What happened to Sonia Sutcliffe, the ex-wife of The Ripper subject, Peter Sutcliffe? In the 2020 docuseries, filmmakers Jesse Vile and Ellena Wood chronicle a series of murders that took place in West Yorkshire and Manchester between 1975 and 1980. Overall, the Netflix production primarily focuses on the investigation; however, the fourth and final episode explores the subject’s personal life and marriage.
Since releasing in December 2020, The Ripper has been criticized for glorifying serial killers. Specifically, the relatives of victims have revealed that the original title, “Once Upon a Time in Manchester,” was changed after they agreed to participate in the Netflix docuseries. Unlike many serial killer-themed productions; however, The Ripper doesn’t invest a significant amount of time exploring the subject’s public persona after getting caught. In addition, the directors also provide insight about psychological factors that affected the killer’s frame of mind during his formative years, and thus transformed him into a violent individual.
The Ripper’s fourth episode includes a chilling sequence about a missed opportunity to catch the Yorkshire killer. Andy Laptew of the West Yorkshire police department recalls learning that Sutcliffe had been identified as the murderer and feeling that he’d been hit “in the chest from the inside.” Several years prior, the investigator had actually interviewed the killer at his home. Laptew remembers knocking on the door and asking Sutcliffe if he frequented prostitutes. The suspect stated that he had no need, as he was married to Sonia Szurma, a women he met in 1967. Less than one year after the couple tied the knot in August 1974, Sutcliffe began assaulting and killing women in both West Yorkshire and Manchester. The Ripper on Netflix reveals that Sonia was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a condition that her husband stated he was also suffering from during his trial. Sutcliffe claimed that the voice of God made him to kill; however, the judge rejected the testimonies of four psychiatrists who testified that the defendant was indeed a schizophrenic like his wife. Sutcliffe received a life sentence and passed away in November 2020 at age 74.
Sonia Sutcliffe remained married to her incarcerated husband until 1994. Three years later, she wed hairdresser Michael Woodward. Sonia stopped visiting her ex-husband around 2015, reportedly because he remained “jealous and insecure” about her second marriage. Over the years, Sonia has been criticized for financially taking advantage of her association with the Yorkshire Ripper, and journalist Barbara Jones once described her as “the most irritating, strangest and coldest person I’ve ever met.” Sonia only appears in photographs during The Ripper on Netflix.
In The Ripper, the references to Sonia’s schizophrenia thematically links to the 2020 documentary Crazy, Not Insane, in which renowned psychiatrist Dorothy Otnow Lewis discusses the decades she’s spent studying serial killers. In the ’80s, Lewis was heavily criticized for suggesting that it was important to understand the complete life stories of murderers when assessing their motivations. As for Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, he seemingly took advantage of the early ’80s cultural belief that serial killers were simply “insane.” However, The Ripper’s final episode heavily implies that Sutcliffe experienced psychological trauma as a child, which led him to despise his own mother, along with women in general. Just as serial killer Ted Bundy maintained a romantic relationship while terrorizing women, Peter Sutcliffe similarly managed to stay in a relationship during his reign of terror. The Ripper on Netflix doesn’t offer much insight about the killer’s marriage, but it does suggest that he used his wife as a convenient cover story. Sonia Sutcliffe is currently 70 years old and reportedly (via Daily Mail) arranged for her ex-husband’s 2020 funeral.
