SUNDERLAND, England, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- British police have captured a man suspected of pretending to be a notorious serial killer decades ago, throwing police off the trail of the real killer.
The 49-year-old man -- whose hoax distracted investigators working on the Yorkshire Ripper case for 18 months -- was arrested Tuesday near the town of Sunderland, various media reports said.
The arrest solved a mystery in which a man with a distinct Wearside accent sent authorities a tape and three letters -- claiming to be the killer who terrorized residents of Leeds and Bradford in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The hoax suspect was being held on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice. The Northern Echo newspaper reported cold case detectives used new DNA evidence to track down the suspect.
The real killer, Peter Sutcliffe, now 59, was eventually arrested in 1981. Sutcliffe, now a patient at a hospital, has admitted to murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others.
Police say the hoax allowed the killer to commit three more murders.
