Sonia Sutcliffe

Sonia Sutcliffe, born in 1951 as Sonia Szurma,[1] is the ex-wife of the British serial killer Peter Sutcliffe.

Marriage to Sutcliffe

Sonia married Peter in 1974, two years after beginning treatment for mental illness. Her relationship with her husband was later characterised by reporter Gordon Burn as domineering, with Sonia willing to slap Peter down "like a naughty schoolboy". [2] When Peter was arrested for the murder of multiple prostitutes, Sonia remained married to him and continues to live in the family home. They eventually divorced in 1994. Barbara Jones, a news reporter who had many conversations with Sonia, described her as "the most irritating, strangest and coldest person I've ever met. She's so incredibly prickly and demanding".[3]

Libel case against Private Eye

In 1989, Sonia Sutcliffe sued the satirical news magazine Private Eye, which had detailed her attempts to make financial deals with newspapers and claimed that she was attempting to profit from his crimes. In court, the magazine's QC barrister George Carman described her as "dancing on the graves of her husband's victims".[4] At the end of the trial, Sutcliffe was awarded record libel damages against the magazine of £600,000 — a full £100,000 more than any previous award.[5] The editor, Ian Hislop, stating that "If that's justice, I'm a banana", announced his immediate intention to appeal. A crowd-sourced fund named "Bananaballs" was successfully set up to pay for the appeal's legal costs, and the amount was eventually reduced to £60,000.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Reunited with the Ripper: What's drawn Sonia Sutcliffe back into her evil husband's shadow?". Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  2. ↑ Gordon Burn, Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son, London: Faber, p. 152-153.
  3. ↑ Caroline Phillips, "How I got Int The Mind Of The Ripper", Evening Standard http://www.carolinephillips.net/articles/archive/newspapers/evening-standard/how-i-got-into-the-mind-of-ripper.html
  4. ↑ "A master of the memorable one-liner". Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  5. ↑ "May 24, 1989: Hislop fury as Yorkshire Ripper's wife wins £600,000 damages from Private Eye". Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  6. ↑ "Eye and mighty: 50 years on the satirical highway". Retrieved 18 June 2018.
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