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Today I’m thinking about Olive.
Not the man who tried to kill her.
In the early 2000s I was a young, green & naive journalist working in commercial radio.
I went to a block of flats in Halifax where I thought a woman lived who’d been attacked by Peter Sutcliffe years earlier.
Not the man who tried to kill her.
In the early 2000s I was a young, green & naive journalist working in commercial radio.
I went to a block of flats in Halifax where I thought a woman lived who’d been attacked by Peter Sutcliffe years earlier.
When I looked up & saw the many windows of the tower block I thought chances of finding her were slim.
I asked a couple of people coming & going if they knew which flat she lived in.
Before long I sitting on the carpeted floor of Olive’s living room, drinking a cup of tea.
I asked a couple of people coming & going if they knew which flat she lived in.
Before long I sitting on the carpeted floor of Olive’s living room, drinking a cup of tea.
She told me she wasn’t sure she wanted to do an interview.. that of late she’d only done with Christa Ackroyd from Calendar - who she liked a great deal.
I drank the tea while listening to Olive talking about the stigma she still felt - being one of Sutcliffe’s victims.
I drank the tea while listening to Olive talking about the stigma she still felt - being one of Sutcliffe’s victims.
People believed Sutcliffe only attacked sex workers.
I think police believed it would reassure women that Sutcliffe had a type. If they weren’t it - they’d be ok.
It wasn’t true. And implied that attacking and killing some women isn’t as bad as attacking and killling others.
I think police believed it would reassure women that Sutcliffe had a type. If they weren’t it - they’d be ok.
It wasn’t true. And implied that attacking and killing some women isn’t as bad as attacking and killling others.
Olive’s husband sat in his armchair quietly listening to her too.
He’d doubtless heard her say the same things many times over the years. But he listened intently all the same.
He’d doubtless heard her say the same things many times over the years. But he listened intently all the same.
Olive did record an interview with me that day. And a couple more interviews over the next couple of years.
She asked that I didn’t use her name on air - because she didn’t want people thinking she was a ‘good time girl’.
She asked that I didn’t use her name on air - because she didn’t want people thinking she was a ‘good time girl’.
I never did name her on air.
I just used her voice - talking about what happened to her.
She’d been walking home when she was attacked by Sutcliffe. He left her for dead - but she somehow survived.
Olive Smelt was kind and funny and generous. She died in 2011 at the age of 82
I just used her voice - talking about what happened to her.
She’d been walking home when she was attacked by Sutcliffe. He left her for dead - but she somehow survived.
Olive Smelt was kind and funny and generous. She died in 2011 at the age of 82
