Yvonne Pearson - Yorkshire Ripper Victim
On the 21st January 1978 Yvonne Pearson, a convicted prostitute, was murdered by Peter Sutcliffe in Bradford. Her body was not discovered until the 26th March 1978 when it was found under an overturned settee on wasteland in an area used by prostitutes.
In some ways this crime was dissimilar from those in the series so that, in a circulation to police forces on the 29th March 1978, it was referred to as an independent case of murder not connected with those circulated earlier. The main reason for excluding the case was that the head injuries appeared to have been caused by a large stone rather than a hammer and that, additionally, death had been due to injuries to the chest area, probably caused by her assailant jumping on her.
Although her body was exposed, no stab wounds were inflicted. One unexplained factor was that a copy of the "Daily Mirror" dated 21st February 1978 (exactly one month after she was last seen alive) was found under the right side of her body. This newspaper must have been intentionally placed under the body and could not have been in that position accidentally.
The crime was investigated by Detective Chief Superintendent Lapish of the Western Crime Area and another incident room was established at Bradford. Little evidence was forthcoming in connection with this crime, largely because of the long time lapse between the murder and the discovery of the body. There was, however, a different conclusion about the case when in May 1978 a West Yorkshire Police circulation linked it with other crimes in the Ripper series.
