Did the Yorkshire Ripper kill SEVENTEEN more women? Retired policeman 'strongly believes' catalogue of unsolved murders have the hallmarks of Peter Sutcliffe



Chris Clark, formerly of Norfolk Police, has compiled evidence

He said the 'frenzied' killings suggest the Ripper's involvement

Victims of unsolved cases include teenage girls, teachers and prostitutes

Two women have not even been identified

Mr Clark intends to pass on his evidence to the Home Office

Murderer: Peter Sutcliffe, pictured, is in prison having been convicted of 13 murders, but retired officer Chris Clark says he could have committed more

Notorious serial killer Peter Sutcliffe could be responsible for as many as 17 more murders, a retried detective has claimed.

Chris Clark, formerly of Norfolk Police, has reviewed dozens of unsolved murders during the period Sutcliffe was at large, and claims to have found 'circumstantial evidence' linking him to the crimes.

He said the 'frenzied nature' of the killings, whose victims include housewives, prostitutes, a teacher and two pregnant women, leads him to believe Sutcliffe - also known as the Yorkshire Ripper - could be behind them.



Although the 13 murders Sutcliffe was convicted of all took place in Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, Mr Clark believes his work as a lorry driver could have given him the opportunity to kill all around the country.

He told the Daily Star Sunday: 'I have been able to piece together strands of evidence and I can show that he knew, or had been to, the areas where attacks occurred.

'I intend to take my evidence to the Home Office and hope they will reopen the cases.

'It is inconceivable to believe he didn't attack elsewhere. He had the ability to drive around the UK at will and this gave him the perfect cover.'



Mr Clark has compiled a dossier of evidence connected to the cases - which date from 1968 to 1980 - and intends to hand it over to the authorities for investigation.

Extra victims? Alison Morris, right, was murdered in 1975. Chris Clark thinks Sutcliffe, pictured right driving in his lorry, could have been responsible



Serial killer: A police document from the Ripper investigations shows the 13 whose murders Peter Sutcliffe has been accused of

The murder victims - who are all female - include Gloria Booth, a 29-year-old housewife found strangled in north-west London in 1971, pregnant mother-of-two Lynda Farrow, who was stabbed repeatedly in 1979, and teenager Patsy Morris. Miss Morris's body was found discarded in the undergrowth in London grassland in June 1980.

Two of the victims under Mr Clark's consideration have never been identified - one of whom was found decapitated in Norfolk in August 1974. The other was found on the North Yorkshire Moors.

The cases identified by Mr Clark have all baffled investigators. A soldier was found guilty of murdering 14-year-old Judith Roberts, but the conviction was later quashed by the court of appeal.

Cold case: Former intelligence officer Chris Clark, above, believes Sutcliffe can be linked to Alison's case

A teenager was convicted of the murder of Wendy Sewell, who was killed in Derby in 1973, and spent 27 years in jail, but was eventually cleared of the charge.

Detectives looking in to some of the murders specifically ruled out Sutcliffe as a suspect at the time.



But Mr Clark believes the officers underestimated how far he could travel and how quickly he could kill, which could make him a feasible suspect in the murders.

Sutcliffe, now 67, is a prisoner at Broadmoor Hospital after being given 20 life sentences.

