26/10/2005

Ripper hoax accused remanded

A man accused of being the Yorkshire Ripper hoaxer known as ‘Wearside Jack’ has been remanded in custody until the New Year.

Leeds Crown Court refused John Humble, 49, from Flodden Road on the Ford Estate in Sunderland, bail on Wednesday.

Mr Humble, who has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, is due to reappear in court on January 9.

He is accused of being behind the hoax letters and tape, which misled the investigation into the Yorkshire Ripper murders of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Two letters and tape were sent to Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield, who led the investigation into the Ripper murders, while a third letter was sent to the ‘Daily Mirror’ newspaper, between March 1978 and June 1979.

The tape, which featured a man with a strong Sunderland accent, directed the police’s attention to Sunderland in the search for the Yorkshire Ripper.

The real Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, who was from Bradford, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 13 women in 1981. He was later judged to be criminally insane and is now being held in Broadmoor secure hospital in Berkshire.

(KMcA/SP)

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20 March 2006
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23 February 2006
Man admits to 'Wearside Jack' hoax
A man has admitted to being the Yorkshire Ripper hoaxer known as Wearside Jack at Leeds Crown Court today. However, John Humble, 50, a former labourer from Sunderland, has denied intending to pervert the course of justice.