I Pursued the Yorkshire Ripper, But I'm Tormented by the Child Killer Found with a Gagged 6-Year-Old in His Van

FOR more than 30 years detective Bob Bridgestock hunted Britain’s most notorious killers.

His quarries included and prolific paedophile Glynn Kenyon who he found “remorseless” and “menacing”.

Detective Bob Bridgestock hunted Britain’s most notorious killers for more than three decades Credit: Supplied Child serial killer Robert Black was caught red-handed by police with a barely alive six-year-old girl hooded, bound, gagged and stuffed in a sleeping bag in the back of his van Credit: PA:Press Association

But he reveals the case that haunts him the most is child killer , whose murder spree finally ended in 1990 when a terrified six-year-old was rescued from the back of his van.

“He was pure evil,” Bob tells the Sun. “He was completely dead behind the eyes when you sat across from him.”

Bob was drafted in to search for the killer after was snatched and murdered on her way back from a corner shop, near her home in , in 1986.

For years the perpetrator evaded justice, while a series of unexplained child murders took place across the country.

Robert Black was caught red-handed by police with a barely alive six-year-old girl hooded, bound, gagged and stuffed in a sleeping bag in the back of his van, in the Scottish village of Stow.

Police had been called after an eagle-eyed resident saw a neighbour’s child disappear in the vicinity of a parked van.

Incredibly the cop who apprehended Black was the father of the six-year-old – whose life had undoubtedly been saved by his neighbour.

In 1994, Black was found guilty of Sarah’s murder along with two other unsolved child murders in the 1980s — those of , from the Scottish Borders and from Edinburgh — as well as a failed abduction bid in Nottingham in 1988.

Sarah Harper, one of the victims of serial child killer Robert Black, was snatched and murdered on her way back from a nearby corner shop in 1986 Credit: PA:Press Association Jennifer Cardy disappeared from Ballinderry in August 1981, while cycling to a friend’s house Credit: Pacemaker Press

Police kept investigating Black and in 2012, he was found guilty of the 1981 murder of nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy, from Ballinderry, Co Antrim.

He had long been the prime suspect in the case of missing 13-year-old , who was last seen in Devon in 1978. However Bob believes there were a number of other victims.

He says that he understands that the police were in the process of charging him with another murder when he passed away in 2016.

“He was definitely behind others. After his arrest the number of children going missing seemed to reduce. He was prolific, he had these appetites and had no sense of feeling or remorse. He was not the kind of person who liked to talk about what he had done.

Caroline Hogg was just 5 when she was murdered Susan Maxwell, 11, was also one of Robert’s victims Credit: Keith Perry In 1994, Robert Black was found guilty of Sarah’s murder along with two other unsolved child murders in the 1980s Credit: Pacemaker Press Van like the one used by Robert Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

“From the ongoing investigations that I was a part of I would say there were at least half a dozen other victims if not more,” he says.

Bob had not long been an officer when began his reign of terror on his patch.

committed for at least six years — and attempting to kill another seven — and Mr Bridgestock was often the first on the scene.

He says that the crime scenes showed that the murderer was “not a clever man”.

“He was just a predator – a vicious, nasty sex offender who attacked women and then did what he wanted. It was prolific and on a scale that this country had never seen,” Bob told the Sun.

He describes the chaos of the investigation that led to the murderer evading justice for so long.

“There were 32,000 statements, and around half a million cars being tracked, from memory. And it was all on paper so it was unsurprising that it took so long to catch him,” said Bob.

“We kept saying that the evidence was pointing to Sutcliffe but the powers that be didn’t agree. I remember a meeting where we were told if the suspect didn’t have a Geordie accent they weren’t our man.”

Peter Sutcliffe brutally murdered 13 women and attempted to commit another seven Credit: Rex Twelve of the thirteen victims of the Yorkshire Ripper Credit: PA

Five years before the Ripper was met with the full force of the law, Bob had a near miss with the murderer.

As a junior officer he was put on surveillance detail to catch an arsonist attacking a property, which was owned by a close friend of their division commander.

On a damp and cold January night in 1978, he was stationed on a muddy bank on Great Northern Street, so was thankful after seven long hours camping outside that he was told to go home.

Little did he know that the Ripper would take another victim that day, right where he had been on duty.

Peter Sutcliffe picked up sex worker Helen Rytka and drove the 18-year-old to an outbuilding on the very street the police were camped out on, where he had sex with her, attacked her with a hammer then stabbed her to death.

He then dragged Helen’s near-naked body to a woodpile where he hid it under a sheet of corrugated asbestos. She was found three days later by a police-dog team after her twin sister Rita reported her missing.

“As soon as they gave the location as Great Northern Street, I thought, ‘Oh God, damn, we’ve been sat there for seven days, and then suddenly on the eighth day he attacks, right where we would have been.

“You think, ‘One day more, just one day more,’ it could have saved so many lives, but it didn’t.”

The derelict flats where Patricia Atkinson was murdered by Peter Sutcliffe Credit: NB PRESS LTD Peter Sutcliffe was finally caught when police ran a check on his car and discovered the number plates were stolen in 1981 Credit: Alamy

A year later Bob received the call saying that there was yet another murder in the area. It was the Ripper’s tenth victim Josephine Whitaker, a 19-year-old clerk from .

The teenager was visiting her parents just a short walk from her home, but chose not to stay because she had to change her contact lens. On her way home she was met by Peter Sutcliffe, who brutally murdered her.

“I remember going to the scene and I had never seen anything like it,” said Bob.

“She was stabbed 20 times, her skull was shattered.”

When they got to the scene it began to rain, and Bob claims it was his quick thinking of covering the body with tarpaulin from a nearby yard that eventually proved pivotal in cracking the case.

As a boot print, matching the ones left at Patricia Atkinson and ’s murders, was found next to her body which confirmed that the killer had struck again after a year of silence.

In 1981, Peter Sutcliffe was finally caught when police ran a check on his car and discovered the number plates were stolen. After being sentenced to life in prison he , aged 74.

“We will never really know how many victims he had, could have been around 22 more than he was convicted for,” says Mr Bridgestock.

The Yorkshire Ripper was not the only high profile case he worked on.
He also led an investigation into Halifax paedophile Glynn Kenyon, who is serving 17 life sentences for charges including rape, indecent assault, poisoning and threats to kill two teenage girls.

In 2002, a prosecutor at Bradford Crown Court put Kenyon’s child abuse on a par with the Moors murders and . Mr Bridgestock says the former market trader is one of the most evil people he has met face-to-face.

“Kenyon would stare menacingly at you like he wanted to spit venom,” he recalls.

“You could feel the burning sensation of his eyeballs following you around the courtroom and he’d never blink if he caught your gaze.

“Kenyon was remorseless and had no feelings for his victims. He wouldn’t admit a thing, getting pleasure as they gave evidence by reliving his crimes.

Kenyon’s attitude had been, “If you prove the case against me, so what? You’re all liars.”

The ex-detective and his wife Carol, 65, a former civilian police worker, are now authors.

They were also consultants on the BBC’s crime drama Happy Valley starring Sarah Lancashire as Sergeant Catherine Cawood and James Norton as psychopath Tommy Lee Royce.

Bob and Carol Bridgestock’s new crime thriller Split Second is published by Orenda Books on August 27.