The man who deceived police during the Yorkshire Ripper case with false claims he was the killer has been jailed for eight years at Leeds Crown Court.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/w...re/4828828.stm

Do you think he DESERVED eight years?
He pleaded guilty (therefore he would get 2/3 reduction in his sentence), so was his 'crime' worthy of a 12 year prison sentence (equivalent to a life sentence)?

What part in the impact of his actions should be attributable to the (in)competency of the Police investigating the original affair?
(Apparently, he called-in and 'confessed' that it was a hoax, but his call(s) were ignored.)

Yes, I think he deserved it. He wasted massive amounts of police time. Even had they been 100% competent, they would have had to have taken the calls seriously. This contributed in no small part to Sutcliffe slipping through the net and being free to kill again before he was finally caught.

If ever a case called for an exemplary sentence it was this one. Of course eight years is a stiff sentence, but there is a need to put down a marker in case anyone else has the same idea.

Having lived through those times and in the area mainly involved I was on a number of occasions stopped and questioned as indeed were many people.
I personally think it is a hefty sentence bearing in mind it was only a few senior policemen who believed the letters and tape.
None of the surviving victims mentioned anything about a Geordie accent and their opinions were ignored.
We once had a woman come into our business and announce that her son was the Ripper. We kept her talking whilst I rang the Police who asked just the one question. Did she have a Geordie accent? It was the same everytime they stopped your car. If you did not have a Geordie accent you were in the clear yet hardly anyone in this area thought it was a Geordie who was responsible.
The man was indeed a nuisance but that was all he should have been allowed to have become. The obsession of the Police with this man cost even more lives.

Yes, the police appeared incompetent, (didn't one of the mothers victims try to sue?).

I wonder if things would have different with today's number crunching technology?

I'm still puzzled as to how they eventually caught him, one story is that the envelopes the letters came in stll had DNA on the licked side of the stamps,,but this suggests that Wearside Jack has been nicked for something else much more recently and his DNA taken as a matter of form.
Do they compare all new DNA samples with samples from previous crimes?
Not that I have any objection to that, I think everybody and I mean everybody in this country should have their DNA on record, I'm all for anything that makes lfe difficult for the scumbags criminals, but of course that would have the fluffies up in arms.
:cool:

ANY minor transgression involving arrest, nowadays earns you a cheek-swab and cataloguing of your DNA. THEORETICALLY you can have these records purged if you are found not-guilty of all charges, but in practice the database is scanned for all unsolved crimes where DNA evidence has been detected. Recently they have revisited all unsolved crimes (well they're working through them) and re-examining material evidence for DNA traces.
Be afraid (and don't get arrested).

On the other hand of course, your DNA could just prove your innocence.:rolleyes:

Do they compare all new DNA samples with samples from previous crimes?

Spot on. I think the UK has the most deveolped database in the world. Interestingly, when big brother decided to pilot dna collection, they asked police officers to volunteer their dna. Most refused.

(It was on Jeremy Vine so it must be true).

Mind you- it enabled them to catch this t*sser.

DNA be fecked, I would have everybody in the country fitted with a chain just long enough to reach their place of work and the shops,and if they int working or shopping they berra be at home and off the streets.
:rolleyes:

Humble was arrested after a DNA review of samples from one of the original envelopes matched one taken from him recently after he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly.
http://tinyurl.com/ls3np

it was only a few senior policemen who believed the letters and tape.
The ones who skewed the investigation so much, that Sutcliffe was arrested and released 8 times before he was caught by accident.

This was a catalogue of utter incompetance from beginning to end. (They even screwed up the arrest so that he could claim he was insane and never go to prison).

Even so, eight years may sound a lot to some, but it's probably only 2 each for each woman who was killed after his actions.

Having lived locally through the Ripper times, and a quick mental check recalls 3 murders within 5 miles of home, these were very, very worrying and harrowing times. The investigation was not getting anywhere and then these tapes / letters came along and became a focus - hardly surprising. Without them who knows what the outcome might have been, but they certainly cannot have helped the investigation - this guy needs the book thrown at him. If he reported that he was a hoaxer he should have turned himself in physically and taken the rap at the time, it might have soon become apparent that he wasn't Peter Sutcliffe.

got caught - regarding modern number crunching capabilities take a look at www.holmes2.com HOLMES is the Home Office Large Major Enquiry System, developed at times by Unisys in Leeds. Although it isn't mentioned on the web site this system came about as a result of the Ripper investigation where the amount of paperwork was overwhelming - remember this was years before the PC was even invented by IBM. Affordable computers created an environment where information could be cross-matched and analysed much more efficiently - but matches are only as good as the information and the match being looked for, but it is a great help for forces today.

DNA profiling? Mmmmm... I still have concerns that this info is kept routinely on record. Primarily because there are cases where DNA evidence is NOT 100% foolproof and to be banged up for a heinous crime you didn't commit would be a nightmare if the weight of evidence was based on your DNA.

It's worth remembering that the very first use of forensic DNA (Colin Pitchfork murders) actually proved the innocence of the boy who'd confessed and been charged.

As a serving magistrate I have become very concerned recently with the "crap" sentencing that is being dished out for some terrible crimes. I have even considered quitting in protest, but guessed that I would be more use on the inside fighting than on the outside whingeing. I think that this guy got what he deserved.

Life should mean life. NO remission. Bring back hard labour. If any of you have ever visited a prison, and yes I have visited a few in my time, its a life of bloody luxury. 3 meals a day, gyms, hot amd cold running water, heating, TV, you even get your stamp paid so that your old age pension is not affected.
Your average murderer is out after 7 years!!!

Sod human rights, what about the rights of the victims?:*

So, jimgriff, you consider Wearside Jack to be guilty of MURDER? Will he get the benefit of a trial (for that charge) or does perverting the course of justice earn a Life sentence these days?
I appreciate that this guy is probably content to have a few years in HM Hotel, rather than being out of work in Sunderland, but that is hardly the point, is it?

It is possible that innocent women were most brutally murdered because of this person. That will probably never be proved, one way or the other.

What cannot be disputed is that he got his kicks out of prolonging the misery of the victims' families, and mocking them and the police. He deserves everything he gets. Unfortunately, when he is released it will probably cost us millions to give him a new identity, home, etc. I hope he spends the rest of his short life looking fearfully over his shoulder.

Just to make sure you understand - I don't like him.

Just to make sure you understand - I don't like him.
No, Drapes don't like Mackems either . . .

From what I have seen on the news and in the papers and going by recent events the sentence the Judge hands down is meaningless anyway,as soon as the criminal disapears into the prison system every effort seems to be extended to get them released as early as possible,they may be sent down with great publicity,but seemingly sneaked out in a conspiracy of silence and nobody knows they are on the streets again until they burgle rob of kill again.
:suspect:
Thats nothing personel Mr C-G tiz just tradition,Geordies and Makums have been at each others throats since the Civil War,they was dirty parliament men when we of course were all royalist.
:E

I never said he committed murder. I was just making a general statement of what the average murderer can expect to do these days !!!
Jeez!:mad: