Michael Bilton
Autor(a) de Four Hours in My Lai
Obras por Michael Bilton
Associated Works
To The Manor Born: The Complete Series 2 — Actor — 7 exemplares
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Data de nascimento
- 1947
- Sexo
- male
- Educação
- University of York (UK) (Political Science)
Membros
Críticas
Listas
True Crime (1)
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Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 3
- Also by
- 1
- Membros
- 334
- Popularidade
- #71,211
- Avaliação
- 4.2
- Críticas
- 4
- ISBN
- 10
The author's bloated narrative aside, reading about the botched investigation by the newly created West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police - and in particular George Oldfield - made me so angry! Sutcliffe might have wielded the hammer, but Oldfield gave the killer room to keep taking a swing, particularly after receiving the 'Wearside Jack' hoax letters and tape. Not only were the first victims dismissed as prostitutes, by the police and press alike, but possible suspects were eliminated because they didn't have a Sunderland accent. The lead detectives were so narrow-minded and literal-thinking throughout - later women who were attacked or killed with a slightly different method were called liars or the cases were hushed up purely to save face. And when interviewing men who had been spotted in multiple red light districts, the police were told to take a softly softly approach: 'Fear of sparking marital strife inhibited detectives from using their gut instincts about a potential suspect'. Incredible! Bilton's insistence on providing biographies for men like Oldfield and Hobson in a bid to make them more sympathetic didn't work - I merely started skipping whole sections.
I'm glad - or at least I hope - that the police and investigative procedures have improved considerably since Sutcliffe was interviewed on nine separate occasions and only arrested by chance in Sheffield because he was driving a car with stolen plates. Still, it's depressing to think that the hunt for a killer in the 1970s was almost like a continuation of Jack the Ripper 100 years earlier - and came close to ending the same way.… (mais)