World : Wife of ‘Ripper’ Wins Libel Award

The wife of the mass murderer known as the “Yorkshire Ripper” was awarded huge libel damages today that could force the closing of Britain’s daring satirical magazine, Private Eye.

A London court ordered the magazine to pay $942,000 to Sonia Sutcliffe, 38, wife of killer Peter Sutcliffe, after a series of articles alleging that she sold her story to a newspaper for $392,500 and implying that she knew about her husband’s murderous activities.

Private Eye’s editor Ian Hislop gasped when he heard the verdict. Afterward he told reporters: “We cannot possibly pay that amount of damages. . . . What Mrs. Sonia Sutcliffe has done by the action is probably to get rid of the Eye.” Hislop added, “If this is justice, I am a banana.”