Wearside Jack Convicted.

Von Smallhausen

Von Smallhausen

Von Smallhausen

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Some here may remember the reign of terror by the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, who murdered prostitutes in the 1970's and 80's.

During the investigation, a massive manhunt was underway and as a prank, a man from Sunderland named Wearside Jack sent in a tape recording and letters to police investigating in the Yorkshire area. This threw detectives of course and resources were diverted to the Sunderland area, looking for the wrong man.

The man was caught after a minor drunk and disorderly offence and his DNA was taken. This linked to DNA on an envelope sent. This was nearly 30 years after the event

8 years with a guilty plea. I wonder if he expected that ?s

BBC News Link.
Letters And Tapes Link.
 
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Got what he deserved to be fair. By coincidence, I was just reading about him last night and saw the trial was around now.

Bet he thought it had all been forgotten about and he was home dry up until the point he was arrested!
 
It was due for trial but he went guilty. The judge is bound to give a reduced sentence for that, but I just wonder if 8 years is justified although a custodial was inevitable.

People who rape, including paedophiles, have got less.
 
Von Smallhausen said:
It was due for trial but he went guilty. The judge is bound to give a reduced sentence for that, but I just wonder if 8 years is justified although a custodial was inevitable.

People who rape, including paedophiles, have got less.
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He did throw the investigation of course though, and another 2(?) women died at the hands of Sutcliffe who was a suspect until the tape.

Saying that considering rapists get less than 8 years his sentance seems too much. It is, however, about the same as Mark Connolly, the manager whose stupid and dangerous actions lead to the deaths of some track workers.
 
Von Smallhausen said:
It was due for trial but he went guilty. The judge is bound to give a reduced sentence for that, but I just wonder if 8 years is justified although a custodial was inevitable.

People who rape, including paedophiles, have got less.
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That doesn't mean Wearside Jack's sentence is too long, it means the sentence for rapists and paedophiles is too short IMO.
 
I remember when the Yorkshire Ripper was at large, millions of women were terrified and lives could have been saved, if that moron hadn't diverted the polices attention to the North East and I think he got everything he deserved.

What made him do it is beyond me. :confused:
 
He deserved that sentance, what a tool.

He used to be violent and beat his Mrs for years too, until she was battered and had to go hospital for 6 weeks. Then she finally decided to get rid of him I think.

Thats when he became obsessed with murder and the ripper etc...
 
Me and my mate used to have a laugh about "Wearside jack".

Every so often we'd leave messages on each others voicemail starting with (in a wearside accent), "Hello, I'm Jack."

Never failed to crease each other up with it.
 
The sentence seems pretty justified considering people died as a result of his distraction. Don't really agree with blanket minimum/maximum sentences personally, each case should be judged on its merits.
 
ElvisFan said:
Me and my mate used to have a laugh about "Wearside jack".
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You're weird.

Anyway, when I first heard the voice all those years ago I thought it was somebody putting a stupid voice on and thats why he wasn't recognised. They showed a film of him on the news tonight saying the same sentence last year and it was his real voice.
 
dmpoole said:
You're weird.
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Very possibly. :D

I used to work with a bloke from up that way and always found the accent highly amusing.

Me and mate used to punctuate our speech with, "But, Lord!..." just to get a reaction from people. Shop girls and barstaff must have thought we were ****ed in the head.
 
punky_munky said:
Yeah this guy is a bit of a nutcase and a crim.

Do you think he got such a heavy sentence because he peed off the police so much?
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I think it's down to the fact that his actions *could* be directly responsible for the deaths of more women. While police time and resources were being directed in the North-East, they were taken away from Yorkshire where the real criminal was (and who later admitted the fake letters and tape gave him extra confidence).
 
Davey_Pitch said:
I think it's down to the fact that his actions *could* be directly responsible for the deaths of more women. While police time and resources were being directed in the North-East, they were taken away from Yorkshire where the real criminal was (and who later admitted the fake letters and tape gave him extra confidence).
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Especially cause he must have known what the outcome of his tape would be. Almost sounds like a wannabe, perhaps we should be thankful he didn't go so far as to be a copycat.
 
Ouch, can you imagine being arrested for a minor thing and having alarm bells going off on your DNA check for a crime you did 25 years ago? The police ought to have a clown on standby to go into the cell and stamp OWNED in big red letters on his forehead for cases like this.

I don't know if there's a psychological term for this sort of behaviour but it's not uncommon. Sounds like Munchausen in someways. I guess this one was especially serious since it may very well have contributed to a few of Sutcliff's murders. So the sentance is probably reasonable. It sounds like he has some mental problems though which he should be helped with.
 
Von Smallhausen said:
Some here may remember the reign of terror by the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, who murdered prostitutes in the 1970's and 80's.
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Not quite true his last six victims were not prostitutes and there were victims before that which also didn't work in the sex trade.

I am glad that Wearside Jack has been caught and to be fair his sentance was just, he was complicit in the murder of the women after he sent the letters and tapes.
 
I think it's a just sentence personally, and hopefully will deter other idiots from doing similar things in future. Sentences need to be about both punishment and deterrent, and I think this achieves both.
 
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