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Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper

By Michael Bilton

Now a major TV series

‘A masterpiece that reads like a thriller’ Time Out

A gripping and probing account of the biggest criminal manhunt in British history.

It is over 40 years since Peter Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attacking 7 more. Still, he remains a killer of almost mythical proportions; his surviving victims, and their families, forever attached to his infamy.

Michael Bilton’s acclaimed account is a powerful indictment of the calamitous investigation that logged over 2 million man-hours of police work – the biggest criminal manhunt in British history. With exclusive access to the detectives involved, the pathologist’s archives and declassified documents, this account reads like the most gripping of thrillers.

Format: Paperback
Release Date: 14 Sep 2023
Pages: 816
ISBN: 978-0-00-745073-2
Price: £10.99 (Export Price) , £10.99, €None
Michael Bilton is a former Sunday Times investigative journalist and an award-winning documentary film maker. He won an Emmy for his documentary on the My Lai massacre and his book Four Hours in My Lai was a bestseller that won plaudits all over the world.

”'A masterpiece that reads like a thriller.” - Time Out

‘There is unlikely to be a more cmprehensive or carefully researched account of the case. To read ‘Wicked Beyond Belief’ is to have a sense of being physically present at the day-to-day investigation, experiencing the frustrations, the stress and the public outrage at its lack of success as the years passed and murder followed.’ P.D.James, Mail on Sunday -

”'Bilton knows more about the Ripper case than anyone living.” - Blake Morrison, Guardian