The Arrest

Friday 2 January 1981. Sergeant Robert Ring is on routine patrol with a colleague. He sees a woman in a car with a man and suspects a prostitute and client encounter. Olivia tells Sergeant Ring that the man in her car is her boyfriend. Ring thinks he remembers her for prostitution offences. Sutcliffe says his name is Peter Williams. He adds he’s desperate for the toilet. Ring allows him to go behind a storage tank.The police find the car’s license plates are false. And Peter admits so is the name he has given. He says he’s really Peter Sutcliffe. He’s detained overnight. Police notice Sutcliffe’s physical similarity to the Ripper profile. His blood test shows he’s blood group B, one of few the indisputable forensic details and relatively rare in the general population.

Sergeant Ring returns to the scene of his arrest. Sutcliffe hadn’t emptied his bladder. He’d emptied his pockets of a ball-peen hammer and a knife.Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield, though not officially on the case, is invited to witness the unfolding events.On Sunday 4 January, Sutcliffe confesses.The Yorkshire Ripper calmly gives a 15 hour statement recounting his crimes. He claims that back when he was a 20-year-old gravedigger, the voice of God had commanded he kill prostitutesFinally, after confessing all, he requests to be allowed to inform his wife of his actions.The following exchange occurred between them at Dewsbury police station.Sonia:  “What on earth is going on, Peter?”Sutcliffe: “It’s me, I’m the Yorkshire Ripper. I killed all those women.”Sonia:  “What on earth did you do that for Peter?”The police press conference is called at 9pm. The euphoria of the police is barely disguised.Only the press questions on whether the killer has a Geordie accent dampens their elatio