Somebody’s Mother, Somebody’s Daughter

Much has been written about the brutal crimes of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper. During the four decades of his imprisonment for the murder of thirteen women - before his death in November 2020 - scarcely a week went by without some mention of him in the British media. In any story featuring Sutcliffe, however, his victims are incidental, often reduced to a tableau of nameless faces. But each woman was much more than the manner of her death. Based on previously unpublished material and fresh, first-hand interviews the book examines the Yorkshire Ripper story from a new perspective: focusing on the women and putting the reader in a similar position to those who lived through that time. By talking to survivors and their families, and to the relatives of the murdered women, Carol Ann Lee gets to the core truths of their lives and experiences, not only at the hands of Sutcliffe but also with the Yorkshire Police and their crass and appalling handling of the case, where the women were put into two categories: prostitutes and non-prostitutes. In this book they are, simply, women, and all have moving backstories. Recent news stories have shown that women and girls who come forward to report serious crimes of a sexual nature are often judged as harshly - and often more so - than the men who have wronged them. The Rochdale sex abuse scandal, the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, and the US President's deplorable comments about women are vivid reminders that those in positions of power regard women as second class citizens. Hard-hitting and wholly unique in approach, this timely book sheds new light on a case that still grips the nation.