A former nurse at the infamous Broadmoor psyciatric hospital has shared his first memories of coming into contact with the Yorkshire Ripper who was detained there for three decades.
In a new Channel 5 documentary called Broadmoor, about the high security psychiatric ward in Berkshire, a former nurse recalled first meeting the serial killer Peter Sutcliffe.
Broadmoor, which is located in Crowthorne, 40 miles from London, has been home to some of the most violent criminals in English history, including Ronnie Kray, Peter Sutcliffe and Charles Bronson.
Dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, who murdered 13 women and attempted to kill several others in the 1970s, is one criminal to have spent a considerable period of time in the facility, having been housed there for 30 years.
During the new documentary, a former nursing assistant, Neil Wheatcroft, who worked in the facility from 1995 to 2009, recalled first meeting the serial killer.
In a new Channel 5 documentary called Broadmoor, (pictured) about the infamous high security psychiatric ward in Berkshire, a former nurse recalled first meeting the serial killer Peter Sutcliffe
A former nurse at the infamous Broadmoor hospital has shared his first memories of coming into contact with the notorious Yorkshire Ripper (pictured)
‘He frightened me to start with because his eyes were like looking into a shark, there was no life there at all,’ he said.
After he was convicted, the Yorkshire Ripper swiftly became one of the most known faces in the media – his crimes a startling reality for those who were tasked with caring for him in Broadmoor.
‘We knew what he’d done, we’ve seen enough news reels on it,’ remembered Wheatcroft.
But Sutcliffe was never a sociable inmate.
‘He was never a mixer, he didn’t play pool or card games. Gradually he became accepted and he would chat – but nothing more,’ said Wheatcroft.
Reverend Bob Simmonds, who was a chaplain at the facility between 2008 and 2011 also recalled little that was notable about Sutcliffe’s time in the ward.
He said: ‘He called me Bob and I called him Peter that’s as much as I can say I think.’
During the 1970s, Sutcliffe reigned terror across the north of England, targeting young women in a vicious killing spree that landed 13 dead across West Yorkshire and Manchester.
Peter Sutcliffe was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper before his true identity was known.
He killed 13 women, mainly sex workers, and injured a further seven, during the period of 1975 and 1980.
He barbarism sparked one of the biggest police investigations in British history with a nationwide manhunt launched to find him.
Sutcliffe was eventually arrested in 1981 after he was caught with unidentified registration plates on his vehicle. The ripper had been sat in a car with a sex worker at the time, his boot filled with murder weapons likely intended to kill her.
Once in police custody, it took two days of questioning before Sutcliffe eventually admitted to the murders, telling police that he had committed the crimes because of voices in his head who urged him to ‘kill prostitutes’ – though several of his victims didn’t fit this brief.
Dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper – Peter Sutcliffe is one criminal to have spent a considerable period of time in the facility, having been housed there for 30 years
The killer spent thirty years at Broadmoor Hospital before being moved to HMP Frankland in County Durham in 2016
Sutcliffe was sentenced to 20 concurrent life sentences, he began his sentence at HMP Pankhurst in May 1981 but was transferred to Broadmoor in March 1984.
The killer spent thirty years at Broadmoor Hospital before being moved to HMP Frankland in County Durham in 2016.
During his time in Broadmoor, Sutcliffe was encouraged to keep in contact with family – as did the rest of the patients – and the killer made regular phone calls to his brother, Carl.
During their weekly phone conversations, Carl would secretly record his brother, the documentary explained.
Wheatcroft remembered seeing Sutcliffe making his calls. He said: ‘We had to supervise phone calls so he would say “can you put my name down for a 7pm phone call” and he went into a little glass both with two glass panes so people could see he was okay.
‘I’d monitor it and write down, nothing untoward, “end your phone call Pete, we’re going” and would say “okay, thank you very much”.’
During his time at the high security facility, Sutcliffe sparked outrage when in 2012, aged 65, he attempted to gain access to his state pension.
The documentary included one phone call recording between the killer and his brother call.
Sutcliffe was sentenced to 20 concurrent life sentences, he began his sentence at HMP Pankhurst in May 1981 but was transferred to Broadmoor in March 1984
During the 1970s, Sutcliffe reigned terror across the north of England, targeting young women in a vicious killing spree that landed 13 dead across West Yorkshire and Manchester
He barbarism sparked one of the biggest police investigations in British history with a nationwide manhunt launched to find him
Broadmoor, which is located in Crowthorne, 40 miles from London , has been home to some of the most violent criminals in English history, including Ronnie Kray, Peter Sutcliffe and Charles Bronson
The audio recording features the chilling real voice of the killer explaining to his brother how he was ‘conducting my own legal case’.
During the phone call, Carl asks his brother what he’s been up to which he replied. ‘Not a lot, I’m conducting my own legal case now, for my pension case because I couldn’t get legal aid for it, so I’ve took it on myself, no solicitor or anything. I’ve just sent them fifty quid.’
Carl said: ‘You’ve got to have a go haven’t you,’ to which his brother, the murderer, insisted ‘there’s about £70,000 at stake.’
Unsurprisingly, the families of the victims were horrified by Sutcliffe’s requests, which would have seen him pocket £137.35, had he been successful.
During the 30 years the infamous killer spent at Broadmoor and is believed to have cost the taxpayer a total of £11 billion.
This included £3,000 for his funeral following his death in November 2020.
The psychiatric hospital, Broadmoor, is currently home to more than 200 inmates, all of whom have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
It is England’s oldest high security psychiatry prison, first built in 1863 as a ‘Criminal Lunatic Asylum’.
