Schizophrenia forms basis for ‘Ripper’ release bid
Medical evidence presented to the High Court and reported for the first time in March suggests that his illness meant the conviction should have been one of manslaughter.
At the same time Sutcliffe, now known as Peter Coonan, sought to have a date set when he can first apply for parole: despite the trial judge recommending a minimum sentence of 30 years, no formal tariff was set.
A report by a psychiatrist at Broadmoor, where Sutcliffe/Coonan has been held since his diagnosis in 1984, held that he poses a ‘low risk’ of offending. Mr Justice Mitting said at the March hearing that the report could not influence the court’s decision on the minimum period that Sutcliffe must spend in custody. However, he also said that it might form the basis of an appeal against the convictions for murder on the ground that Sutcliffe was suffering diminished responsibility at the time of the crimes, so should have been found guilty of manslaughter.
At the time of the original trial, in 1981, it was claimed he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, but the claim was disputed by the prosecution, who accused him of ‘hoodwinking’ psychiatrists. The judge insisted on a trial to allow a jury the final say.
On 22 March the then-Justice Secretary Jack Straw said that “…all the evidence that I have seen on this case, and it’s a great deal, suggests to me that there are no circumstances in which this man will be released.”