Striking Again

After a threat, a kill

"I reckon your boys are letting you down, George. Can't be much good, can you? ... I'm not quite sure when I will strike again, but it will definitely be some time this year, maybe September or October -- even sooner if I get the chance." That taunting 260-word tape-recorded message was mailed to Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield of the West Yorkshire police in June. In it, the twisted murderer known as the "Yorkshire Ripper" vowed that he would soon add to his string of eleven brutal killings. Last week he kept his word.

After drinking with friends at a pub in Bradford -- a West Yorkshire industrial town ten miles west of Leeds, where the Ripper had struck twice before -- Sociology Student Barbara Leach, 20, went out for a stroll near the University of Bradford. After listening to the recording of the Ripper's threat, she had promised her worried parents that she would never go out alone at night. But this time, she took the chance. She never got home again. After she had been missing for 40 hours, her mutilated body, partly covered by an old piece of carpet, was found in the rubbish-strewn backyard of a rundown rooming house. It bore the Ripper's trademark: a distinctive pattern of vicious wounds that the police have not revealed.

To track down the Ripper, nine of whose victims were prostitutes, police have mounted the biggest manhunt in British history. Since the killer claimed his eleventh victim in April, a 300-man "Ripper squad" has scoured the "triangle of terror" in West Yorkshire and Lancashire, where the murders have taken place. Using information provided by sev eral women who survived his assault, police have circulated a description of a powerfully built suspect between 30 and 45. Authorities are also trying to take advantage of the fact that British accents can be very distinctive. Experts who have analyzed the Ripper's flat, unemotional voice believe he may come from Sunderland in the county of Tyne and Wear in northeastern England, about 100 miles from where the killings have taken place. By studying a footprint found near the body of one victim, the police have determined the suspect's shoe size. They may also have detected his blood type in a way that has not been disclosed. But so far the dragnet has failed to turn up the clue that will lead to the killer's capture.

Meanwhile, the Ripper has become Britain's best-known unknown man. Thousands of people have listened to his chilling recorded threat on a special phone line police set up in the hope that someone would recognize the Ripper's voice. British tabloids have been filled with lurid accounts of his grisly deeds. Streetwalkers in the Ripper's favorite stalking grounds have been advised to remain indoors, and, to the chagrin of their customers, some are taking the advice. One thing is all but certain: the Ripper will call again.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.