• YORKSHIRE RIPPER HOAXER

DESCRIPTION

His campaign of deception began with a letter to the Yorkshire Ripper investigation unit in 1978.  More letters followed and then a taped message with inside knowledge of how and where the killer plied his deadly trade.  Then the real ripper, Peter Sutcliffe who had been mentioned as a suspect before, was removed from the search as he had the 'wrong' accent and handwriting. Tragically this elimination allowed Sutcliffe to continue his reign of terror, killing three more women before eventually confessing.

This chilling programme exposes one of the most notorious hoaxes in UK criminal history. It stalled the investigation for years but finally in 2005 a new cutting edge police enquiry solved the mystery of the Ripper Hoaxer.  And after rigorous DNA testing the results generated a DNA profile that matched a petty thief from Sunderland. 

The deception carried on for over two decades and ended with an eight year jail sentence for a small time crook from Sunderland.  But why did John Humble begin his reign of deception?

EPISODE GUIDE

  • Yorkshire Ripper Hoaxer: Episode 1
    Police interviews and family testimonies reveal the inside story of one of the most controversial hoaxes in criminal history.
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National Geographic Channel