'The greatest ever victory for the police' - Sheffield man remembers seeing the Yorkshire Ripper's arrest

Christopher Crossley, aged 73, of Brincliffe, Sheffield, vividly remembers the events on the night he will never forget – when he came face to face with one of the most notorious murderers in history.

At the time, Mr Crossley worked as a popular disc jockey at Josephine’s nightclub in Sheffield and was more than used to a lively evening in the city – but nothing could have prepared him for January 2, 1981.

Speaking exclusively to the Star, Christopher said: “When it all started, I was driving down towards Hunters Bar – admittedly a little too quickly – and a police officer pulled me over as a result.

"After a brief discussion about the situation I found myself in, the officers then escorted me from my car to have a breathalyser test at Lady’s Bridge. I remember waiting there for hours before being told they had to transfer me to Hammerton Road police station for the test.

"When we arrived, they took me into the building and I remember hearing a bit of commotion behind me. I turned around and there he was – the Ripper. He had also just arrived at the police station and I just remember seeing his face coming out of the darkness.

"Even though he’d been caught, it was still terrifying. I eventually had my breathalyser test which came back clear and the officers drove me back to where my car had been left.

“The significance of the moment really hit me when the officers – who were driving me back to my car – stated that, that moment really was the greatest ever moment for the police”.

Peter Sutcliffe died alone in hospital in the early hours of Friday, November 13, after contracting coronavirus.

Described as a ‘monster’ by West Yorkshire Police Federation, Sutcliffe was serving a rare whole life sentence for the murders of 13 women and a further seven attempted murders.

He spent most of his sentence locked up at Broadmoor high security psychiatric hospital before being transferred to HMP Frankland in County Durham in 2016.

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