n 1970s Yorkshire, Peter Sutcliffe was the police’s most wanted man. Dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, he terrorised the county, killing 13 women and attacking more before he was finally caught in 1981.
New ITV drama The Long Shadow, which is currently airing, is all about the police hunt to find Sutcliffe over his six-year-killing spree – crimes that his own family were completely unaware of. Who are they, and where are they now? We take a look.
The parents
A 1978 file photo of Peter Sutcliffe
/ APBy all accounts, Sutcliffe’s parents had an exceptionally unhappy marriage. His father, John William Sutcliffe (born in 1922) was a violent man and a drunkard, who once smashed a glass over Sutcliffe’s head on Christmas for sitting in his chair. Sutcliffe was five years old at the time.
As a result, Sutcliffe idolised his mother, Irish native Kathleen Coonan (born in 1919). Originally from Connemara, she was a Roman Catholic and raised her children accordingly – indeed, Sutcliffe once served as an altar boy.
Kathleen was also the subject of much of John’s violence: Sutcliffe was born prematurely and had to spend weeks in hospital, something that was likely caused by domestic abuse.
Speaking to Yorkshire Live, his brother Carl said he didn’t know why John – and ultimately, Peter – were so violent, as his grandfather was “always so calm.”
“He was having it off with a woman across from us when I was a kid. He moved in with her for a bit,” he added of his father. “There’s probably more of us scattered around Bingley. Probably got brothers and sisters all over.”
While Kathleen died of a heart attack in 1978, three years before Sutcliffe was finally arrested, John outlived her by more than 25 years, dying in 2004 at the age of 81. According to Carl, Sutcliffe’s youngest brother, he died believing that Peter was innocent of his crimes.
The siblings
Studio portrait of Peter Sutcliffe
/ ITVSutcliffe grew up as one of six, all of whom grew up in Bingley, living in a four-bed house. His siblings (Mick, Maureen, Jane, Carl and Anne) have tended to shun the spotlight, hiding from association with their brother – but Carl has talked to the media.
Carl, who lives in West Yorkshire, told Yorkshire Live, “He was great with me normally. He was a brilliant brother. He’d buy me presents, take me to the pictures and the skating rink.
“But I do remember there was one time when he held me by the feet out of the bedroom window. I thought, ‘He’s not going to drop me’. But he did, on my head. I had a twisted neck and I had a real sore neck for weeks.”
He also recalled finding out about Sutcliffe’s arrest – via a newspaper he was browsing whilst looking for jobs at the local library. “I looked over this lad’s shoulder who was reading the paper and there was a picture of my brother’s house,” he said.
“It said they had caught the Ripper and there was his house. I thought, ‘Bloody hell, that’s our Peter’s house’… we talked about the Ripper with my brother all the time. Bloody hell, he used to take my girlfriend home.”
According to Carl, once convicted, Peter often tried to shirk responsibility for his crimes. “He would say, ‘I didn’t know what I was doing’ and ‘It was the voices in my head’ and all that. Why would you get yourself alibis if you didn’t know what you were doing?”
While in prison, Sutcliffe reportedly fell out with his surviving siblings after the death of sister Anne in 2005. According to the Sun, a source explained that they were “sick of the way he made everything all about him” and thought he would turn the funeral into a “circus.”
Speaking on the 40th anniversary of Sutcliffe’s sentencing, his brother Mick (who lives in Bingley) told the Mirror that “our dad said Peter should have got the death penalty when he was sentenced… I suppose my dad was right in a way. We wouldn’t have so much hassle if he’d have got the death penalty.”
When Sutcliffe died in November 2020 from Covid-19, none of his four surviving siblings went to his funeral. It was attended only by his ex-wife, Sonia, and a funeral director.
The Long Shadow is streaming now on ITV and ITVX