Families of Peter Sutcliffe's victims criticise Netflix over 'Ripper' documentary
The families of women murdered by Peter Sutcliffe have called on Netflix to scrap the title of a new documentary about the serial killer's crimes.
In a letter to the company, they say the term 'Ripper' is 'irresponsible, insensitive and insulting to our families'.
Nine families, including Richard McCann – whose mother Wilma was among Sutcliffe's victims – want the title changed.
They say Netflix originally planned to call the film Once Upon a Time in Yorkshire and say they would have refused to take part had they known it would be changed.
In the letter, the families said: "The moniker "the Yorkshire Ripper" has traumatised us and our families for the past four decades.
"It glorifies the brutal violence of Peter Sutcliffe, and grants him a celebrity status that he does not deserve."
Netflix said the series is "not about Sutcliffe" but rather is a "a sensitive re-examination of the crimes within the context of England in the late 1970s".
It said the series, which comes out on Wednesday, "has at its heart the stories of the women who died", who were dehumanised by the media and the police.
Sutcliffe, who carried out his killings between 1975 and 1980, died last month after contracting Covid-19, aged 74.