Ever since the Jack the Ripper murders caused panic and hysteria within the general public, there has grown a tiny fraction of humanity who feel the need to fan the flames of hysteria by creating hoax letters to the press or authorities.
Many even believe the Jack the Ripper letters to be nothing more than a cruel hoax, created by an unknown hand to stir the, already boiling, cauldron of fear, or to add pressure to the investigating police officers.
One of the most famous examples of this kind of hoax takes many influences from the Jack the Ripper letters. Those which appeared during the murders of his namesake, Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, were similar in style, and were even sent to similar recipients.
Two of the three “original” Jack the Ripper letters were sent to the investigating authorities, and one to the press. A pattern copied by the sender of the communications which came to be known as the work of “Wearside Jack.”
They were also similar in their taunting content. Below is a transcript of the “Wearside Jack” letter sent to one of the UK’s largest tabloid newspapers, the Daily Mirror.
Posted from Sunderland on March 13, 1978
Dear Sir,
I have already written Chief Constable, Oldfield “a man I respect” concerning the recent Ripper murders. I told him and I am telling you to warn them whores I’ll strike again and soon when heat cools off. About the Mcdonald lassie, I did nt know that she was decent and I am sorry I changed my routine that night, Up to murder 8 now You say but remember Preston 75.
Easy picken them up dont even have to try, you think theyre learn but they dont Most are young lassies, next time try older one I hope. Police haven’t a clue yet and I don’t leave any I am very clever and don’t think of looking for any fingerprints cause there arent any and dont look for me up in Sunderland cause I not stupid just passed through the place not bad place compared with Chapeltown and manningham can’t walk the streets for them whore, Dont forget warn them I feel it coming on again if I get the chance. Sorry about lassie I didn’t know.
Yours respectfully
Jack the Ripper
Might write again after another ones’ gone. Maybe Liverpool or even Manchester again, to hot here in Yorkshire, Bye. I have given advance warning so its yours and their’s fault.
The letters were eventually discovered to have been sent by a man named John Humble, who remained undetected by police until 2005, he was convicted of perverting the course of justice a year later.
Along with the three letters, Humble also sent an audio tape, which was so chillingly convincing that detectives were convinced that it was from the killer. Expert linguists pinpointed the accent of the man on tape to be a Wearside accent, which led police to concentrate their search for the killer much further north.
How much ground was lost, and how many more victims lost their lives directly as a cause of this hoax can never be accurately calculated, but it is obvious that the integrity of the whole police operation was damaged.
The apprehension of John Humble eventually happened a few years after the case was officially closed. Senior Officers from West Yorkshire’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team decided to review the case, and soon a piece of gummed envelope was found in a forensic laboratory where it had been preserved for decades.
DNA was taken from the segment of envelope, and matched to John Humble, from Wearside who had been arrested for being drunk and disorderly in 2000.
When Humble was arrested, he was so drunk that police officers had to wait for several hours before he was sober enough to interview, at which time he confessed to sending the letters and cassette tape.
He denied perverting the course of justice, and his legal team pushed for a lesser charge of wasting police time.
Humble appeared ashamed of his actions for the most part, and admitted that the hoax was simply a quest for notoriety.
However, a BBC documentary later claimed that he had been arrested for assaulting a police officer in 1975, and had carried a grudge against the police ever since.
Humble was tried at Leeds Crown Court in January 2006 and initially pleaded not guilty. He eventually changed his plea to guilty to the four charges of perverting the course of justice.
His defence Barristers painted a picture of an “inadequate life”, several suicide attempts, and a long battle with alcoholism. This was not enough, however, to sway the mind of the judge, and on the 26th March 2006, Humble was sentenced to eight years imprisonment.
The mother of one of Peter Sutcliffe’s victims said “I think it started off as a hoax, but he should have realised that he was misdirecting police and causing criminal damage to people.”
On his arrest, Peter Sutcliffe said of the hoax: “I saw the letters and tape as a diversion, something that drew attention away from me completely.
“I thought that God had intervened, that it was a sign to carry on.”
Since John Humble’s conviction, he has begun correspondence with Peter Sutcliffe, who replied: “Three of the murders were your fault. You have blood on your hands.”
He then suggested that they should meet.
Below is a four part documentary on the “Wearside Jack” case.
Red Ink Letters 