The Yorkshire Ripper hoaxer who derailed the investigation into the serial killer desperately tried to hide his voice when finally arrested, a retired police chief has revealed.
Chris Gregg, 68, of West Yorkshire Police, has spoken out about the conman 20 years on from the investigation that unmasked him.
The so-called Yorkshire Ripper, a reference to Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper, killed at least 13 women from 1975 to 1980 in a reign of terror across northern England.
Peter Sutcliffe was eventually identified as the man behind the killings and jailed for life in 1981. He died in prison in November 2020, aged 74.
But it only came after a man named John Humble, dubbed Wearside Jack, had falsely confessed to the killings in 1978 and 1979, in a two-minute voice recording and three letters sent to police and journalists.
West Yorkshire Police believed the letters and tape were genuine and diverted resources to Humble’s home town of Sunderland. His cruel efforts hobbled police investigations – leaving Sutcliffe at large to kill three more women before his eventual arrest.
No one knew it was Humble behind the hoax confessions for a further 24 years after Sutcliffe’s conviction in 1981 – until a cold case review by police in 2005.
And now investigator Mr Gregg has told The Mirror about finally snaring him – revealing Humble initially just ‘kept nodding’ in police interviews, knowing his voice would immediately give him away as the man behind the hoax tape.
Retired police chief Chris Gregg (pictured), 68, of West Yorkshire Police , has spoken out about the conman, 20 years on from the investigation that unmasked him
A man named John Humble (pictured) aka Wearside Jack falsely confessed to the killings in 1978 and 1979, in a two-minute voice recording and three letters sent to police and journalists
Peter Sutcliffe (pictured) was eventually identified as the man behind the killings and jailed for life in 1981. He died in prison in November 2020, aged 74
It was only when officers informed Humble a ‘one in a billion match’ had been made between his DNA and a tiny saliva spot on one of the letters that he eventually confessed – knowing he was caught.
With Humble now speaking up in interviews, he then agreed to read aloud a transcript of his original manufactured tape.
And only now, a quarter of a century on from that moment, has Mr Gregg re-listened to the recording – describing it as ‘chilling’ to hear it again.
It was advances in forensic science, plus a new police record of Humble – from his arrest for being drunk and disorderly in 2001 – that finally created the breakthrough.
With officers finally able to match his DNA to the saliva sample on the hoax letter, they soon found themselves closing in on the culprit.
The former security guard was arrested at his home in in the Ford area of Sunderland, where he lived with his brother – just a few miles from the area voice experts had said the hoax taper’s accent was from.
He was soon brought to Yorkshire for interviewing by Mr Gregg, the new lead of West Yorkshire Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
And the cop soon knew he had got the right man, when Humble began reading aloud the tape transcript.
The cop soon knew he had got the right man, when Humble began reading aloud the tape transcript. Pictured: Humble’s first hoax letter
The former Detective Chief Superintendent said: ‘Humble had quite a remarkable memory.
‘He took himself back to when he made it. It was an incredible moment to hear him read it out.’
He continued: ‘Those last three Ripper victims may not have died had it not been for Humble.’
Barbara Leach, 20, of Bradford; Marguerite Walls, 47, of Leeds; and Jacqueline Hill, 20, also of Leeds, were all killed by Sutcliffe between September 1979 and November 1980.
Sutcliffe was arrested just eight weeks later – but might have been apprehended sooner had Humble not derailed the inquiry.
Mr Gregg, who had been at the heart of the £6million hunt for the hoaxer, said: ‘It proved to be tragic. He did something that he never needed to do.’
The envelope with a seal that bore the key saliva sample to enable the DNA match was only discovered due to Mr Gregg’s sheer determination.
Having worked on the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry, he knew he had to get to the bottom of it, enlisting the two original detectives for help.
The envelope with a seal that bore the key saliva sample to enable the DNA match was only discovered due to Mr Gregg’s sheer determination
He first worked out the three hoax letters had been destroyed in the original forensics process, having been analysed using a chemical with a destructive effect.
But he was not going to give up that easily – and remembered scientists often keep small snippets of evidence in high-profile cold cases such as this one.
So, Mr Gregg wrote to the head of the forensics lab in the West Yorkshire town of Wetherby, asking if they could search for any remaining samples.
And they were in luck. The police chief received a random phone call several months later to say the lab had found a 3cm sample of the final hoax letter.
It was in perfect condition, preserved between two glass slides – and gave them the answers they had been looking for.
Mr Gregg said it was one of the defining moments of his career in the police: ‘If we had not found him, I am convinced that he would have taken that secret to the grave.
‘He had not told a living soul what he had done.’
Humble, who was sentenced to eight years in in 2006 after admitting perverting the course of justice, died on July 30 2019.
