Wearside Jack

Wearside Jack is the nickname given to John Samuel Humble (born January 8, 1956), a hoaxer who pretended to be the Yorkshire Ripper in the late 1970s.

Misleading Authorities

Taunting Letters

Over the course of a year between March 1978 and March 1979, Humble sent three letters claiming to be the Yorkshire Ripper. Postmarked from Sunderland, Two were addressed to George Oldfield, Assistant Chief Constable of the West Yorkshire Police, and one to the Daily Mirror.

First letter: March 8, 1978

Written to George Oldfield

''Dear Sir

''I am sorry I cannot give my name for obvious reasons. I am the Ripper. I've been dubbed a maniac by the Press but not by you, you call me clever and I am. You and your mates haven't a clue that photo in the paper gave me fits and that bit about killing myself, no chance. I've got things to do. My purpose to rid the streets of them sluts. My one regret is that young lassie McDonald, did not know cause changed routine that nite. Up to number 8 now you say 7 but remember Preston '75, get about you know. You were right I travel a bit. You probably look for me in Sunderland, don't bother, I am not daft, just posted letter there on one of my trips. Not a bad place compared with Chapeltown and Manningham and other places. Warn whores to keep off streets cause I feel it coming on again.

''Sorry about young lassie.

''Yours respectfully

''Jack the Ripper

''Might write again later I not sure last one really deserved it. Whores getting younger each time. Old slut next time I hope. Huddersfield never again, too small close call last one.

'The Suspect has a Wearside Accent'

On June 17, 1979, Humble sent a cassette to Assistant Chief Constable Oldfield, where he introduced himself as Jack and claimed responsibility for the Ripper murders to that point.

"I'm Jack. I see you are still having no luck catching me. I have the greatest respect for you George, but Lord! You are no nearer catching me now than four years ago when I started. I reckon your boys are letting you down, George. They can't be much good, can they? (^*)

The cassette ended with a segment from Thank You For Being A Friend, by Andrew Gold.

The police focused on Humble's Wearside accent. Together with voice analysts they decided that the accent was distinctive to the Castletown area of Sunderland. This led to 40,000 men being investigated — to no avail as the killer actually came from Bradford, approximately 110 miles southwest. Police also commenced a substantial publicity campaign, including 'Dial-the-Ripper' hotlines, billboards, and full page ads in newspapers. Around £1 million was invested into the publicity campaign alone.(^*)

At one stage Peter Sutcliffe (who actually committed the murders) was even interviewed about the murders, only to be released as his accent did not match that of Wearside Jack. The police concentration on the tape was criticised by some, including author David Yallop (although his book on the case, "Deliver us from Evil", was not in the end published until after Sutcliffe's trial). The satirical magazine Private Eye (no. 463 of September 14, 1979) reported under the headline "STOP PRESS: Ripper – 'I'm a woman'" the receipt of "a video cassette in which Ripper claims, in a strong Irish accent, to be the Leader of the Liberal Party".

A Hoax Revealed

While the West Yorkshire Police were investigating the supposed leads, Sutcliffe was free to continue killing, murdering three more women. It was only after he was finally caught in Sheffield in 1981, and Sutcliffe's subsequent confession, that Wearside Jack was proven to be a hoax. ACC Oldfield took early retirement following what he considered to be a complete humiliation, dying in 1985 in Wakefield. (^*)

Following the conviction of Peter Sutcliffe, the identity of Wearside Jack remained a mystery for over 24 years. On September 17, 2003, the BBC reported police had decided to call off the search for the then-unknown hoaxer. Assertions were also made that there were no plans to re-open the case, as too much time had passed and modern forensic tests would most likely be inaccurate due to chemicals used in original testing in the 1970's. (^*)

Re-visiting the Mystery

On May 9, 2005, West Yorkshire authorities re-opened the case, upon surfacing of rumors that a police officer was behind the hoax. The notebooks of the officer, whose identity and affiliation were never disclosed, were examined. A handwriting comparison revealed that this officer was not the hoaxer. (^*)

In July, 2005, West Yorkshire authorities were forced to complete an audit after the letters and tapes were misplaced. (^*)

It was only after enquiries were reopened in September, 2005 that DNA from envelopes sent by Humble as part of the hoax could be matched with samples police had attained from Humble in an unrelated incident in 2000. By this time Humble had fallen into a life as an alcoholic loner.

Humble, of Ford Estate in Sunderland was arrested on October 20, 2005 and charged with four counts of perverting the course of justice. Upon his arrest, Humble had been so drunk that police had to wait several hours before he was considered sober enough to be interviewed. Humble admitted responsibility for the letters and the cassette, but denied perverting the course of justice, and his legal team pushed in vain for a lesser charge of wasting police time.

At times during police interviews Humble appeared ashamed of what he had done, referring to the acts as evil although not being able to explain why they were evil. He revealed that the motive for his crime was a quest for "notoriety", although a BBC documentary later suggested he had a hatred of the police dating back to 1975 when he was imprisoned for assaulting a police officer. Humble laughed at several points during the interview, including when asked about the "tune" played at the end of the tape. During the interviews he also claimed not to have told any other individual he was a hoaxer, and he did not realise the impact his actions were having on the police investigation.

Humble also confirmed to police that he had used library books as a source of inspiration for his letters and tape. He confirmed he had attended school in the Castletown area of Sunderland, and that he had panicked as police interviewed men in that area. It was also revealed that his neighbours had been interviewed by police searching for Wearside Jack, but he had not.

Trial and Conviction

He appeared at trial before Leeds Crown Court on January 9, 2006, pleading not guilty. He admitted to being Wearside Jack on February 23, 2006, and on March 20, 2006, changed his plea to guilty on four counts of perverting the course of justice.(^*).

During the trial, his defence barristers reported he had attempted suicide on a number of occasions, including one occasion shortly after the tape was made public. The defence also claimed he had lived an "inadequate life", and had been driven by guilt to alcoholism. Despite this, Humble did not contact the police voluntarily to acknowledge his guilt, even when it was obvious his tapes and letters were diverting police resources away from the "real ripper". In a BBC documentary screened on 27 March 2006, it emerged that he had telephoned the incident room and informed them that the tape was a hoax. Although key individuals in the investigation were convinced that this caller was the hoaxer, it was officially discounted.

After hearing Humble's change of plea, the mother of one of the victims of the true ripper, expressed her belief that Humble should be punished, telling the BBC -

I think it's started off as a hoax but he should have realised he was misdirecting the police and he was causing criminal damage to people.(^*)

On March 21, 2006, Humble was sentenced to eight years in jail.^*

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