S3 Ep4: Handwriting and the Yorkshire Ripper Hoax

Update: 2022-02-02

Description

In October 1975, Peter Sutcliffe committed his first murder. Over the next five years he went on to become one of the UK’s worst serial killers. One of the main reasons the police took so long to find him was because they were sent off in the wrong direction by a series of hoax letters and a tape purporting to be from the killer.

Nicknamed Weirside Jack, the perpetrator was never identified at the time. It wasn’t until 25 years later that Chris Davies – a forensic document examiner – got his hands on the letters. Chris joins Lynda and Cass to discuss how Weirside Jack was finally brought to justice.

Christopher Davies started work in the Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory in 1981 where he was trained in questioned document examination. He continued to work in London when the Metropolitan Police Laboratory became part of the Forensic Science Service in 1996. He became one of the senior document examiners responsible for dealing with serious crime, including counterterrorism, cases. In 2010 he left the London Laboratory when the Questioned Documents Section there was closed and continues to work as an independent consultant.

Lynda's new novel Vanished is out on March 31st 2022 in hardback, ebook and audiobook.

Discover more at: www.lyndalaplante.com/listening-to-the-dead/

Credits

This podcast was made by Bonnier Books UK

Host & Director: Jon Watt

Producer: Laura Makela

Sound Engineer: Chris Attaway

Theme music: Game Over by Magic in the Other

End music: Sweeney by Mike Relm