THE daughter of the Yorkshire Ripper’s first victim has killed herself, it has been revealed.
Sonia Newlands, 39, was found dead at her home in Leeds on December 19.
Her mother, Wilma McCann (pictured), was the first of 13 women to be killed by Peter Sutcliffe. She was 28 when he attacked her with a hammer and stabbed her several times on playing fields in Leeds in October 1975.
Seven-year-old Sonia was the oldest of four children that Mrs McCann left behind on a council estate in the city.
It is believed that Miss Newlands hanged herself after suffering years of torment following her mother’s murder. A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said there were no suspicious circumstances.
Miss Newlands, who used her mother’s maiden name, battled alcohol addiction in a rehabilitation centre before her death.
Her brother, Richard McCann, served time in prison on drug charges before publishing two best-selling books - Just A Boy and The Boy Grows Up - about his troubled childhood.
Sutcliffe murdered 12 more women between 1976 and 1980 and is now held in Broadmoor Hospital. His victims included Helen Rytka in Huddersfield.
