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<\/p>\nPETER Sutcliffe\u2019s reign of terror between 1975 and 1980 led to one of the biggest manhunts of the 20th century.<\/p>\n
During this time,\u00a0Sutcliffe, also known as the\u00a0Yorkshire Ripper\u00a0was\u00a0married\u00a0to his then-wife,\u00a0Sonia\u00a0– here\u2019s everything you need to know.<\/p>\n
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Sonia was born on August 10, 1950, and grew up in\u00a0Bradford, seven miles from Peter Sutcliffe\u2019s home in Bingley.<\/p>\n
Her parents were Ukrainian and Polish-born refugees who had fled Czechoslovakia for Britain after the war.<\/p>\n
Sonia met Sutcliffe at the age of 15 and the pair began dating.<\/p>\n
Sutcliffe said: \u201cThe time I met Sonia was around the best time of my life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what makes her tick and we have a similar humour. I loved her from the start, more or less.\u201d<\/p>\n Peter Sutcliffe proposed to Sonia in 1968 at the Midland Hotel in Bingley.<\/p>\n On her 24th birthday in August 1974, Sonia and Sutcliffe wed in the Baptist Church in the nearby village of Clayton – a year before his first murder.<\/p>\n They then travelled to\u00a0Paris\u00a0for their honeymoon, before returning to live with her parents as they saved for their own home.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Years later they moved into their own home in Garden Lane – and by this time Sutcliffe had murdered five women and left four others for dead.<\/p>\n While\u00a0police\u00a0were hunting the Yorkshire Ripper, an innocent Sonia inadvertently gave Sutcliffe an alibi – confirming her husband rarely left in the evening and if he did, she would be with him.<\/p>\n By the time he was arrested in 1981, he had murdered 13 women and tried to kill seven more.<\/p>\n While at Dewsbury police station, Sonia visited Sutcliffe where he told her: \u2018\u2019It\u2019s me. I\u2019m the Yorkshire Ripper.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n After being sentenced to 20 life terms in 1981, which were converted to\u00a0a whole life order\u00a0in 2010, Sonia remained loyal to Sutcliffe, travelling thousands of miles over the years, visiting him at Parkhurst on the\u00a0Isle of Wight, then at\u00a0Broadmoor\u00a0in\u00a0Berkshire.<\/p>\n The pair later divorced in 1994, but Sonia still supported him and was\u00a0his next of kin when he died\u00a0aged 74 in November 2020.<\/p>\n Sutcliffe once said: \u201cShe stuck with me for many, many years, before she even thought of a separation, and all credit to her. Then even after that, when I suggested she find somebody else, she still keeps coming to see me.<\/p>\n \u201cShe really must have loved me a lot. Most women would have just washed their hands of somebody but she knew me so well, my personality and that, she couldn\u2019t let go.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one could have asked for a more loyal wife than Sonia and as a friend she still is as loyal and I\u2019m very proud of her. She\u2019s an angel.\u201d<\/p>\n There was never any evidence or hint that Sonia had any knowledge of Sutcliffe\u2019s\u00a0crimes\u00a0prior to his arrest.<\/p>\n Once speaking of his ex-wife, Sutcliffe said: \u201cI was never covered in blood, people used to say Sonia must know something because of all the blood, but there wasn\u2019t any, what a load of rubbish.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s perfectly as white as snow.\u201d<\/p>\n As of September 2023, little is known about Sonia\u2019s life.<\/p>\n In April 2018,\u00a0Sonia was pictured arm-in-arm\u00a0with her second husband, hairdresser Michael Woodward.<\/p>\n The couple wed in a low-key ceremony in 1997 but have spent most of their marriage living apart.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/OQ-SPORTPREVIEW-RASHFORD.jpg\")
<\/picture>RASH DASH <\/span><\/p>\nRashford drives to training days after crash as cops say they won't launch probe<\/h3>\n
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When did Sonia marry Peter Sutcliffe?<\/h2>\n
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<\/picture>DOCTOR TRAGEDY<\/span><\/p>\nThis Morning star\u2019s cause of death revealed as family share tribute<\/h3>\n
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