World : Wife of ‘Ripper’ Wins Libel Award

LONDON — 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.”