As someone who resides in the midst of the Yorkshire Ripper's former hammering grounds, I was interested to hear that the cogs in what passes for Peter Sutcliffe's brain have been clunking recently.
The inmate of Broadmoor has a cunning plan. Despite being a murderer, having been diagnosed with schizophrenia and residing in Britain's most infamous hospital for the criminally insane, he would quite like to know if life meant life when he was sent dahn with twenty life sentences. Because apparently the judge at his trial never said.
Oops.
There are a couple of minor tests for Sutcliffe to pass before he can walk free. He will have to convince a mental health tribunal of his incredible, nay, miraculous, recovery. Also, the judiciary will have to be convinced of his suitability for release.
Step one is controversial. There are those who believe that Sutcliffe should never have been in Broadmoor in the first place. He claimed insanity, but it is an incredible coincidence that when he was not driving his lorries or murdering thirteen women, he was caring for his wife who suffered with... SCHIZOPHRENIA.
Step two is nonexistent. Sutcliffe will never be released, although he has been going around calling himself Peter William Coonan for quite some time now - in order to reflect his Irish ancestry, and no doubt to distance himself from his notorious deeds.
I double dare the courts to pronounce him fit to rejoin society at large. Communities have long memories. In West Yorkshire the dark memory of the Ripper still lingers. It will linger for generations to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment