THE BEAST of Wombwell tricked a teenage waitress into his van before brutally raping her and burning her breasts.
Just weeks later Peter Pickering raped and murdered Wombwell teenager Shirley Boldy, Leeds Crown Court has been told.
Pickering, 80, has been imprisoned on a hospital order since he admitted the manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility of the 14-year-old in July 1972.
The girl had been walking to Wombwell High School when she was lured into Pickering’s van and driven away before being raped and killed.
He is now on trial after denying the earlier attack on the 18-year-old, which was carried out as she walked to work from her home in the Stocksbridge area, and her false imprisonment.
Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC said the victim did not report the offence at the time and it only came to light when police were looking through the defendant’s medical notes.
When they contacted the victim, who is now in her 60s, in December 2016 she asked, “is it about Peter?”
“That was the first time since 1972 she had uttered his name,” Ms Colborne said.
The court was told the attack was carried out after she got into his van when he offered her a lift to work and then tricked her into putting on a pair of handcuffs.
“He took her to a secluded location where he forced her into the back of the van. She was still handcuffed and by now fully aware that he was going to hurt her.
“She determined that whatever he did she must try to survive and talk him round.
“Afterwards the defendant lit a cigarette, which he then used repeatedly to burn her breasts and arms.
“The defendant said that he was going to have to kill her. Notwithstanding her terror, she had the good sense and wit to try to distract him.
“She never told anyone in her family or friendship group what had occurred.”
Police later found handcuffs and diaries belonging to the defendant at a storage facility in October 2016.
The court was told during the early 1970s, Pickering kept diaries and wrote regular notes in exercise books.
In one note, dated about 18 months before the attack, he wrote: ‘Maybe I will be a sex maniac proper.’
Ms Colborne said Pickering disclosed to a number of psychiatrists throughout the course of his hospital order about how he encountered the victim. The detail was recorded by them at the time and referred to in reports written by them. She said there was also a more recent admission in March 2017 when he was being interviewed about the latest allegations.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury she got into his van voluntarily, but then his manner changed from being pleasant to acting “like a mad man”.
She said she did not think she would have been believed if she had reported the attack when it happened and had to be persuaded to co-operate when police came to see her.
“Years later, I actually thought he was (Yorkshire Ripper) Peter Sutcliffe,” she said.
Pickering claims to woman consented to sex, and yesterday offered no defence.
The trial continues.
