192pp. Illus. in text. The story of the elaborate hoax in which a man sent taunting letters and a tape to the police in West Yorkshire during the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. He claimed to be the murderer. The police already had a man under suspicion for the murder of Mrs Joan Harrison in Preston in 1975 and they thought this man came from Castletown near Sunderland. As the letters bore a Sunderland postmark, it all appeared to fit. Hundreds of manhours were wasted on the search, but meanwhile other women died at the hands of the real killer while attention was diverted. A study of the events and the impact they had on the people of Castletown, much of it told in their own words as many of them were investigated. Well illustrated with some plates in colour.

True Crime Criminology