The untold story of the woman who escaped the Yorkshire Ripper
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 28 September 2023
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the summer of 1979, Ruth Shaw was a student in Bradford, walking alone one night when she encountered Peter Sutcliffe – the serial killer the papers had nicknamed the Yorkshire Ripper. But her encounter wasn’t recorded by police. 44 years later, this is her untold story.
This podcast contains scenes of a graphic nature.
Ruth’s story was first told to Michael Bilton in his book ‘Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper’ which is now being serialised on ITV on Mondays at 9pm.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.
Guests:
- Michael Bilton, author and former Sunday Times Northern Correspondent.
- Ruth Shaw.
Host: Josh Glancy.
Producer: Olivia Case.
Clips: Andy’s Archive, ITN, BBC, Granada Television / ITV.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:53.0 | It's a minute to midnight in the back streets of Leeds. |
| 0:56.0 | It's Saturday night and the nightlife of the city is drawing to a close. |
| 1:00.0 | Normally the police at this time will be dealing with drunks and routers. |
| 1:04.0 | But in recent months it's become a time they've learned to dread. |
| 1:09.0 | It's the 1970s. |
| 1:11.0 | The Bee Gees and Rod Stewart are dominating the charts. |
| 1:14.0 | Space offers are everywhere. |
| 1:16.0 | And Jaws becomes the first ever summer blockbuster. |
| 1:20.0 | But something else is making headlines too. |
| 1:23.0 | Between now and dawn a woman could be killed by a vicious murderer whose reign of terror has dubbed him a second Jack the Ripper. |
| 1:31.0 | Ripper victim number one, 28 year old divorcee Wilmer McCann. |
... |
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