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

The evidence is complete.

Peter Sutcliffe has given his account.

The psychiatrists have given their opinions.

Now the case belongs to the jury.

Sir Michael Havers addresses the court for the final time, arguing that Sutcliffe's claims of a divine mission were not evidence of diminished responsibility, but an account constructed after his arrest and shaped to persuade the psychiatrists who examined him.

James Chadwin asks the jury to confront something more difficult: four psychiatrists had diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, including a doctor originally instructed by the prosecution.

Could Sutcliffe have deceived them all?

Or could a man suffering from serious mental illness still plan, conceal, manipulate and protect himself while acting beneath the influence of a fixed delusion?

Mr Justice Boreham then turns to the law.

Thirteen women.

Thirteen murder charges.

And thirteen separate decisions about whether an abnormality of mind had substantially impaired Sutcliffe's responsibility when he killed.

At 10:21 on the morning of 22 May 1981, twelve members of the public retire to consider their verdicts.

Almost six hours later, they return unable to agree unanimously.

They are permitted to reach majority verdicts.

Forty-seven minutes later, they return again.

This episode follows the final hours of one of Britain's most notorious murder trials through the verdicts, the twenty life sentences imposed upon Peter Sutcliffe, and the judge's recommendation that he remain imprisoned for at least thirty years.

But the story does not end with the word guilty.

We return to the women whose lives had been reduced to evidence, categories and disputed motivations throughout the trial.

To those who were murdered.

To those who survived.

And to the families for whom a verdict could establish responsibility...

But could never reverse time.

This is an episode about judgement.

About mental illness and legal responsibility.

About punishment.

And about everything a courtroom verdict could — and could not — repair.

🎙️ 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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