This is just one of the many articles that acknowledge police knew that there was another killer out there besides the Yorkshire Ripper.
That maniac turned out to be the disturbed Peter Sutcliffe who was arrested in Sheffield only 6 weeks later because the West Yorkshire police in his locality knew him so well and had eliminated him so thoroughly as the Yorkshire Ripper.
They were focussed on getting the Ripper and not terribly interested in any copycat killer.
The South Yorkshire police were unaware of their colleagues plans and intimate knowledge of Peter Sutcliffe. The West Yorkshire police bosses had their sights set on apprehending the real Yorkshire Ripper, Billy Tracey with blood on his hands and no lunatic running amok was going to spoil their plans. They were playing a waiting game for Tracey to come to Yorkshire and hadn’t planned for copycat lunatic killer Peter Sutcliffe to be arrested and start admitting that he was the one and only Ripper.
