Peter Sutcliffe was the newly-married former grave digger whose brutal reign of terror instilled unshakeable worry in the North of England as police failed to pick up the clues in their pursuit of the notorious murderer known as the Yorkshire Ripper. In all, 13 women were killed and seven more were viciously attacked, although police remain convinced the Yorkshire Ripper’s grim roll call of female victims remains higher. They were teenage girls, shop assistants, prostitutes, clerks. They were mothers, daughters, sisters, wives. And the broad spectrum of victims from various walks of life meant that no woman was safe with Sutcliffe at large. This is the timeline of Sutcliffe's twisted life: the attacks leading to his arrest and imprisonment and the name of every victim who had their lives brutally taken away by the killer:
13.
Marguerite Walls (pictured), a 47-year-old civil servant from Farsley, was murdered on August 20, 1980 when walking home from work. The 13th and final known victim of Sutcliffe was student Jacqueline Hill. Her body was found on wasteland near the Arndale centre in Headingley on November 16, 1980.
14.
Sutcliffe was finally caught in January 1981 when police ran a routine check on his car (pictured) to discover the number plates were stolen. His passenger was 24-year-old street worker Olivia Reivers – detectives later discovered a hammer and a knife nearby. Their search was over.
15.
Despite a 24-hour-long confession to the killings, Sutcliffe entered not-guilty pleas when charged with the murder of 13 women and attempted murder of seven others at Dewsbury Magistrates Court. Photo: PA Wire
16.
It led to an Old Bailey trial during which he claimed he was on a mission from God to kill prostitutes. In May 1981, he was found guilty via a majority verdict on all 13 counts. He was jailed for 20 life terms, with the judge recommending a minimum sentence of 30 years. Photo: Mike Hayward
17.
Sutcliffe was transferred from Parkhurst prison on the Isle of Wight to Broadmoor secure hospital in Berkshire (pictured) in 1984 after he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. More than two decades later, a secret report revealed that Sutcliffe probably committed more crimes than the 13 murders and seven attempted murders for which he was convicted. Photo: Mike Cowling
18.
He left Broadmoor and moved back into mainstream prison in 2016, serving at Frankland Prison, Durham. He was taken to hospital in October 2020 after suffering a suspected heart attack and returned to the University Hospital of North Durham (pictured) a fortnight later having contracted Covid-19. He had a number of underlying health conditions. Photo: Anna Gowthorpe/PA Wire