Sonia Sutcliffe

Sonia Sutcliffe (née Oksana Szurma; born 10 August 1950)[1][2][3] is the former wife of the British serial killer Peter Sutcliffe.[4]

Sonia Sutcliffe
Born
Oksana Szurma

(1950-08-10) August 10, 1950
England
Known forMarriage to British serial killer Peter Sutcliffe
Libel case against Private Eye magazine
Spouse(s)
Peter Sutcliffe
​
​
(m. 1974; div. 1994)​

Marriage to Sutcliffe

Sonia married the then 28-year old Sutcliffe on 10 August 1974, her 24th birthday,[5] two years after she began treatment for schizophrenia.[6] Her relationship with her husband was later characterised by writer Gordon Burn as domineering, with Sonia willing to slap him down "like a naughty schoolboy".[7] When she found out that she couldn’t have children due to her miscarriages she went back to studying teaching. Whilst she was studying to become a teacher she had an affair on Sutcliffe with an ice cream van driver. When her husband was found guilty for the murder of multiple women in 1981, Sonia remained married to him and continued to live in the family home in Bradford, with the couple eventually separating around 1989 and divorcing in July 1994.[8] Barbara Jones, a journalist 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".[9]

Libel case against Private Eye

In 1989 a libel action against the satirical magazine Private Eye, brought by Sutcliffe, came to court. Her decision to sue was made shortly before the limitation on such actions, then six years, was due to expire. The case concerned a January 1981 article which detailed her attempts to make financial deals with newspapers, and claimed that she was attempting to profit from her husband's crimes.[10] Private Eye admitted at the time that it had made two errors in the article, but the plaintiff (Sutcliffe) rejected the offer of a correction.[10]

In court, George Carman, the magazine's QC, described her as "dancing on the graves of her husband's victims".[11] At the end of the trial on 24 May, Sutcliffe was awarded record libel damages against the magazine of £600,000; £100,000 more than previously.[12] The editor, Ian Hislop, stated that "If that's justice, I'm a banana", and 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.[13] Although none of it was allowed at the appeal, evidence had come to light which disputed the claims the plaintiff had made in court. Two newspapers Sutcliffe had sued, the Daily Express and the Daily Star, settled with her.[10]

One other newspaper which formed part of her legal action, the News of the World did not settle. When the case came to court in December 1990, details emerged which demonstrated that she had benefitted financially from her husband's crimes. The jury found for the News of the World, and she was ordered to pay the legal costs of both sides in the case.[10][14]

References
  1. "Peter Sutcliffe". www.killers.wadum.dk. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  2. www.findmypast.co.uk https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=BMD/B/1950/3/AZ/001233/028. Retrieved 2020-11-13. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. www.ancestry.co.uk https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/categories/bmd_marriage/?name=_szurma. Retrieved 2020-11-13. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 4; Page: 0531
  5. "Manchester's Vilest: The Yorkshire Ripper". Manchester’s Finest. 2019-08-06. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  6. Clarke, Chris; Tate, Tim (2015). Yorkshire Ripper - The Secret Murders. John Blake Publishing Ltd. p. 24. ISBN 978-1784184186.
  7. Gordon Burn, Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son, London: Faber, p. 152-153.
  8. "Ripper's wife gets divorce". The Independent on Sunday. 23 July 1994. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  9. Phillips, Caroline. "How I got Into The Mind Of The Ripper". Evening Standard. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  10. Greenslade, Roy (2004). Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits From Propaganda. London: Pan Macmillan. pp. 440–441. ISBN 9780330393768.
  11. "A master of the memorable one-liner". Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  12. "1989 (May 24): Yorkshire Ripper's wife wins damages". BBC On This Day. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  13. "Eye and mighty: 50 years on the satirical highway". Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  14. Frankel, Glenn (24 March 1992). "London, Tailor Made for Libel". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
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