Yorkshire Ripper detective dies

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One of the senior detectives who led the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry in the 1970s has died aged 74.

Dick Holland was a detective superintendent with the West Yorkshire force at the height of the inquiry into the murders of 13 women.

At one stage he led the team of detectives when George Oldfield, the man at the head of the inquiry, suffered a heart attack in 1979.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said the force was saddened by his death.

The so-called Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, was jailed in 1981 and given 20 life sentences for killing 13 women and attempting to kill seven more.

In October 2006 the man who deceived police by claiming to be the Yorkshire Ripper lost his appeal against his eight-year sentence for perverting the course of justice.

John Humble sent three letters and an audio tape to detectives in the 1970s.

He was dubbed Wearside Jack after police resources were diverted to his home city of Sunderland while Peter Sutcliffe committed three more murders.