Ronald Gregory

Gregory was born on 23 October 1921 in Preston, Lancashire, England.[1] He came from a family of policemen: his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had been officers.[2] He was educated at Harris College, known for its vocational and technical courses.[1][3]

Gregory began his policing career as a police cadet with the Blackpool borough force before joining Preston borough police as a constable in 1941.[8][2] After completing his probationary period, he left the police to serve in the military for the rest of the Second World War.[1][2] He was demobilised in 1946 and returned to Preston to continue his police career.[8] He became a detective, and rose through the ranks of CID until he was a detective chief inspector.[2]

In 1962 or 1963, he became a chief officer, having been appointed deputy chief constable of Blackpool.[1][2] He became chief constable of Plymouth City Police in 1965.[3] However, only two years later, the city police was merged with its neighbouring forces into Devon and Cornwall Police; he became deputy chief constable of the new force in 1967 or 1968.[1][2]

In 1969, Gregory began his final police appointment: as chief constable of West Yorkshire Constabulary.[3] Due to government restructuring, the city constabularies of Leeds and Bradford were merged into the wider county force in 1973, enlarging his constabulary and remit: this new force was called the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police.[1] This amalgamation created tensions and split loyalties throughout the force in the early years, and were cited as a major cause of issue relating to the hunt for the 'Yorkshire Ripper'.[2] He introduced a number of innovations to the force, including armed response mobile units, VASCAR speed detectors in patrol cars, and a motorway patrol unit.[8][2]

On 30 October 1975, Peter Sutcliffe killed the first of his 13 known victims; 28-year-old Wilma Mary McCann from Scott Hall, Leeds.[1][9] Sutcliffe would not be arrested until January 1981, after which he confessed to 13 murders.[2] Gregory directly contributed to the delay in finding Sutcliffe through his support of the 'Wearside Jack' cassette tape and letters; these were later revealed to be a hoax but diverted detectives for two years into chasing a non-existent lead.[1][2] The associated press and poster campaign which was fronted by Gregory himself cost the inquiry almost £1 million.[1] That line of inquiry produced "100 per cent rubbish",[2] and, in July 1979, Sutcliffe was interviewed for the fifth time but was dismissed as a suspect because his voice and handwriting did not fit 'Wearside Jack'.[10] Sutcliffe would go on to kill at least three more women.[10] He was finally arrested on 2 January 1981 by a neighbouring force for a traffic offence, although further investigation of the scene the following revealed a hammer and knife: the 'Yorkshire Ripper' had been found and Sutcliffe readily confessed to 13 murders.[2][10] Gregory swiftly called a triumphant press conference, stating that he was "delighted with developments at this stage" and announcing the immediate scaling-down of the Ripper manhunt.[2] This would become known as the "laughing policeman" press conference,[8] and he was criticised for both his jubilant behaviour and the possibility of prejudicing Sutcliffe's future trial.[2][8]

The later inquiry into the manhunt's failings was highly critical of Gregory's decision to appoint George Oldfield as senior investigating officer: he only undertook the role part-time in addition to his duties as assistant chief constable (crime), and he was not considered to have had the professional competence and charisma to effectively lead such a large inquiry.[11] In addition, when Oldfield took ill in 1979, Gregory was found to have not acted swiftly enough to ensure a clear replacement was appointed.[11]

Gregory retired early from the police in 1983, two years after Sutcliffe was apprehended.[2] He sold his memoirs to the Mail on Sunday for a reported £40,000.[1] This was widely criticised with the families of Sutcliffe's victims describing it as "blood money", Leon Brittan, the Home Secretary, called it "deplorable", and the Police Review called him a hypocrite.[1][8] One survivor of an attack by Sutcliffe was only awarded £17,000 in compensation after a long legal fight,[12] and as chief constable he had banned his officers from speaking to the press.[2]

In 1942, Gregory married Grace Ellison. Together they had two sons.[3]

Gregory spent much of his retirement living in Portugal.[2] He died on 9 April 2010, aged 88.[3]

In the 1971 New Year Honours, Gregory was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for Distinguished Service (QPM) in recognition of his work as chief constable of West Yorkshire Constabulary.[13] In 1977, he was made a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) to the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire.[14] In the 1980 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of his work as chief constable of West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police.[15]