe should remain in prison, but he had lost faith in the legal and prison system many years earlier.
He said: “He left 26 orphans, so how can anybody ever be punished for that adequately?
“The death sentence would have been too good for him.
“One just hopes that he rots in jail.”
Yorkshire Ripper’s savage crimes led to nights of fear
Yorkshire Ripper’s savage crimes led to nights of fear
ONE telephone call changed my life – and brought horror to Huddersfield.
The call came shortly before 3pm on a cold and wet January Friday to the old Examiner newsroom in Ramsden Street.
It was a contact of mine within the Huddersfield CID and his message was terse and to the point: “He’s done one here.”
The caller, a trusted detective with many years’ service, directed me down to Great Northern Street.
There, in the litter-strewn yard behind a timber warehouse and below the smoke-blackened railway viaduct carrying the main Leeds line in to the town’s railway station, was a scene of horror.
Police had found the body of teenage prostitute Helen Rytka and confirmed their worst fears: the Yorkshire Ripper had struck in town.
Up to that point, in 1978, the killings had been in the big city red-light areas of Leeds and Bradford.
Now it was in Huddersfield, on a street that was home to just a handful of local prostitutes and their clients.
Few others knew the red-light area until the murder hit the headlines.
But it was a road used by many people visiting the businesses that lined the road.
The Rytka murder was an act that was to create a new terrible atmosphere in the town.
No woman felt safe. Mothers, daughters, wives and girlfriends were picked up or driven to work by anxious male relatives and friends. Nights out, parties and celebrations were cancelled; no-one wanted to be out and about after dark, despite reassuring words from the police that their patrols had been stepped up.
It was not until Peter Sutclife was finally caught, two years later, that the tension eased.
