'Yorkshire Ripper' Slayer Confesses

Facts on File World News Digest

May 1, 1981

Copyright 1981 Facts on File, Inc.

Section: OTHER NATIONS; Great Britain

Length: 223 words

Body

A 35-year-old truck driver charged in the British "Yorkshire Ripper" murders confessed at his trial April 29 to killing
13 women and attempting to murder seven others. [See p. 7A2]

The alleged slayer, Peter Sutcliffe, pleaded guilty to manslaughter "on the grounds of diminished responsibility."
However, he pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.

"Diminished responsibility," which had no direct parallel in American criminal law, was a plea that applied to
situations in which a person committed a crime when he was temporarily not in command of his faculties but still
sane. That plea could be invoked when a person acted out of a sudden passion or was temporarily deranged.
Under British law, when a defendant pleading diminished responsibility was found guilty, a judge had the option of
sending him either to a mental hospital or to a prison.

The head of the prosecution team in the case, Attorney General Sir Michael Havers, was asked by the trial judge to
explain in "greater detail than usual" the grounds for the plea, which apparently was related to Sutcliffe's mental
condition. However, under British law, no account of that information could be published. The judge also ordered a
jury impaneled in the case.

Sutcliffe was charged initially with the murder of a 20-year-old student.The other murder charges were filed later.

Classification
Language: ENGLISH

Subject: MURDER (94%); NEGATIVE PERSONAL NEWS (92%); ADMISSIONS & CONFESSIONS (90%);
CRIME, LAW ENFORCEMENT & CORRECTIONS (90%); INSANITY DEFENSE (90%); JUDGES (90%); TRAFFIC
ACCIDENTS (90%); VOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER (90%); CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS (78%); GUILTY PLEAS
(78%); JURY TRIALS (78%); LITIGATION (78%); MANSLAUGHTER (78%); VERDICTS (78%); CRIMINAL LAW
(76%); NEWS BRIEFS (73%); SUITS & CLAIMS (72%); MENTAL ILLNESS (68%); ATTORNEYS GENERAL (67%)

Industry: TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS (90%); PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS (53%)

Geographic: UNITED KINGDOM (90%)

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'Yorkshire Ripper' Slayer Confesses

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