Yorkshire Ripper victim Marcella Claxton's life 47 years after brutal attack

02 October 2023 , 19:01

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Yorkshire Ripper victim Marcella Claxton's life 47 years after brutal attack

It may have been nearly five decades ago that Marcella Claxton was brutally attacked by serial killer Peter Sutcliffe but the mental anguish and physical trauma still haunts her everyday.

Now 67, Marcella has tried to resume a normal life since that fateful day when Peter, who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper by the media, hit her over the head with a heavy spanner. The mum of three who is also a grandmother to six children, worked as a school cleaner but was forced to retire after suffering from blackouts due to the aftermath of her attack. To this day, Peter Sutcliffe's victim has to endure daily headaches and blackouts and her falls regularly land her in hospital.

In an interview with The Sun centered around the ITV programme The Long Shadow, which is based on Peter's attacks and killings during the late seventies and early eighties, Marcella recalls the moment she realised that she may actually die.

Marcella Claxton was one of Peter Sutcliffe's surviving victims

The murderer had already killed two women and attacked four others when he set eyes on Marcella walking the streets of Chapeltown, Leeds in May 1976. She was walking home from a party when he stopped her and asked if she wanted a lift. After she accepted she soon realised that he was not driving in the direction of her home. Instead he was heading to Roundhay Park in Leeds. And this area was close to the location of his other victims.

Speaking about the incident she said that she "tried to open the doors to get out, but I couldn’t.” Marcella told Peter that she needed to use the toilet. She found a bush and crouched down and that was when Peter attacked her.

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She said: "I was bursting, but when I bent down he hit me over the head with a spanner. The pain was awful and there was blood everywhere. I thought I was going to die and he drove away, ­leaving me for dead. It was deserted, there was no one on the street to help me. I crawled to a phone box to call an ambulance. They told me to stay where I was, but while I was waiting I realised that he had returned.”

Photograph of Peter Sutcliffe (1946-) an English serial killer who was dubbed the "Yorkshire Ripper" by the press. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (Universal Images Group/ Getty Images)

The killer was interviewed nine times by police and set free (Getty Images)

Marcella needed extensive brain surgery and she is still battling with the scars that he left her with. She openly says that Peter Sutcliffe "ruined my life" and says that she still suffers with pain exactly where he hit her. She added: "The pain is really sharp — it goes all along the top of my head, from the front to the back. Sometimes it feels like my head’s going to burst open. One time it was that bad, I put my head in the freezer.”

Marcella, who is believed to still live in Leeds, also claims that if the police had believed her description of Peter Sutcliffe at the time of her attack, he would have been caught. The police refused to believe he was a white man who had attacked her and wrongly assumed that she was also a sex worker.

Detectives also not convinced that her artist description of the serial killer was accurate - but it later turned out to be a spitting image portrait. She contiinued: "If the police had listened to me, they could have caught him. There would have been no more killing." Marcella is played by actress Jasmine Lee-Jones in the series. Peter Sutcliffe was finally caught in 1981 and sentenced to life for 13 murders and seven attempted murders.

Lucretia Munro