In part 2, we are picking back up where we left off in our deep dive into the Yorkshire Ripper case. As Sutcliffe’s attacks became more frequent and brutal, the public response stayed disturbingly quiet, that is, until the murder of 16-year-old Jayne MacDonald. Because she didn’t fit the victim profile police had been focusing on, her death finally pushed the media and wider public to start paying attention.

We talk about how fear took hold across the North, especially for women just trying to go about their lives, and how the investigation kept missing key opportunities. We also look at the strange letter sent to the press and police claiming to be from the killer and how it threw everything even further off course. It’s a frustrating chapter in the case, filled with missed chances, bad assumptions, and very real consequences.