{{Short description|Former wife of serial killer Peter Sutcliffe (born 1950)}} {{Infobox person | image = | name = Sonia Sutcliffe | birth_name = Oksana Szurma | birth_place = England | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|08|10|df=y}} | known_for = {{ubl|Marriage to British [[serial killer]] [[Peter Sutcliffe]]|Libel case against ''[[Private Eye]]'' magazine}} | spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|[[Peter Sutcliffe]]|10 August 1974|July 1994|reason=div}}|{{marriage|Michael Woodward<br>|1997}}}} }} '''Sonia Szurma-Woodward'''<ref name=T&A/> (born Oksana Szurma; born 10 August 1950),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Peter Sutcliffe|url=http://www.killers.wadum.dk/archive/s/sutcliffe/file.htm|last=|first=|date=|website=www.killers.wadum.dk|access-date=10 May 2020}}</ref> known as '''Sonia Sutcliffe''', is the former wife of the British [[serial killer]] [[Peter Sutcliffe]].<ref>General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 4; Page: 0531</ref>
==Marriage to Peter Sutcliffe== Sonia married Peter William Sutcliffe on 10 August 1974, her 24th birthday, two years after she began treatment for [[schizophrenia]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Chris |last1=Clarke |first2=Tim |last2= Tate |year=2015 |title=Yorkshire Ripper - The Secret Murders|publisher=John Blake Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1784184186 |page=24}}</ref> When she found out that she could not have children due to previous miscarriages she went back to studying to be a teacher.{{cn|date=March 2023}}
Her relationship with her husband was later characterised by the writer [[Gordon Burn]] as domineering, with Sonia willing to slap him down "like a naughty schoolboy".<ref>Gordon Burn, ''Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son'', London: Faber, p. 152–153.</ref> When her husband was found guilty of the murder of multiple women in 1981, Sonia remained married to him and continued to live in their Bradford matrimonial home. They separated around 1989 and divorced in July 1994 on grounds of unreasonable behaviour.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rippers-wife-gets-divorce-1412878.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rippers-wife-gets-divorce-1412878.html |archive-date=2022-05-24 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Ripper's wife gets divorce|work=The Independent on Sunday|date=23 July 1994|access-date=14 November 2020}}</ref> Barbara Jones, a journalist who had numerous conversations with Sonia, described Sonia as the most irritating, strangest, and coldest person she had ever encountered. Jones noted that Sonia was incredibly prickly and demanding.<ref><!-- Undated source, but relates to Barbara Jones' book "Voices from an Evil God" (probably not itself RS) which was published in 1991 -->{{cite news|last=Phillips|first=Caroline|url=http://www.carolinephillips.net/articles/archive/newspapers/evening-standard/how-i-got-into-the-mind-of-ripper.html|title=How I got Into The Mind Of The Ripper|work=Evening Standard|access-date=8 April 2020|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703184450/http://www.carolinephillips.net/articles/archive/newspapers/evening-standard/how-i-got-into-the-mind-of-ripper.html|archive-date=3 July 2023}}</ref>
==Libel case against ''Private Eye''== In May 1989, a libel action against the satirical magazine ''[[Private Eye]]'', brought by Sutcliffe, came to court. Her decision to sue was made shortly before the limitation on such actions, then six years, was due to expire. The case concerned a January 1981 article that detailed her attempts to make financial deals with newspapers and claimed that she was attempting to profit from her husband's crimes.<ref name="Greenslade">{{cite book |last=Greenslade |first=Roy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KPR0pB9UCS4C&pg=PA440 |title=Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits From Propaganda |location=London |publisher=Pan Macmillan |year=2004 |pages=440–441|isbn=9780330393768 }}</ref> ''Private Eye'' admitted at the time that it had made two errors in the article, but the plaintiff (Sutcliffe) rejected the offer of a correction.<ref name="Greenslade" />
At the end of the trial on 24 May, Sutcliffe was awarded record libel damages against the magazine of £600,000, or £100,000 more than the previous highest amount.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/24/newsid_2503000/2503595.stm|title=1989 (May 24): Yorkshire Ripper's wife wins damages|work=BBC On This Day|date=24 May 1989|access-date=2 April 2020}}</ref> The editor, [[Ian Hislop]], stated that "If that's justice, I'm a banana", and announced his immediate intention to appeal. A crowd-sourced fund named "Bananaballs" was successfully set up to pay for the appeal's legal costs and the damages were eventually reduced to £60,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/eye-and-mighty-50-years-on-the-satirical-highway-1-1925918|title=Eye and mighty: 50 years on the satirical highway|publisher=|access-date=18 June 2018}}</ref> Two other newspapers Sutcliffe had sued, the ''[[Daily Express]]'' and the ''[[Daily Star (United Kingdom)|Daily Star]]'', settled with her [[out of court]].<ref name="Greenslade" />
One other newspaper which formed part of her legal action, the ''[[News of the World]]'', did not settle. When the case came to court in December 1990, details emerged which demonstrated she had benefitted financially from her husband's crimes. In court, [[George Carman]], the newspaper's [[Queen's Counsel|QC]], described her as "dancing on the graves of her husband's victims".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/a-master-of-the-memorable-one-liner-1409397.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/a-master-of-the-memorable-one-liner-1409397.html |archive-date=2022-05-24 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=A master of the memorable one-liner|website=[[Independent.co.uk]] |date=25 September 2015|publisher=|access-date=18 June 2018}}</ref> The jury found for the ''News of the World'', and she was ordered to pay both sides' [[legal costs]].<ref name="Greenslade" /><ref>{{cite news|last=Frankel|first=Glenn|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1992/03/24/london-tailor-made-for-libel-suits/b20d8bf1-a3da-482f-b94f-54e832a26ab4/|title=London, Tailor Made for Libel|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=24 March 1992|access-date=2 April 2020}}</ref>
==Later life== Following Szurma's divorce from Sutcliffe, Szurma married hairdresser Michael Woodward on 2 May 1997.<ref name=T&A>{{cite news|date=18 May 1999|title=Ripper snaps found dumped|url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/8064911.ripper-snaps-found-dumped/|work=[[Telegraph & Argus]]|access-date=15 May 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutcliffe, Sonia}} [[Category:1950 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:English people of Czech descent]] [[Category:History of mental health in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:People with schizophrenia]] [[Category:Peter Sutcliffe]]