The Ripper hoax that cost £1 million and three innocent lives

As police struggled to even come close to catching the Yorkshire Ripper in the late 1970s, their investigation became hampered by one of the most notorious hoaxes in criminal history - the case of Wearside Jack.
John Humble.John Humble.
John Humble.

Although victims who were fortunate enough to survive Peter Sutcliffe's murderous rampage said he accent was clearly from Yorkshire, police were thrown by letters and a tape recording that arrived purporting to be from the killer.

The voice had a North East accent, and sent officers on a goose chase to find the man who was dubbed 'Wearside Jack'.

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The mystery of this man's identity remained in tact for decades, well after Sutcliffe was taken off the streets.

But thanks to DNA evidence investigators were able to track the tapes to John Humble in 2005 - an alcoholic from Sunderland who quickly admitted his involvement in the hoax.

He was jailed for eight years.

Humble, for reasons he never fully explained, delighted in taunting the press and detectives with letters and an infamous tape, anonymously claiming he was the killer who was terrifying northern England in the late 1970s.

He sent it to assistant chief constable George Oldfield in 1979, saying: “I’m Jack.

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“I have the greatest respect for you, George, but Lord, you’re no nearer catching me now than four years ago when I started.”

The ruse diverted resources from the streets of Yorkshire and the North West to Wearside.

Around £1 million was spent on adverts to try to help find him.

Dialect experts analysed the recordings and identified the exact area of Sunderland the suspect could be from, leading to 40,000 men in the North East being investigated.

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The tape and letters convinced officers because they included details which police, wrongly, believed had never been made public.

Though Sutcliffe had been questioned by police, his handwriting did not match that in the hoaxer’s letters.

Meanwhile, Sutcliffe killed three more women before he was caught by two officers in a red-light area of Sheffield in January 1981.

It later emerged that Humble had a grudge against police as a youth and an interest in the Jack the Ripper story.

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But he had felt guilt when the Ripper continued to kill after the tape arrived, telling police: “I blamed myself for it. That’s why I phoned in.

“They took no notice and another two got killed.”

During Humble’s case, it emerged that Sutcliffe had told police how the Wearside Jack hoax had helped him.

The killer said: “While ever that was going on, I felt safe.

“I’m not a Geordie. I was born at Shipley.”