Debbie Schlesinger grave (4th March 1959 to 21st April 1977)

Officially Peter Sutcliffe murdered thirteen women but it's thought he killed others. Leeds news agencies have kindled the idea that 18-year-old Debbie Schlesinger was a forgotten victim. If Sutcliffe murdered her she would be his fourth murder victim. Here I am at her grave in a sprawling cemetery in Leeds.

On the Thursday 21st April 1977 supermarket worker Debbie and her friend Pat went for a night out in Leeds with a wider group of friends. Both lived about 40m from another on the Hawksworth Estate in Horsforth and they got a bus there. Leaving the bus they walked up to the rows of detached houses in Cragside Walk. At Pat's home they said goodbye and Debbie started the short distance to home. Before she could reach the door a man appeared seemingly from nowhere and stabbed her once through the heart. She managed to scream loudly once and though haemorrhaging blood she made for the nearby Conservative Club. With her attacker closely behind her she collapsed in the doorway. At home Pat had heard the scream and her dad said it sounded like Debbie. They rushed outside and saw a shape on the step of the Conservative Club. Thinking she'd fainted they knelt down to her and found her lifeless. There was no heartbeat, movement or groans.

The attacker had disappeared into the night but eyewitnesses had seen him. They told the police they seen “a white man with dark hair and a beard, about thirty years old and five feet six inches tall."

Was this Peter Sutcliffe on one of the nights he drove around hoping opportunity and circumstance converged to give him the chance to murder again? He was a lorry driver and knew the area well, often visiting nearby an engineering factory. At the time West Yorkshire Police didn’t link the murder to the Yorkshire Ripper because (1) they said his targets were prostitutes and (2) Debbie was not killed with a hammer to the skull. Two days later Sutcliffe murdered Patricia Atkinson and Debbie's friend Pat told the police that the Yorkshire Ripper (as he was known) could be Debbie's attacker. They discounted this saying the murderer was probably local and would soon be caught quickly.

After thirteen murders Sutcliffe was caught in Sheffield in January 1981. He didn’t confess Debbie's murder to the police but later they found a worksheet from his employers showing that on the day of the murder he delivered axle parts to a company in Kirkstall Forge (0.6 miles away). In 2002 West Yorkshire Police officially proposed charging Sutcliffe with Debbie's murder but it didn’t happen. The reason why is unknown.

I found the poor kid's resting place in a corner of a vast cemetery in Leeds. A wood cross marks the spot and a plaque confirms who lies here (two women are buried here - her mum?) Dead flowers suggest nobody has visited for a while. I've done a few graves bearing the victims of the Peter Sutcliffe and wondered if this was another one? I doubt it. Once in custody he didn't court any innocence, admitted he was the Ripper and spoke freely about the attacks/murders. He knew he faced a life sentence - confessing to an extra murder wouldn't change anything. He didn't admit to Debbie's murder in the 35 years he was in prison.

Has someone got away with murder? Is he still alive? Had he read about the grisly murders in the newspapers and been spurred to commit a 'copycat' murder? The probability of new information coming out is almost nil. I did a salute and left.

Debbie's body at the doorway...