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Re: Murder of Leeds Poet 1978

Posted: Thu 02 Dec, 2021 11:03 pm
by chemimike
iansmithofotley wrote:
Thu 02 Dec, 2021 12:13 pm
chemimike wrote:
Thu 02 Dec, 2021 12:34 am
Unfortunately the newspaper archives for the Post or the mail do not yet go past 1955. I am sure there is a report in them , as I can remember a number of headlines about that time about a murder there at Oakwood ( though admittedly I do not remember a name)
Hi chemimike,

Between 1969 and 1981, Peter Sutcliffe was active committing his murders and assaults in the Leeds area and elsewhere. In 1976, it is alleged that he assaulted Marcella Claxton near to Roundhay Park, and in 1977 he murdered Irene Richardson near to the Soldier’s Field (Military Field) at Oakwood/Roundhay. Possibly, these incidents are the ones you may be referring to. The Richardson murder was committed not far from Oakwood Clock and the public toilets.
Hi iansmithfoley
I dont think it was any of those, as I well remember the reports of those. Thge one I vaguely remember specifically mentioned the Oakwood toilets, though do not remember if anyone was reported caught for the offence, or indeed the exact or approximate date.

Re: Murder of Leeds Poet 1978

Posted: Fri 03 Dec, 2021 12:13 am
by blackprince
I did follow up John Riley's biographical details on the internet in a bit more depth than the Wiki article; including with 2 people who knew him and some accounts in Cambridge University papers and literary reviews.
There is a bit more to his story.
After his death, for 15 years, Riley's poems lay largely forgotten except by a few devotees. Then, in 1995, it looked as though his posthumous reputation would be given a boost, courtesy of an edition of his selected poems, brought out by the poetry publisher Carcanet. But barely a year later, in the summer of 1996, the Carcanet offices in Manchester were badly damaged in an IRA bomb explosion, and virtually all copies of John Riley's Selected Poems were lost. At the time of writing, a single copy was available for sale on Amazon for £10,000.

Re: Murder of Leeds Poet 1978

Posted: Sat 04 Dec, 2021 8:01 pm
by tilly
£10.000 I would love to know if it sold, not that i could afford it.

Re: Murder of Leeds Poet 1978

Posted: Sun 05 Dec, 2021 4:42 pm
by dogduke
A little off thread but the day of the IRA bomb in Manchester I was working in York,I was on the phone to the Train Crew Supervisor(TCS) at Manchester Victoria and heard the explosion.
There was a cry of what the **** was that and the receiver was slammed down.
One report on the truck used says it was parked on double yellow lines and got a ticket within minutes!

Re: Murder of Leeds Poet 1978

Posted: Sun 05 Dec, 2021 6:30 pm
by buffaloskinner
dogduke wrote:
Sun 05 Dec, 2021 4:42 pm
A little off thread but the day of the IRA bomb in Manchester I was working in York,I was on the phone to the Train Crew Supervisor(TCS) at Manchester Victoria and heard the explosion.
There was a cry of what the **** was that and the receiver was slammed down.
One report on the truck used says it was parked on double yellow lines and got a ticket within minutes!
I was just a few hundred yards from the truck down at the old Coop building and when it exploded the whole building shook and I expected tons of glass to come falling down, it didn't. I had been close to explosions previously during Operation Banner in NI but this beat all of them.

Re: Murder of Leeds Poet 1978

Posted: Tue 07 Dec, 2021 12:54 pm
by blackprince
As an aside, my wife and I regularly went shopping in Manchester at the time and often used the pedestrian bridge between M&S and the Arndale Centre which the van parked underneath. Fortunately on that Saturday we went to Altrincham instead. The next day we had tickets to the Euro 96 match ( Russia v Germany ?) at Old Trafford and to my surprise the match went ahead as if nothing unusual had happened.
By the time the city centre had been rebuilt we had changed our shopping habits and have hardly been to Manchester since except for the odd visit to a theatre or exhibition.

Re: Murder of Leeds Poet 1978

Posted: Tue 07 Dec, 2021 1:06 pm
by blackprince
jma wrote:
Thu 02 Dec, 2021 2:16 pm
...... House-to-house enquiries covered a vast area of Leeds 6 and an attempt was also made to interview everybody employed by or studying at Leeds University.
I was working at Leeds University at the time and I would definitely have remembered myself and friends being interviewed so the net didn't catch everyone at the University.
I do remember being stopped at a police roadblock between Leeds and Bradford during the morning rush hour and having the boot of my Mini searched, just like you see in the movies. I think that was part of the Ripper investigation.

Re: Murder of Leeds Poet 1978

Posted: Tue 07 Dec, 2021 3:52 pm
by chemimike
I think half the inhabitants of Leeds came into contact with the Ripper investingation . I was living near Potternewton Park, and had had some confrontations with my then wife, so was not surprised when I found DC Jones on my doorstep. Lots of people were being interviewed. BUT it is perhaps not the best idea on meeting a policeman investigating a murder to greet him with "I was expecting you" His eyes lit up ! Fortunately I was away from Leeds on the weekend of one of the murders , though it was necessary for some friends in Birmingham spending over an hour confirming I was there

Re: Murder of Leeds Poet 1978

Posted: Tue 07 Dec, 2021 4:19 pm
by jma
blackprince wrote:
Tue 07 Dec, 2021 1:06 pm
jma wrote:
Thu 02 Dec, 2021 2:16 pm
...... House-to-house enquiries covered a vast area of Leeds 6 and an attempt was also made to interview everybody employed by or studying at Leeds University.
I was working at Leeds University at the time and I would definitely have remembered myself and friends being interviewed so the net didn't catch everyone at the University.
I do remember being stopped at a police roadblock between Leeds and Bradford during the morning rush hour and having the boot of my Mini searched, just like you see in the movies. I think that was part of the Ripper investigation.
Part of this was Denis Hoban giving off-the-cuff instructions and nobody having the bottle to query the detail. In the "Lonely Jim" murder enquiries, it was a fair bet that part of the solution - information or the perpetrator - would be found in the area around Hyde Park Corner and house-to-house was the accepted way of searching for it. In those pre-computer days, the system was to create a master sheet (it probably had a name) for each house and then to complete an individual form for every resident at that address. Fairly simple in a typical residential area, but not in a district of houses in multi-occupation, largely with a mobile population of students. The decision to interview all university employees did not take account of Leeds University having various remote sites. I remember, for instance, that a minibus brought a lot of people for interview from the university's farm near Bramham. All this was increasingly bogged-down in the card-index system in a sort of dress rehearsal for the later "Ripper" investigations. I don't know how this murder came to be detected because my wife went into labour and I was able to take annual leave. (Detective Superintendent Peter "Porky" Howard had declared childbirth was the only grounds he would accept for granting annual leave.)

Re: Murder of Leeds Poet 1978

Posted: Tue 07 Dec, 2021 6:53 pm
by tilly
Talking about the ripper i was interviewed by the police, at the time i was working on contract to British Rail on track side lighting.I was seen driving the land rover at different times driving around Leeds at night the police man who interviewed me said i knew it was not you we were looking for the minuet you opened your mouth you have a yorkshire accent just goes to show how wrong they were.They were at the time looking for someone with a geordie accent.