Helen Rytka, an attractive 18 year old girl was murdered by
the Ripper in Garrards timber yard in Great Northern Street on the 31st
January 1978.
OFFICIAL POLICE
REPORT
Helen and her sister Rita were soliciting motorists for prostitution
outside the toilets at the far end of the street on that night. These
girls were worried about the Ripper and had left Bradford only two months
before because of the Ripper murders. They worked together. When they
would agree the price with a punter the other noted his car and
description and let the punter know this and both would go with a punter
each at the same time. It was their safety mechanism of avoiding the
Ripper who had murdered 5 girls in Leeds and Bradford. The police hunt was
concentrating on motorists to catch the Ripper, a fatal flaw in the
investigation.
Billy Tracey took a half hour flight from Dublin to Manchester that day,
having left his home town in the Irish Midlands a few hours earlier by
train. He was on business to murder a prostitute in Huddersfield to taunt
George Oldfield. He arrived by taxi outside Huddersfield Railway Station
after dark and got a local taxi to show him where he could find a
prostitute.
A stocky well dressed man was seen lurking in the toilets at the crucial
time. He was never traced.
This was Billy Tracey.
He emerged from the toilets immediately after
Helen was returned by a punter and propositioned her with an offer of big
money for a few minutes to masturbate him. She never suspected him for a
second because he had no car and as an experienced punter and pimp he
probably made her a tempting offer. Her sister would be back in a few
minutes and here was a chance to make a nice bonus. It all happened
quickly. She agreed, took his money and walked 100 yards to the entrance
to Garrards timber yard which prostitutes used occasionally and entered it
with him.
Perhaps one or two motorists saw them walk there but none would
now be interested in her because she was gone with him. Once in the
darkness of the yard and while she opened her blouse and bra with her head
turned from him, Tracey drew the hammer from his inside pocket and struck
her senseless. He then buggered her before delivering the heavy blows
that were his hallmark. The ground was heavily stained with blood in this
spot indicating that she had lain here for some time. There was evidence
of the rare B secretor semen found by police on the victim just like Joan
Harrison in Preston.
While all this was going on Rita, her sister, was dropped back at the
corner by her customer where she expected to find Helen.
Anxiously waiting
for her she would not go with any of the motorists who were cruising
around looking for sex. When Tracey had performed his ritual injuries and
rearranged the victims body and clothing theatrically and was ready to go,
he found there was a lot more activity outside because Rita was staying
there, and motorists were driving around the block trying to pick her up.
She was agitated and attracting attention. The police squad might arrive
at any time and could drive into the gateway searching for Helen if Rita
told them the story. He was in a tight spot. He probably waited quite a
time before deciding to change his plan. Wittnesses say the man was seen a
few times over a period of about 2 hours.
He returned to the body. He took off her tights and pulled them over his
hands to hide his fingerprints.
Then he dragged her away from the visible area and lifted her over a stack
of timber and covered her body with a sheet of asbestos. She was hidden
from easy view. Then he wiped his prints from his hammer and knife with
her panties and hurled them to the railway embankment as well as her shoes.
He tidied himself up and with Rita still standing forlornly at the
corner waiting and hoping Helen had gone with a motorist and would return
soon, he walked away towards the town centre only minutes walk away, when
he saw a lull in the traffic.
At the Station toilets he washed and tidied himself before stepping
outside and getting into a taxi to Manchester. He stayed in a B & B
overnight and returned to Dublin the next morning and home.
His thrill was to wait for the news reports on the Daily Mirror as he
carried on the only job he ever had, cutting the flesh from cows heads in
a meat factory in Ireland, while the West Yorkshire police were scouring
Yorkshire for the stocky bearded Irishman whose photo fit they had
published and who was seen at 3 murder scenes. They never looked in
Ireland for the Irish suspect.
This murder in Huddersfield was a clear signal to George
Oldfield and from this point on Oldfield became personally involved. He
appealed for help from the public and was to get a letter from the Ripper
posted from Sunderland. In the letter he wrote " Huddersfield ,never again
too small close call last one."
As the hunt for the Ripper moved into 1980 Peter Sutcliffe the disturbed
copy cat killer who had been eliminated so many times by the police that
his workmates called him "the Ripper" became more desperate to be
apprehended. He wanted to be caught but the police knew he was not the
Ripper. He would have to prove he was the Ripper. He attacked several
women in 1980 ,one was a journalist in Ilkley, and he was described by all
of them. The police had some potty people who claimed to be the Ripper and
he was one who was thoroughly eliminated.
On bonfire night he came to Huddersfield and attacked Teresa Sykes who gave an accurate description of him. He chose
Huddersfield because the Ripper had been there before. The police had
their sights set on a sensational capture of the Ripper and didn't want a
mental case to spoil their end game as they waited for Tracey to return to
England and catch him with blood on his hands.
The statement Peter Sutcliffe made as part of his plea bargain deal with
Dick Holland about how he killed Helen Rytka outside Garrards didn't fit
the facts. It is surprising that no journalist ever compared the known
facts and evidence before his arrest with his statements. They accepted
without question the police accounts and actions as they did with Stefan
Kizsko and Judith Ward. To this day they don't want to reveal their
shortcomings. It is more comfortable to believe that Sutcliffe is the
Ripper.
George Oldfield poses beside the stack of timber behind
which Helen Rytka's body was found
George Oldfield was the Assistant Chief Constable for crime
and he assumed overall responsibility for the Ripper investigation after
the murder of Jayne McDonald in Leeds. Earlier in his career he secured a
conviction for theft of a man whom he saw taking stones from a wall as he
went to work. He also was instrumental in getting the confessions for
planting a bomb on a bus from Judith Ward who was exonerated after serving
16 years in jail.
Oldfield was unfit to handle a murder investigation because he had a
serious alcohol addiction. He lived in Huddersfield and this was to be
the next port of call for the Ripper who went on to taunt him with letters
and a tape recorded message. Tracey confidently knew the police would catch
the copy cat killer and this was his means of helping them. He was
including Sutcliffe's murders in his count ,and this was the main motive
for sending the letters. Nobody knew better than Billy Tracey the
experienced criminal that the police want a conviction above all costs.
Every criminal knows that people are stitched up for crimes they didn't
commit every day and this was no different. The police view is that they
are criminals anyway.
What excited the police in this case was the wealth of evidence they had
about the Ripper. They felt sure they would get him but he was pulling
their strings.
