George Oldfield (police officer)

In February 1974, Oldfield, then a Detective Chief Superintendent and head of the West Yorkshire CID, took command of the investigation into an Irish Republican Army bomb which killed 12 people travelling on board a coach carrying members of the British armed services and their families on the M62 motorway on 4 February. He immediately made contact with the Garda Síochána and ordered forensic tests on the wreckage on the motorway.[8] On 19 February the investigation charged Judith Ward with the bombing after she confessed and Griess tests on her hands indicated contact with explosives. Although she later retracted her confession, Ward was convicted of the bombing on 4 November 1974 and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment.[9]

The success of obtaining a conviction and heavy sentence for Ward provided a significant boost to Oldfield's reputation,[10] and on 27 May 1976 he was promoted to be Assistant Chief Constable for Crime at West Yorkshire Police.[11] Several years after Oldfield's death, Ward's conviction was overturned as the forensic tests were discredited and her confession found to be the product of mental illness. In overturning the conviction, the Court of Appeal strongly criticised Oldfield for not disclosing a series of interviews with Ward to her defence team.[12]

As Assistant Chief Constable, Oldfield took the lead in the police inquiry when, starting in 1975, several women were found murdered or horrifically injured in Leeds and Bradford. When new attacks were linked with the same inquiry, Oldfield confirmed that the police believed they were being committed by the same man.[13] From the fact that the murderer attacked and mutilated women, some of whom were associated with prostitution, the nickname "Yorkshire Ripper" came to be applied to that person. Oldfield devoted himself to investigating these crimes, working long hours and taking little leave.

In June 1979, at a press conference Oldfield publicised a tape recording and letters received by the police in which Wearside Jack, a hoaxer, taunted Oldfield personally for being unable to catch him and claimed to be the murderer. Oldfield was convinced that the real murderer had been in contact and spent a great deal of time in the Northeast around Sunderland, as the accent of the man on the tape was determined to come from the Castletown area in the town.

On 6 August 1979[14] Oldfield was taken ill with what was then described as a chest infection.[15] He was off work for more than four months. When he returned it was acknowledged that he had had a heart attack and did not return to the Ripper investigation.[16]

The arrest of Peter Sutcliffe by South Yorkshire Police in Sheffield in January 1981 led to the discovery that he was the Yorkshire Ripper. Sutcliffe was from West Yorkshire and had no connection to Sunderland. Hence, it became apparent that the letters and tape had been a distraction from the hunt for the murderer. Oldfield did not attend Sutcliffe's trial at the Old Bailey in London; he still believed, although Sutcliffe had not written the letters or read the taped message, that there was a strong connection between them and the murder inquiry.[17]

On 5 June 1981,[18] Oldfield was transferred from the CID to take charge of operational support. West Yorkshire Police insisted that he was not being sacked or demoted but moved to less onerous duties due to his health.[19] In February 1982, he was moved to be Assistant Chief Constable in charge of the Western Division, based at Bradford.[20]