It's easy to miss things.
Last Friday, when I visited Bradford, I was very close to the house shown at the top of this blogpost. It was the marital home of one of Britain's most infamous mass murderers - Peter William Sutcliffe whose tabloid nickname was The Yorkshire Ripper. He killed at least thirteen women and was at large between 1969 and 1981. He terrorised the north of England until he was caught here in Sheffield in January 1981.
He married Sonia Szuma in 1974 and a few years later they were able to buy the house on Garden Lane in the Heaton district of Bradford. I understand that Sonia Sutcliffe, at the age of 74, still lives in that house. It may seem ghoulish I know but I would have liked to walk down Garden Lane to snap a picture of my own. The image at the top was snipped from Google Streetview.
It is tempting to wonder what drove Peter Sutcliffe to commit his terrible acts. So much has been written about him but when it comes to motivation a lot of the verbiage is pure speculation - guesswork. Sonia was a respectable primary school teacher but nearly all of The Ripper's victims were prostitutes. The couple never had any children though Sonia suffered an unknown number of miscarriages. At some stage she was judged by health services to be impaired by paranoid schizophrenia.
After this past Wednesday's visit to Barnsley, I realised I had missed something else and was reminded of this by blog chum Dave in County Cork, Ireland. It wasn't a murderer's house I had missed but the statue of a boy from a novel holding a kestrel.
The novel concerned is "Kes" or "A Kestrel for a Knave" by the late Barry Hines. The hero he created in that book was a teenage boy called Billy Casper - born into an obscure and challenging life on a Barnsley social housing estate. Billy had nothing going for him but he managed to train a young kestrel. I sometimes say that if you want to understand the real England you should read "Kes". The statue is located on Cheapside in Barnsley. I must have been within twenty five yards of it.
So frustrating. I can see that another day trip to Barnsley will be required.
As much as I try to prepare ahead of time for trips so I don't miss things, I still do. I suppose that is just an excuse necessary to return sometime in the future.
ReplyDeleteMy two examples prove that a little more research BEFORE the trip might be sensible.
DeleteA great part of me is fascinated by The Ripper and his house, but I feel like I should be more interested in the Kestrel story.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I'm slightly [?] ghoulish.
Join The Ghouls Club Bob!
DeleteI'm not familiar with Barry Hines so now I'll have to look for this story.
ReplyDeleteIt might mean more to Jean.
DeleteI wonder if The Ripper's wife ever knew what he was up to and was too afraid to leave him? That statue is a lovely thing.
ReplyDeleteBy all accounts Sonia Sutcliffe was a very strange fish - not some sweet, shrinking violet.
DeleteThanks for mentioning me YP. How befitting that Barry Hines should have a statue for his kitchen sink drama " Kes". It's a brilliant book and film and depicts nineteen sixties working class life and sheer escapism for Billy and his kestrel friend. It even became essential reading for the national curriculum. It would be good to see more statues championing working class people.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how kids in public schools in The Home Counties reacted to "Kes".
DeleteIt is such a nice statue. If the photo was a larger, I could better make out the kestrel's face.
ReplyDeleteNext time I go to Barnsley I will aim to get better pictures of that statue.
DeleteIs that near The Alhambra? I have a vague recollection of that shopping center.
ReplyDeleteYes it is but the statue has only been there since 2021.
DeleteWhat a dreary house Peter Sutcliffe lived in. Why did he murder prostitutes? I suppose he was a woman hater, that saw in prostitutes the sad case that many of them were 'on the game' and did not have a family life to fall back on, they went unnoticed through society.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that there was an element of misplaced revenge because Sonia had failed to produce any children.
DeleteIn 1980 I'd just started studying at Sheffield University. I still remember the fear we felt as the ripper had murdered a student at Leeds University. The student union organised transport to take us back to our halls of residence and my parents paid for taxis, rather than let me walk home. We were jubilant and so relieved when Peter Sutcliffe was caught, frightening close to the University campus. Looking back, I wonder if Sutcliffe would have been caught sooner if most of his victims hadn't been prostitutes?
ReplyDeleteI was doing an evening creative writing course in The Arts Tower and I remember both the warning posters and the arrangements that women on my course had to make to get home. The fear in the air was palpable.
DeleteWe played a ceilidh to help raise funding for that.
ReplyDeleteWhat? The Ripper's house?
DeleteI've come across that book before, but I can't remember where. I've never read it. I don't think we even have it in our library. As for the Yorkshire Ripper's house, I guess it's human nature to be attracted to macabre locations and events. I feel bad for Sonia, married to a maniac and struggling with her own psychiatric issues. That can't have been an easy life.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been fascinating to be a fly upon their wall.
DeleteI have met a couple of murders in my life, interesting people - one was a good neighbor.
ReplyDeleteThere's a big difference between being a murderer and being a calculating mass murderer.
DeleteI think we watched a documentary on the Sutcliffe murders.
ReplyDeleteI was listening to a podcast the other day and the woman being interviewed is a diagnosed sociopath. She's also a psychologist. Very interesting to hear her perspective on growing up without so many of the "normal" human reactions to her own actions. She is not an evil person- she's not a murder, for instance, and has a husband and a family. She is quite self aware and has learned how to be a functioning and contributing member of society. I'm sure that Sutcliffe was on the FAR end of any sort of that spectrum.
I often wonder what makes a psychopath, reading about Sutcliffe's life growing up, pretty much nails it. So much pain and suffering in the world, and he caused so much more pain and suffering in the world.
ReplyDeleteI took a look at the trailer for "Kes" and I've ordered the book online. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI think you also missed the house where my dad was born.
ReplyDeleteOn Google, I found it interesting to find that Barry's book is based on his brother, Richard Hines, who did find his way in life by training kestrels. Richard's memoir is "No Way But Gentlenesse". Have you read that? Unfortunately, I can't find either of these books in my library.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter studied at Leeds and used to live in an area once frequented by the Yorkshire Ripper. Thank goodness he had already been caught long before then, but it used to send shivers down my spine. As you say, what drove him to it - a hatred of women or an attempt to clean up the streets of prostitution. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteI read a book about your Yorkshire Ripper a few years ago. What a terrifying couple of years that must have been for the poor women who worked the streets. I think I'd much prefer to read "Kes".
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I've overdosed on laughter today after checking your previous post. I watch at least one video of laughing babies every day, first thing in the morning. That's the best sound in the world!