Peter Sutcliffe — The Yorkshire Ripper

Peter Sutcliffe murdered 13 women and attacked seven others in Yorkshire and the North of England between 1975 and 1980. He targeted women, frequently sex workers, attacking them with a hammer and knife in violent, frenzied assaults. The investigation, one of the largest in British history, was hampered by a hoax tape and letters sent by "Wearside Jack" that misdirected police for years. Sutcliffe was caught in Sheffield in January 1981 during a routine check and convicted of 13 murders in 1981, receiving 20 concurrent life sentences. He died of COVID-19 complications in prison in November 2020.