"Between Me and God": Peter Sutcliffe's Prison Tapes

In prison recordings released with The Sun's branding, Peter Sutcliffe described the "voice" he said he heard at a Bingley grave, his arrest in Sheffield, and why he called his trial "a farce".

Subject

Peter William Sutcliffe

Runtime

10:01

Content warning: Sutcliffe describes attacks on women, including a girl he struck with a stick, and his claimed divine "mission" to kill.

The Recording

Peter Sutcliffe is not known to have given a filmed television interview, but in his last years people who visited and corresponded with him in prison kept recordings of their conversations. This ten-minute compilation of his voice carries the logo of The Sun, which in February 2022 serialised "I'm The Yorkshire Ripper", a book by Sun reporter Robin Perrie and Alfie James based on years of contact with Sutcliffe. It was posted on YouTube by a third party on February 23, 2022. Sutcliffe is the only clear voice.

Historical Context

Between 1975 and 1980 Sutcliffe murdered 13 women and attempted to murder seven others in West Yorkshire and the north of England. The police investigation was misled in 1979 by a hoax tape and letters sent by a man claiming to be the killer. Sutcliffe was arrested in Sheffield on January 2, 1981, after police stopped his car, which carried false number plates. He confessed days later. At his trial in May 1981 he denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, saying God had told him to kill; the prosecution was prepared to accept the plea, but the judge put the question to a jury, which convicted him of 13 murders. He was given 20 concurrent life sentences and, in 2010, a whole-life tariff.

Circumstances of the Recording

Who recorded the conversations, when, and whether Sutcliffe knew he was being recorded are not documented in the video. The compilation strings together short excerpts from different conversations, without the questions that prompted them, so the context of each remark is not known.

What the Recording Covers

Sutcliffe talks about his father's drinking, a fight at school, and nights out with friends. He describes hearing a voice at a grave in Bingley cemetery, a voice he says later told him he had "a mission to go and get rid of these people". He describes his suspicion that his wife, Sonia, had been seeing someone else, and an encounter with a sex worker that he links to his first attack. He describes attacks, including one in which he struck a girl and stopped, he says, because the voice told him it was "a mistake". He speaks warmly of Sonia's continued visits, describes how he hid his weapons when he was arrested in Sheffield, and says it was "a relief to get it off my chest". He calls the trial "a farce" and rejects the description of himself as a sexual predator.

What Makes the Recording Significant

Sutcliffe's police interviews of 1981 pre-date routine tape recording of interviews in England, and recordings of his voice reached the public only late: audio published by the Sunday Mirror in 2017, then in 2022 in Channel 5's "The Ripper Speaks: The Lost Tapes" and, apparently, by The Sun. These conversations preserve him explaining himself, at length and informally, years after his conviction, repeating the "mission from God" account that the jury rejected in 1981.

Archival Importance

Sutcliffe died in November 2020. Private recordings like these are the main record of him speaking about his crimes, his marriage and his trial.

Important Caveats

Everything Sutcliffe says is his own account. His claim of a divine mission was rejected by the jury, and his denial of any sexual motive is his claim. The upload is titled "Interview", but the recordings are private conversations, and the video is an edit of short excerpts. The uploader does not name a source; the video carries The Sun's "Exclusive" logo, and its link to the February 2022 serialisation is an inference. The women he attacked who survived are not named here.

Peter Sutcliffe: He was out boozing, or playing football or [unclear: "rugby" / "road building"] or something. He was never in, really. He never had a spare minute. From coming home from work, he was back out again, you know. Ignored the family, really. I've some really bad memories, we all did, of me dad, you know. Could be really nasty and drunk. He was a womanizer.

Peter Sutcliffe: Went back to school and kicked the seven shades of shit out of that bully that was bullying me. I had enough of it, and I went back to school as angry as anybody could be, you know. And I went up to him and kicked him and smacked him in the face, and then he fell over and I kicked him again, you know. And the headmaster wanted to know what it was all about, and I said, "That's why I'd been wagging school, for that prat." I said, "I'm not putting up with it any longer." Kept clear of me after that. I really sorted myself out.

Peter Sutcliffe: There was one big fellow picking on a mate of mine once, and I just grabbed hold of him and lifted him right up over me head, and he said, "Put me down, put me down." He was like a little kid. It was amazing I could do that. [unclear: "for a couple of times a week" / "friend a few times a week"]. We drew on the walls in the discotheque, gravestones and skull and crossbones and stuff, and wrote the graffiti [unclear: "Gazzaonion" / "dirty gazillion"] and all our names, written on the translucent bright green wall, you know. Go there every week.

Peter Sutcliffe: Thought some of the lads were having a bit of fun at first. And I got up and looked round, and couldn't see anybody. Nobody hiding in the bushes in the distance or behind any gravestone. I walked up the slope and heard it coming directly. It was like in a wonderland, you know, like a miracle happening. It was on this grave, and it said Bronisław Zapolski. I always remember that. I was awestruck. It was like an echoey voice, echoing, superimposed upon itself. Couldn't confide in anybody, me mother or [unclear: "our son" / "son"] or anybody. Between me and God.

Peter Sutcliffe: I called outside college in Bradford [unclear: "after" / "a filter" / "at Hilleter"]. A bit surprised to see me, and [unclear] when I was asking her about this person that gave her a lift, and she wasn't telling me anything, 'cause she thought, "Why don't I trust her," you know. And I told her that [unclear: "Mick had seen her" / "me could see her"] two or three days before, going on to Bingley in the car, and I was really having a go at her, you know, to find out what was going on, and she wouldn't answer. So I thought there was something fishy. She just couldn't believe that I doubted her, you know, 'cause she [unclear: "expected me to trust her" / "had spread give me a trust"], you see. And it was like a bull in a china shop. I should have been a bit more casual about it.

Peter Sutcliffe: So that's what led to me thinking she'd been with somebody, and led me to pick a prostitute up in the first place. I said, "I've changed me mind, I don't want to go through with it." So she said, "All right, well, you know, it'll still cost you." I said, "I don't mind." But I felt more sort of resentful than ever then. I felt really bad about the situation. I was intending just to have sex with somebody so that I wouldn't be blaming Sonia all the time. And I got back home and I got depression again.

Peter Sutcliffe: And then the voice came for the second time. Well, it had been talking, saying things, good, for about two years, but this time it was giving me advice that wasn't really good. Saying that there's a problem in society. "Don't you realize why you've had the good advice for two years? It's all been leading up to this. You've got a mission to go and get rid of these people." So that's how it all started. Turned from good advice to bad.

Peter Sutcliffe: So that's when I started on the first, uh, [unclear: "attack" / "account"], with a sock and a load of pebbles in it. And I went [unclear: "on the edge" / "on the end"]. It was a clumsy attack, proving it was me first attempt, 'cause the sock burst and the gravel flew out all over some parked cars. Just saw that she was a prostitute and just attacked.

Peter Sutcliffe: "How come you were in a place like that when you're under age?" He said they should have gone to the ballet or the opera, one or the other, and they [unclear: "showed that they had" / "should have had"] the tickets to go, and so I let them go out. They went round the pubs and discotheques instead.

Peter Sutcliffe: She stuck with me for many, many years, though, before she even thought of separation, and all credit to her. And then even after that, when I suggested she find somebody else, she still keeps coming to see me. So she really must have loved me a lot. Most women would have just washed their hands of somebody, but she knew me so well, personality and that, that she couldn't let go, you know.

Peter Sutcliffe: I didn't like it, 'cause [unclear: "I" / "he"] used to load the tyres on the trailer by hand, and they were full of water. You had the filthy water sloshing over you as you threw them up on the truck. Big lorry tyres as well, most of them.

Peter Sutcliffe: I thought she was a prostitute at first, walking slowly and that, and looking round. When I hit her on the head, and it just didn't knock her out, it was only a stick, and I threw her over a wall and said, "You'll be okay, I'm going," 'cause I realized that she wasn't a prostitute. She seemed fairly young, but I didn't know how young she was. I heard the voice saying, "No, no, it's a mistake. Stop, stop." So I just said, "Oh, you'll be all right, I'm going now," and that was it.

Peter Sutcliffe: I hated that title. But it didn't apply. It was just a fantasy and a nickname, to get the imaginations going.

Peter Sutcliffe: You've got to do everything you can for your mum, bless her, you know. When they've gone, you've lost them, then [unclear]. You often wish, "Wish I'd said this, or done that." Too late once they've gone. 'Cause I mean, they bring you up and everything, don't they? Feed you, clothe you, get you to school and everything, you know. And then some people don't care about the parents' condition or whatever, you know, they just ignore them altogether. It's not right, is it? It's important to do as much as you can. You only get one set of parents, don't you?

Peter Sutcliffe: He saw me attack her through the bedroom window. He was throwing something out, but it was dark, you see. So I thought, "Oh, I'll scarper," and I went down the snicket, and he went down the snicket and went across the road and knocked on a door. He must have thought I'd gone into a house there, but I didn't, you know. But I couldn't let him identify me.

Peter Sutcliffe: You can't argue with God. I firmly believed 100 percent it was God giving me instructions to do those things, and I believed it was the right thing. It was distracting the police and leading them astray, and I believed it all the time, it was protecting the mission, you know. And it kept saying to me, "Look after the mission. Don't tell anybody or anything. Don't even tell Sonia or your mother. Between you and your Creator." So I told nobody. God was in charge. He was conducting everything, and I knew everything would be all right. He misled the police several times, and I just knew it was a miracle happening every time, you know. But I was so able to be so calm when the police were questioning me, you know.

Peter Sutcliffe: I said, "Oh, I'm dying for a wee, so I'll just go for a wee." So I did, and I put these implements in behind [unclear: "a low bush" / "lower bush"]. I was going to throw them over the wall, 'cause there was some woods nearby, just over the wall, but I didn't, 'cause I thought it might make a noise and they might realize, you know. Didn't hear anything. They took me back to the police station in Sheffield, and then they searched me and didn't find anything, and then they realized, one of them realized that I'd gone for a wee, and so he went back there and looked.

Peter Sutcliffe: It was only by sheer fluke that I got caught. Wasn't through clever detective work. I told them, 'cause they said, "This tax disc doesn't belong to the car." I said, "It does." I said, "It's the number plates that are wrong, not the tax disc." But he tried to take credit for things which he didn't deserve. And they were too stupid to realize that there was all black tape round the edges of the number plates where they were taped on.

Peter Sutcliffe: Couldn't confide in anybody, me mother or [unclear: "our son" / "son"] or anybody. Between me and God, you know.

Peter Sutcliffe: Well, they had an idea. They had their suspicions, but they did not prove it until I told them. It was a relief for me, really. I know I was facing a long time inside, but it was a relief to get it off my chest.

Peter Sutcliffe: The whole thing was a farce anyway, as far as I'm concerned. It was just a [unclear: "pulling" / "plumbing"] farce, 'cause the Attorney General, Sir Michael Havers, agreed with the doctors, and he said to the judge, he says, "Your Honour, this will not be a full-scale trial. It will just be a hearing, a medical hearing, 'cause all the doctors on both sides are agreed 100 percent." And he said, "Oh," he said, "we'll see about that. I'll bring a jury in to decide." Where all that speculation comes from, 'cause of the judge overturning the agreements between the doctors. He overturned it and brought a jury in. And when they found me guilty of murder, it meant all those other things as well that are not true. You know, like, um, like he said, then, a sexual predator. Well, I'm not at all. I never have been. I was trying to stamp that sort of thing out when I was on my mission. They said it was a sex act to stab them in the chest or whatever. And, you know, that was ridiculous. They said that it was a sexual motive. Well, how else do you stab somebody, you know? [recording ends] ---