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The Crimes

Crime Files

The Crimes

They call some people animals...animals? I don’t know…But… he was inhuman

Vic Brough, criminal sketch artist

THE WEDDING DAY MURDERSDore, South Yorkshire is an affluent suburb of Sheffield situated on the edge of the Peak District. It’s an area equally loved by tourists and locals.

It’s Saturday 23 October 1983. Hutchinson’s been on the run for three weeks.He’s mobile but his injured knee still bothers him. He is now fifty miles south of the Selby Court from which he escaped.He enters the village of Dore.

“We’ve never really understood why Hutchinson went there of all the places he could have done. He’d no reason to go there.”Alan Whitehouse, Yorkshire Post Reporter

Two very happy parents are hosting a wedding reception in their garden. They couldn’t be more proud. Just a few hours before they’d witnessed the marriage of their daughter. Now everyone is gathered in a marquee in their garden.Among the many happy friends and family is the bride’s 28-year-old brother. He hopes to follow his mother’s career and become a doctor. Also present in the house is an 18-year-old woman.

Despite the autumnal date, the rain stays away and the sun shines for wedding photos outside. In one, the father of the bride is wearing tails and holds a drink. The bride’s mother sports a bright orange dress and fascinator. It’s impossible to tell which of them is happier.Later, they all wave their daughter and her husband off on their honeymoon.And as the last guests leave, they make a start at clearing up. Father puts on his pyjamas and mother prepares for bed.

Ever the opportunistic criminal, Hutchinson enters through a faulty patio door.He stabs the couple’s son to death first.

“It didn’t matter who got in his way because he would destroy them”Mick Burdis, Detective Chief Inspector, South Yorkshire Police

His father hears a commotion and investigates. At the top of the stairs, Hutchinson stabs him three times. The father’s body falls down the stairs.Hutchinson enters their bedroom. Mother tries to resist. But Hutchinson’s attack is so savage, there is only one possible outcome. One of the family will be found to have tried to stop the stabbing by grabbing the blade. Instead, the blade slices to the bones of their fingers.

“...this is somebody who is not only capable of breathtaking violence...he literally revels in his cruelty...Hedonistic and entirely callous.”Kerry Daynes, Forensic Psychologist

Hutchinson then turns his attention to the 18-year-old female who is also in the house. At knifepoint, he makes her walk downstairs, stepping over the body of the older man. He then ties her up. His T-shirt is stained with the blood of the family. Resistance would be fatal.He repeatedly rapes her.Why he leaves this last witness alive will never be explained.

What is known is that at some point he is on her bed upstairs. As he kneels on it, his injured knee starts to bleed and it seeps through the bandage staining the bed.

Once he has finished, Hutchinson helps himself to champagne and cheese.He then discards the bottle and puts the cheese back in the fridge.He leaves his rape victim tied up and exits.

Arthur Hutchinson is about to become the most wanted man in Britain.

“He was an insignificant man who felt that he’d not had the chances in life that perhaps he should have had and this was a way of drawing attention to himself...and when he got it, he revelled in it.”Alan Whitehouse, Yorkshire Post Reporter