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Peter William Sutcliffe was born in Bingley, West Yorkshire the son of a mill-worker. Reportedly a loner at school he left formal education at the age of fifteen and took a series of manual jobs, including a stint as a grave-digger, before settling into a job on the nightshift at a local factory.
He met Sonia Szurma in 1966 and they married in 1974. Shortly after his marriage he was made redundant and used the pay-off to gain a HGV license in June, 1975 and began working as a driver in September. His wife suffered a number of miscarriages and eventually the couple were informed that she would not be able to have children. Shortly after this his wife returned to a teacher-training course. When she completed the course in 1977 and began teaching the couple used the extra money to get their first house, in Bradford.
The first known assault by Sutcliffe was in Keighley on the night of July 5, 1975. He attacked Anna Rogulskyj (aged 36) who was walking alone, striking her unconscious with a ball-pein hammer and slashing her stomach with a knife. Disturbed by a neighbour, he left before killing her. Anna Rogulskyj survived after extensive medical attention. He attacked Olive Smelt (aged 46) in Halifax in August with the same modus operandi and again was disturbed and left his victim badly injured. Later in August he attacked Tracy Browne (aged 16) in Silsden. She was struck from behind and hit on the head five times while walking in a country lane. Sutcliffe was not convicted of this attack, but later confessed to it.
His next victim, Wilma McCann of Leeds (aged 28) and a mother of four, was killed on October 30. He struck her twice with a hammer before stabbing her fifteen times. An extensive inquiry, involving 150 police officers and 11,000 interviews did not uncover Sutcliffe.
He did not kill again until January, 1976, stabbing Emily Jackson (aged 42) 51 times in Leeds.
Due to repeated tardiness Sutcliffe lost his first driving job in March, 1976 and did not find another until October. He attacked Marcella Claxton (aged 20) in Roundhay Park in Leeds on May 9, another prostitute, he struck her with a hammer and left her with 25 stab wounds.
The next murder took place in February, 1977. He attacked Irene Richardson (aged 28), another Chapeltown prostitute in Roundhay Park and this time killing her with a series of weighty hammer blows, followed by a post-mortem stabbing. Tyre-tracks left near the murder scene resulted in an enormous list of possible suspect vehicles.
He killed Patricia "Tina" Atkinson (aged 32), a Bradford prostitute in April and Jayne MacDonald (aged 16) in Chapeltown in June. The death of Jayne, rather than the prostitutes, reinvigorated the police inquiry but did not bring them closer to Sutcliffe. He seriously assaulted Maureen Long (aged 42) in Bradford in July, interrupted he left her for dead. He was seen by a witness, but they misidentified the make of his car. The police had over 300 officers working the case and amassed 12,500 statements and checked 1000s of cars, without result.
Sutcliffe killed a Manchester prostitute, Jean Jordan (aged 20) in October. Her body was not found for ten days, but had obviously been moved several days after death. The recovery of her handbag offered a valuable piece of evidence, Sutcliffe had given the woman £5. The note was new and was traced to banks in Shipley and Bingley and from there into the wages of 8,000 local employees. Over three months the police interviewed 5,000 men, including Sutcliffe, but did not connect him.
Sutcliffe attacked another Leeds prostitute, Marilyn Moore (aged 25) in December. She survived and offered another reasonable description of her attacker and tyre-tracks found matched those of an earlier attack.