SIR BOB MURRAY owned Sunderland for 20 years but was once suspected of being the Yorkshire Ripper.
The former football club owner has revealed police questioned him on three occasions after what he still believes was a tip-off from his aunty.
Sir Bob Murray was suspected of being the Yorkshire RipperRex
Sunderland played six seasons in the Premier League during Murray’s tenure before he sold the club in 2006.
During that time, he also oversaw the building of the Stadium of Light.
However, he has now revealed that he was once suspected of being the Yorkshire Ripper.
The Yorkshire Ripper, alater identified as Peter Sutcliffe, murdered 13 women between 1975 and 1980.
Having kept quiet on the matter for over 40 years, Murray has now explained he was interviewed by West Yorkshire Police three times in 1979.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he recalled: “I was already courting with my now-wife Sue but imagine trying to pull girls in Yorkshire if you had a Wearside accent… Jesus Christ.
“At the time, there was fear. The police were useless. They had so many chances to get him. Then this idiot came on from Wearside…”
Murray became a suspect after imposter John Samuel Humble sent a hoax recording to police pretending to be the Ripper with a Wearside accent.
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GettyMurray owned Sunderland for 20 years before selling the club in 2006[/caption]
“I was a 32-year-old male, with the accent, living and working in West Yorkshire, with a hammer in my car boot!” he added.
“My dad gave me the hammer in case I needed to change a tyre.”
As for his aunty’s involvement in tipping him off to the cops, the last officers to visit Murray had been from Sheffield, where she lived at the time.
He continued: “I managed to keep the hammer. It had sentimental value. Even though you’re innocent, you feel it, being accused.
“I didn’t get put in a cell. But I got three “sessions”. And I knew it was my Aunty Sylvia who shopped me in!”
The Yorkshire Ripper was eventually caught in 1981, with HGV driver Sutcliffe convicted of the murders and sentenced to 20 concurrent life sentences.
After selling Sunderland, Murray was made the club’s honorary life president by the new owners.
He was knighted in the 2010 Birthday Honours for services to football and education in the North East and has been the chancellor of Leeds Beckett University since 2012.