But it does not surprise the local journalist who has relentlessly pursued Wearside Jack for almost eight years. Former Echo news editor PATRICK LAVELLE gives the exclusive background to one of the most intriguing criminal mysteries Sunderland has ever known.



I'M not Jack … but I know someone who might be.
It all started way back in 1979 when I worked as a barman in Sunderland Catholic Club in Tatham Street, Hendon.
There was a comedian on that night, who wasn't that funny any way, and he was interrupted by detectives who took to the stage and played a recording.
"Your boys are letting you down, George. You're no nearer catching me now than you were four years ago when I started …"
West Yorkshire Police decided they were hunting a serial killer from Sunderland and concentrated their efforts on Wearside, and Castletown in particular, for 18 months.
That's why they were in the club concert room, playing the recording in the hope that someone may recognise the voice.
Then the Yorkshire Ripper, a lorry driver with a broad Bradford dialect, went on to kill again … and again … and again.
Almost eight years ago, in January 1998, I was appointed the Echo's news editor.
It was coming up to the 20th anniversary of the infamous tape being broadcast to the nation and I wrote a brief article asking for readers' memories.
It all snowballed from there, with scores of telephone calls and letters and even personal visits.
It was something in the minds of many readers – unfinished business, unanswered questions, a big issue unresolved.
As an investigative journalist, the story gripped me to such an extent I devoted much of my spare time looking into it.
I travelled to Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Preston, Halifax, London, Hampshire and even made telephone inquiries in New York.
But Wearside Jack was proving as elusive as he was 20 years earlier, but my inquiries continued and any information I received I examined, analysed, then passed on to police.
The deaths of three women due to a stupid hoax by a Sunderland man is not just a crime of wasting police time, as police said initially, it is, at least, perverting the course of justice.
For a few weeks I have known that West Yorkshire Police have finally started taking the case seriously and launched a new investigation – what they called a "review" of the evidence.
I understand that the potential breakthrough in the case centres around forensic evidence – DNA material from the original hoax letters West Yorkshire Police believed only weeks ago they had lost.
The information I gave police included the name of a 49-year-old man from Sunderland, and the allegations that were made against him by two local women.
The man arrested yesterday is 49 and from Sunderland, but there is nothing to say it is the same man.
Whether it is the same man or not really doesn't matter. What does matter is that one of the biggest criminal mysteries in Sunderland may about to be resolved.
If it is resolved it may have something to do with advances in forensic science. But, in my view, is has more to do with the people of Sunderland, who always laughed at the claims there was a serial killer in our midst.
It is these people who have never forgotten, who provided the information that led to this new inquiry, and this arrest.
In the next few days many people, among them authors and media professionals, will jump on the bandwagon, claiming they helped police catch the prime suspect for the Ripper Hoax.
Please don't doubt for one minute, this renewed inquiry happened for one reason only – the campaign by the Sunderland Echo on behalf of its readers.
If it had not been for Echo readers, the case of Wearside Jack would have been unresolved.
Now, however, there is a chance that the shadow of the Ripper, which has hung over Sunderland for two-and-a-half decades, may soon be lifted.


Police probed possible link with
murder of city prostitute

THREE years ago Sunderland was buzzing with news that a man was being quizzed for the Wearside Jack hoaxer tape and letters.
The 46-year-old, whose identity was never revealed, was also questioned about the murder of prostitute Julie Perigo in Downhill in 1986.
It was the first time police had considered a link between the two crimes, and it followed new evidence uncovered in the Hunt For Wearside Jack investigation by the Sunderland Echo.
The man was also being questioned, the Echo understood at the time, for a knife attack on a Sunderland woman at Tunstall Hills in December 1979. The woman had contacted Patrick Lavelle and police after watching a documentary.
Julie Perigo, 51, was battered and stabbed to death at her flat in Downhill. A knife, which could have been the murder weapon, was found dumped at Bunny Hill – about a mile away – a week later.
Police also investigated a link between Wearside Jack and the unsolved murder of a prostitute in Preston in November 1975.
The murder of Joan Harrison, 26, was initially thought to be the work of the Yorkshire Ripper.
In letters and a tape sent to West Yorkshire Police, the hoaxer claimed he had killed Mrs Harrison.
Forensic analysis of the letters at the time revealed the hoaxer was of the same rare blood group as the probable killer – a group shared by only six per cent of the population.
During an Echo investigation, several names of potential suspects were put forward by Echo readers and passed to West Yorkshire Police, who decided to take no action.
The force's Chief Constable said the names and other information was not strong enough to justify reopening the hoaxer inquiry.


Timetable of hoaxer hunt

1998: The Echo's new news editor, Patrick Lavelle, launches his hunt for Wearside Jack.
February 8, 1999: Sunderland dad-of-three Ron Fulbirg, 49, who was arrested and quizzed by police 14 times about the Ripper Hoaxer tape, breaks his 20-year-silence to tell the Echo: "I'm not Wearside Jack".
June 1999: Echo news editor Patrick Lavelle publishes his book, Wearside Jack: The Hunt for the Hoaxer of the Century.
September 21, 1999: West Yorkshire Police decide not to reopen the inquiry into the Ripper Hoaxer despite the Echo uncovering the names of 12 possible suspects.
July 11, 2002: A potential new suspect in the Wearside Jack hunt emerged after detectives were handed information which linked him with the Ripper hoax and the unsolved murder of Sunderland prostitute Julie Perigo in 1986.
September, 3, 2002: A 46-year-old man is questioned by detectives over the unsolved murder of Julie Perigo and the Ripper hoax.
September 16, 2003: West Yorkshire Police say they are no longer investigating the Ripper Hoax because, given the time which has now passed, it would not be possible to prosecute for the offence of wasting police time.
July 1, 2005: West Yorkshire Police confirm they have misplaced the original Wearside Jack tape and letters.
October 18, 2005: West Yorkshire Police arrest a Sunderland man in connection with the Wearside Jack inquiry.