Watch: Wearside Jack - a lethal hoax

Name: Wearside Jack: A Lethal Hoax
Uploaded: 2023-04-13T15:46:43.000Z
Duration: 720 s
Description: Sunderland Echo reporter Kevin Clark, with the help of author Dr Mark Blacklock, takes us through the case of 'Wearside Jack' John Humble - the Sunderland hoaxer who significantly derailed the investigation into the Yorkshire Ripper murders of the late 1970s and early '80s.

In October 2005, the hunt for the man who derailed the UK’s biggest police manhunt and left a killer free to strike again finally came to a close.

By Graham Murray

Published 13th Apr 2023, 17:28 GMT

Watch more of our videos on Shots!
and live on Freeview channel 276

Police descended on Ford Estate, and arrested 49-year-old John Humble on suspicion of being the notorious hoaxer who more than 20 years earlier had convinced police that he was the Yorkshire Ripper.

When justice finally caught up Wearside Jack, he admitted what he had done was 'evil'.

But he might very easily never have been tracked down at all.

Watch as Sunderland Echo reporter Kevin Clark, with the help of author Dr Mark Blacklock, takes us through the tragic saga.