Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of murder, attempted murder, violence against women and serious mental illness. Listener discretion is advised.

Peter Sutcliffe has entered the witness box.

Three psychiatrists have explained why they believed he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Now the jury hears the account upon which their conclusions largely depended.

Sutcliffe describes a confusing experience at Bingley Cemetery, a voice he came to believe belonged to God and the gradual development of what he claimed was a divine mission.

But the voice did not begin as a command.

His account develops alongside jealousy, depression, humiliation and a growing grievance against women. He describes how coincidence became instruction, investigative failure became supposed divine protection and violence became something he claimed God required him to carry out.

Throughout the episode, Sutcliffe’s claims are examined alongside the lives of Anna Rogulskyj, Olive Smelt, Wilma McCann, Yvonne Pearson, Jayne MacDonald, Jean Jordan, Josephine Whitaker and Olivia Reivers—women whose identities and lives mattered far beyond the category he imposed upon them.

Was Sutcliffe describing a profound religious delusion?

Or had he created an explanation capable of placing divine authority behind calculated violence?

This is an episode about belief.

About responsibility.

About the women behind Sutcliffe’s words.

And about the difference between an account being psychiatrically possible—and being true.

🎙️ Hidden Chronicles explores the moments where history, crime and human psychology collide.

🎧 Available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible and other major podcast platforms.

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