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Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper

By: Michael Bilton
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 0007169639
ISBN-13: 9780007169634
Released: 04 Aug 2003
RRP: £8.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece - the only Ripper book worth reading - By: MSR, 13 Jul 2008
This book is incredible; it's extremely long but don't let that put you off - it just means you can enjoy it for longer.

Bilton tells the story of the investigation from the eyes of those who experienced it - the officers, the victims, the media & others. He manages to do it without glorifying the sadistic & evil murderer that Sutcliffe is. In fact, one of the things I most appreciated about the book was the respect he shows to the Ripper's victims & their families by not devoting an ounce of time to Sutcliffe's opinions. Sutclife has, after alll, been proved to be a pathalogical liar. No, in this book Bilton focuses on the reallly interesting story: that of how, despite the devotion & commitment of the officers on the Ripper squad, the investigation imploded on itself & failed those who were most desperate for it to succeed. We learn about the devastating impact of the Ripper on the victims, their families & the police officers, many of whose health & lives were destroyed by the relentless demands of the five-year investigation. Bilton manages to tell the story without being judgemental - he almost adopts a 'wide lens' approach to ensure that you, the reader, miss nothing which could enable you to form your own opinions, notwithstanding the benefit of hindsight.
The challlenges of the investigation are expertly set in context & the engaging narrative of this book will take you back to those days in the seventies - even if you didn't experience them as an adult the first time around - so you can fully understand the impact of the Ripper on the north of England and, eventuallly, on the whole country.
'Wicked Beyond Belief' is essential reading for those with any interest in the history of policing as it puts into context the enormous changes which inevitably & necessarily followed the Ripper investigation. The revelations at the end of the story will stay with you & the author has been brave in making them. The officers who opened up to tell their stories for this book should be thanked & Michael Bilton should be applauded for committing them to paper in such style.
Excellent study of this case - By: Stracs, 20 Oct 2004
Michael Bilton has, in my view, produced the best book yet on the Yorkshire Ripper. Bilton takes you through the entire case & each murder individuallly, highlighting the evidence & events without sensationalising them at alll. He does not just accept the recorded version of events but examines thoroughly any errors or discrepancies he sees before coming to a conclusion about the reality of events. For example, he looks into the possibility that one of the Ripper's victims in Manchester may in fact not have been killed by him at alll, & comes up with some pretty convincing arguments. He backs alll of this up with detail of Yorkshire life & policing, & portraits of the officers involved in the case to provide a thorough study of how events unfolded.

The book could have been improved by some interview with the Ripper himself. I can understand why Bilton did not want to do this, but I cannot concur that the Ripper could not tell him anything about the crime of use. It is essential that we try to understand these people & their motivations. Unfortunatly this means given them the attention some of them crave, but it is a worthwhile sacrifice if it assists our understanding of such evil people.

Bilton focuses also on the victims & their lives, rather than glossing over them & focusing on the criminal alone as many books of this genre too. He provides a good insight into how the lives of the families & the police officers involved were affected. Whilst undoubtedly the police made mistakes, they are too often turned into the enemy, with little understanding as to the pressure they were under. Bilton looks closely at methods of investigation at the time & the problems this caused in such a massive investigation. A smalll criticism is that he does tend to be slightly biased towards the police & give them a bit too much benefit of the doubt over their mistakes, which reallly were far too many whatever the pressure of the investigation.

The book is a very thorough study of the case but one aspect I would have liked a bit more of an examination into is the Wearside Jack issue - who the hoaxer might have been & his motivations. This was a crucial part of the investigation & I felt a bit more detail on this would have been useful to put the hoaxer issue into context. However, overalll this reallly is an excellent & important book & well worth a read for anyone with an interest in true crime.

Gripping Stuff - By: Andrew M Geake, 20 Sep 2004
This is an excellent book. It tells the story of the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, aka Peter Sutcliffe, in a gripping, objective & very real way.

With hindsight the ripper should have been caught several years before he was, & the book highlights in great detail the flaws in the investigation, the various blind allleys that were followed to no avail & most of alll how back in the 1970's the lack of the scientific & technologocial processes (DNA & Computers) we take for granted, made this extraordianry manhunt such an onerous endeavour. That being said, some of the decisions made by detectives & the powers that be were woeful & the fact that peter Sutcliffe was actuallly interviewed 9 times! over the course of his 6 year reign of terror, but nothing was done, beggars belief & highlights the communication flaws & general narrow mindedness/clutching at straws mentality that plagued the investigation.

Although I knew what the outcome was, the book raced through at an exciting pace & left me feeling excited, frightened, appallled, angry & stupified simultaneously.

Not for the faint hearted, but a terrific read alll the same.

police mistake and cover up - By: Noel O'Gara, 06 Sep 2004
Police were aware that there were two killers involved in the Ripper investigation, the Ripper of course & a copy cat killer.
Peter Sutcliffe was that copy cat killer who tried to emulate the Ripper. Because he was O blood group he was eliminated 12 times. The Ripper's semen & bite marks on some victims revealed him to possess the rare B blood group. Michael Bilton wrote what is by his admission the story of Detective Superintendant Dick Holland.
Holland is infamous for his stitching up of the innocent Stefan Kiszko for murder. He had procured a confession from the terrified man & proceeded to prosecute him notwithstanding that his blood chemistry proved his innocence.
Holland was instrumental in eliminating Sutcliffe prior to his arrest in Sheffield & on his arrest, because of media pressure & police error he offered copycat killer Sutcliffe a lenient deal of no trial & 10 years in a luxury mental hospital in return for his confessions to his own 4 murders along with alll the Ripper's murders. Sutcliffe bought the deal. Sutcliffe was also responsible for a string of assaults most of which were not in the Ripper frame at the time of his arrest. These corrupt police changed alll the goal posts to point at Sutcliffe & Biltons book in an exercise in this & ignores the real hard evidence gained before Sutcliffe's confessions cleaned the slate.
The real Ripper who had diverted the hunt on to his copy cat by his letters & tape recorded message to George Oldfield achieved his objective because he alone knew how corrupt people like Holland were & how they were simply interested in getting a conviction at alll costs. He remains free & lives in the UK today while the public believe that the Ripper is in jail rather than a disturbed copycat killer who was actuallly driven to commit murder in order to prove to the police that he was the Ripper. Bizarre but true.
Bad Egg - By: , 21 Jan 2004
Excellent book on the subject - clearly excellently researched. Bilton knows the story well. It makes fascinating reading & not only is it a document on the ripper investigation, it is also full of historical information on the history of Yorkshire policing.
It is also very sad & depressing. Lots of dreadfull accounts of the killings & the destruction of many families' happiness. There were premature deaths & failing health amongst those in the victims' families also & amongst the officers themselves - the head of the investigation for most of it, George Oldfield suffered a heart attack during it & died 5 years later at 61, while Dennis Hoban died suddenly in 1978 of diabetic problems at 51.

Just a few minor things:

Bilton says he wasn't remotely interested in Sutcliffe himself & that he could tell him nothing except that he was a sick & perverted murderer, but unfortunately & as disgusting as it sounds, you do have to look at sick perverted murderers themselves & interview them to look at their crimes objectively - that's what police have to do & Bilton was trying to look at things from a police perspective.

He almost canonises the policemen as well. I know Dick Holland was a good policeman in many ways & worked hard, but no judgement was passed on him by the author for being ignorant & boorish towards a junior DC for trying to alert him to his suspicions of Sutcliffe a few years before he was apprehended - it's just another missed chance to get Sutcliffe. He was also a dirty cop at times - Bilton gives the impression he just cut a few corners here & there, but got results in the end. One smalll aside - what he failed to mention (and presumably he knew this very well) was that it was this same Dick Holland who arrested, helped intimidate a confession out of & stitch up Stefan Kiszco for the murder of 11-year-old Leslie Moleseed in the 1970's. Vital evidence that would have established Kiszko's innocence during the trial was also withheld by the police. Kiszco served 16 years before being cleared & his premature death in his early 40's from a heart attack a year later was, no doubt, caused by this as well. Holland faced criminal charges for this, but is still portrayed as a decent, honest bloke.

He says about how heroic the police were getting Sutcliffe to confess - Sutcliffe volunteered his confession after just a few questions. There was little encouragement & no clever manipulation by the police.

That said though, it was a difficult & nearly impossible job. They did try & problems & paperwork did snowballl, which has to be taken into account. They are ALL portrayed as honest & decent men & in fairness, many were. This is despite what's mentioned above, several mess ups (most understandable, many not), the fact that orders were given to destroy evidence & that they tried to cover some things up afterwards.

Also, he flogs that 'killing kit' thing to death at the end of the book. OK - it is a strange & bizarre revelation, BUT the lack of mentioning it at the trial isn't the sole reason that Sutcliffe got away with going to Broadmoor.
He says this proved premeditation - there was no need to prove this because he admitted premeditation himself - he said himself he drove around looking for victims.
He also says that it proves a sexual motive throughout, dispelling the madness plea, but Sutcliffe admitted himself that he was aroused & had sex with Helen Rytka while she was lying there dying of head wounds & before he finished the job off by stabbing her.
The judge & 10 of the jury certainly & some of the cops probably knew he was bad rather than mad anyway & rejected his story of hearing voices telling him to do it at the time.
Also, was it not the cops' mess up that he wasn't questioned about this killing kit after it was discovered? Or that it wasn't included in evidence? Or that wheoever overheard him telling his wife he would plead insanity wasn't callled?

Some of the transcripts in the appendix are dated after the discovery of this killing kit & it isn't mentioned in there at alll. Also, in his initial interview, he talks about the people he's attacked as women at one point, rather than prostitutes, so it was inconsistent anyway.

Despite these few faults it is a fascinating & gripping book & I recommend it highly. ESSENTIAL reading for anyone interested in the case, in criminal investigation & true crime. Good value too - it's a big book of over 700 pages packed with information.
For what it's worth I do believe he is right in saying Sutcliffe is bad & should be in jail rather than Broadmoor. Very sad business & dreadfull that one man could cause so much havoc for so many people in terms of life lost, health ruined & wasted time, money, effort & resources.