Wicked beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper
Wicked Beyond Belief - Michael Bilton
by Michael Bilton
One of the most notorious - if not the most notorious - serial killers in Britain in the 20th century was Peter Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper. For many years, he left a trail of terror throughout the North of England, as he attacked, assaulted and killed women.
The police hunt for the killer was one that was fraught with difficulties. It has been alleged that serious mistakes were made by the investigators, errors that repeatedly placed Sutcliffe in the frame for the murders, yet released him to kill and kill again. Now, after more than twenty years, the truth behind the rumours can finally be revealed.
Investigative writer Michael Bilton, who writes for the Sunday Times Magazine and is also an award-winning maker of documentary films, has written the definitive account of more than two million man hours of police work that led to Sutcliffe's eventual conviction and imprisonment. With access to previously sealed records and the full cooperation of key players in the investigation, Bilton has taken a clinical and extremely detailed look at the work of the police forces involved in Bitain's biggest manhunt.
Unusually for a True Crime book, Bilton's "Wicked Beyond Belief" focuses not on the perpetrator or the victims, or even the crimes, but on the criminal investigations behind each successive murder. Only on reading the book can the layman begin to understand and appreciate the vast amount of work that went into trying to apprehend this then nameless and faceless killer.
For example, the book tells of the detectives struggles to work with the card index system that predated the mass use of computers in criminal investigation. It tells of exhaustive efforts to trace more than 50,000 cars to eliminate their drivers from the enquiry - and that figure relates to just one of the many murders carried out by The Ripper. It covers the full investigation including dealings with the press, autopsies, the hoax letters to the police and much more. And, since many of the Ripper's earliest victims were prostitutes, it discusses the problems encountered by the police in trying to overcome public prejudice - the feeling that these women were somehow 'inferior' citizens because of their profession. The amount of work involved for the already busy police forces with limited financial resources, which were also expected to solve other crimes in conjunction with the hunt for The Ripper, is in short, staggering.
This is an opportunity to meet some of the men behind the investigation, to discover what made them tick and to find out how and why they made crucial decisions they did. (I won't reveal Bilton's conclusions about the efficacy of the manhunt - suffice to say he appears to have researched his subject exhaustively.)
There are three sections of black and white photographs in the book, most depicting the police officers and victims. (The author has avoided use of gory scene of crime pictures for which he is, in my opinion, to be commended.)
I have read every book ever published on The Yorkshire Ripper and this one, which views the murders from an entirely unique angle, is perhaps the best I have read. This is an immensely detailed book, one that I found both enthralling and fascinating from the first page to the last.
"Wicked Beyond Belief" is not only an informative factual documentation of ground breaking police work but also a thoroughly good read. So much of the book is relevant to more than just The Yorkshire Ripper - if you were ever curious about how the police in England handle a major murder enquiry, then you need look no further than this book to give you all the answers.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0 00 710086 8
Price: £18.99 h/b
Date Reviewed: February 2003
My Rating: 5/5
