Peter William Sutcliffe 2 June β 13 November , also known as Peter Coonan , was an English serial killer who was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others between and Sutcliffe was sentenced to twenty concurrent sentences of life imprisonment , which were converted to a whole life order in Two of his murders took place in Manchester ; all the others took place in West Yorkshire.
Criminal psychologist David Holmes characterised Sutcliffe as being an "extremely callous, sexually sadistic serial killer. Sutcliffe initially attacked women and girls in residential areas, but appears to have shifted his focus to red-light districts because he was attracted by the vulnerability of prostitutes and the perceived ambivalent attitude of police to prostitutes' safety.
Sutcliffe confessed to being the perpetrator, saying that the voice of God had sent him on a mission to kill prostitutes.
At his trial he pleaded not guilty to murder on grounds of diminished responsibility , but was convicted of murder on a majority verdict. Following his conviction, Sutcliffe began using his mother's maiden name of Coonan. The search for Sutcliffe was one of the largest and most expensive manhunts in British history.
West Yorkshire Police faced heavy and sustained criticism for their failure to catch Sutcliffe despite having interviewed him nine times in the course of their five-year investigation.
