The Long Shadow

I've just binged watched the whole series on ITV X.
Absolutely brilliant.
Portrayed West Yorkshire Police in a light I had never seen before.
Policing in the 70s was very much like this.
However the victims and families, how harsh was it for them.
The girl who it took 6 years to qualify for criminal injuries claim,as she were told it couldn't have been Sutcliffe. She received 17.5 k ,then had her benefits stopped as these are means tested.
Head of police sold his story and received 40k from the Daily Mail.
I didn't realise Sutcliffe had been caught with offensive weapons in 1969 ,and was interviewed 9 f#%$^&* times.
He didn't have a North East accent .
But police was told by the surviving victims he had a West Yorkshire accent.
And the photo fit pictures they had produced were incredibly likeness to Sutcliffe.
A must watch .

 

Netflix produced a very good four-part documentary about it called The Ripper which is worth a watch.

 

The long shadow its called
But the police were shocking as you say 9 times he was questioned.

 

I’m up to part 6 and yes, it’s a brilliant telling of an awful story. The incompetence of those running the investigation was staggering.

 

I always thought misstakes had been made ,however the arrogance and complete utter regard for the victims and survivors families.
Then to see afterwards basic errors which could have caught the monster before their loved ones had suffered, was shocking.
The son who had lost his sister through suicide after his Mum had been murdered.
Who had gone on to present motivational speaking through his experience was humbling.
And in the future I will never ever describe him as the Yorkshire ripper.
He is Peter Sutcliffe the monster.

 

Thanks changed it

 

Kate Kelly at her usual brilliant self, Shaun Dooley with a cameo role at the end.

 

You did well there......it's on ITV.

 

Only watched 2 up to now but it’s a great watch so far & there’s some top actors in it

 

Your right I did watch it on ITV X, I should have remembered with the annoying adverts in-between, old age and poverty tha knows.
Thanks for the clarification though.

 

My boss at the time came from a small village nr Middlesbrough. travelled from Wakefield to tarn and everytime the police did a roadside checkpoint he got detained. despite not looking anything like the photo fit...

 

It’s a really well made drama series and highlights the importance of not getting tunnel vision - the times were very different then but it doesn’t excuse the way the victims were treated. It is however very unlikely that Sutcliffe would have been lost in the system these days as there are vast improvements in technologies used to assist investigators he would have lit up like a neon sign much much earlier, all of which are as a result of the failings in this very enquiry

 

Top edit cocker ;-)..........sithi.

 

The problem was the Police believed the hoax tape from John Humble.
I knew a Bobby that was present at Humble's interview... he said that Humble denied it until the Police told him that they even knew that he'd recorded it in his kitchen.. apparently forensics had found traces of Birds Custard powder on the tape.

 

It was a bit of a red herring.
Although not an excuse to dismiss suspects without a North East accent.

 

Thanks for the share - something to watch in the future.

I can remember watching a good three part documentary on BBC4 a few years back called 'The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story' which outlined the incompetance and misogyny prevalent within the Police at the time - you couldn't make it up.

 

Going try and find that.
The documentary I watched previous showed the mistakes
But Jesus some of the Misogyny present at that time was just appaling.
I had almost blanked that out.

 

My old man was questioned twice, as were a lot of Bradford men.

But 9 times, with all the clues, beggers belief.