Police National Computer - Yorkshire Ripper Inquiry

Following a request from Detective Chief Superintendent Domaille on On the 26th April 1978 it was agreed to arrange for the results of the vehicle observations in "red light" areas to be processed on the Police National Computer.

Observations on vehicles in notable "red light" areas had by this time been commenced in other Northern cities within and outside West Yorkshire so that possible leads might be available to investigating officers in the event of a further Ripper crime.

On 19th June 1978 vehicle registration numbers recorded at a number of fixed observation posts were fed into the computer at Hendon from visual display units in Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and Hull. They were then to be printed out for inquiries if the same vehicle was identified as having been seen in two of the separate areas where observations were in progress.

On 13th August 1978, Peter William Sutcliffe was interviewed as a result of his red Ford Corsair car having been seen in the Chapeltown area of Leeds and the Manningham area of Bradford. Detective Constable Peter Smith of the West Yorkshire Police, who knew that Sutcliffe had been seen during the £5 note inquiry, visited him at his home in Garden Lane, Heaton, Bradford. Detective Constable Smith knew that Sutcliffe worked as a lorry driver from a Bradford base and assumed that the sightings of his car in Bradford could be explained by journeys to and from work. Sutcliffe denied having visited Leeds or other West Yorkshire towns during evenings in the relevant period. He also emphatically denied using the services of prostitutes.